About the job

Job summary

Are you interested in a key role within local delivery where you will use your administrative and communicative skills to provide a high level of customer service? If so the Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Economy (ARE) have an exciting opportunity for an Administrative Officer.

Portree Area Office is part of the network of 16 local Area Offices that perform a key role in the work of the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division (SGRPID), within the Agricultural and Rural Economy Directorate. The Area Offices are the main contact with farmers, crofters and other interested parties, being responsible for the delivery of grants, subsidies and other Government policies to the rural community.

Area Office staff contribute their knowledge and experience towards the development and implementation of policy and systems for new schemes, as well as the on-going maintenance of existing schemes. Area Office staff also provide professional advice and information to Scottish Ministers, the general public and other colleagues in the Scottish Government.

You will join our busy front office team and will support farmers and crofters with questions about their applications or claims both on the phone or at our front counter. When not dealing with customers you will be processing the applications and claims that our customers have submitted to you.

You will get to know our network of customers both internal and external, and will be expected to provide a professional and helpful point of contact for all. It is essential that you remain impartial, fair and diplomatic at all times, operating within agreed guidelines of information sharing.

Your workload will be varied and at times, extremely busy. You will need to be able to plan, organise and prioritise your work to meet agreed deadlines while maintaining a high level of quality and accuracy. You should be able to work using your initiative, have a positive attitude to change and be able to adapt to new procedures and priorities. You will use a range of systems to accurately input data, maintain information and retrieve data.

This is an excellent opportunity to grow and develop your skills with a variety of learning and development opportunities available within the team. You will have the opportunity to engage directly with local crofters whilst developing your interpersonal and organisational skills within the friendly, local team.

Job description

• Receipting, data capture, assessment and authorisations of applications and claims under a range of agricultural and environmental schemes.
• Dealing with telephone, written and face to face enquiries from both internal and external customers including assisting with registration and navigation of RPID’s online systems.
• Using Rural Payments and Services and other IT systems, make assessments of information submitted on business and their applications, including data capture of information submitted.
• General administrative duties, including filing, acknowledgement and onward processing of mail, compilation of inspection files and maintain spreadsheet information.

Person specification

1. Strong verbal and written communication including dealing with a range of customers and stakeholders, to maintain and improve standards in customer service.
2. Good administration, organisational and planning skills with the ability to prioritise competing tasks and workloads.
3. A proven team player who is able to work well with others but also carry out individual tasks as required, with the minimum of supervision.
4. Good IT skills, with a good working knowledge of a variety of IT systems, including Microsoft Office Products – Word, Excel and Outlook, or equivalent.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £25,235, Scottish Government contributes £6,813 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Interviews are anticipated to take place in mid June but may be subject to change. 

Please apply using the link provided.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.