About the job

Job summary

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) employs over 50,000 Civil Servants. Within that, the Army Top Level Budget (TLB) employs around 9,000 MoD Civil Servants located at over 300 locations.

The Army prides itself on treating our people as our greatest asset by harnessing skills and improving talent. Getting the best from our people is a key value shared across the organisation, and we believe that a Civil Service career supporting the Army offers an outstanding blend of challenge and variety not found anywhere else!
If you would like to work within a small, multi-disciplinary team, conducting varied and valued work, then this post could be for you!

The Army is a diverse and varied place to work, we are currently recruiting Personal Assistant (PAs) to support to a number of Senior Principal's (Brigadier/Senior Civil Service Pay Band 1 and 2) across the Army TLB within the Strategic Headquarters in Andover, working at the forefront of Army Operations.

These positions are advertised at 37 hours per week.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.

Job description

We are looking for motivated and highly organised professionals to join the Army Headquarters, providing direct support to our senior leaders.  

The successful candidates will provide effective and efficient administrative support to senior principals across the Army and work as integral part of outer office support.

Ideally candidates will have experience in a similar role, in a professional service environment and have an ability to work proactively and as part of a team.

We adopt an agile approach to workforce allocation within Army Headquarters in order to align staff to our top priorities, so flexibility is key.

Person specification

The successful candidate will be a rational and clear thinker, who can work well during periods of change.

You will:

• Be self-motivated and highly organised and able to work well within a small team, whilst working collaboratively with the wider Army Headquarters
• Have strong interpersonal skills.
• Use sound judgement.
• Work quickly and concisely in order to meet demanding priorities.
• Have the ability to converse effectively with a range of stakeholders at all levels, both internal and external to the organisation.
• Maintain a high level of confidentiality at all times. Ensuring all information received by your Principal is managed and stored appropriately, applying and adhering to security classifications as appropriate.

As a civil servant you will work alongside military colleagues in jobs that matter; jobs which often have a direct impact on the quality of the operational capabilities the Army delivers.  Roles can offer great job satisfaction and there are many opportunities to develop and progress both within the Department and across the wider Civil Service.  

Main Responsibilities include:

• Maintain and update electronic diaries, identifying and managing any conflicts, prioritising as appropriate.
• Arranging meetings and corporate events, booking in visitors, and undertaking all necessary administrative and IT procedures, including travel arrangement, prior to engagements/events.
• Collate and organise briefing information packs for meetings, boards or conferences as required and within the timescales set using MS Office tools such as OneNote and Outlook.
• Maintain effective electronic housekeeping and records management/retrieval processes, including safeguarding and handling of classified material in accordance with extant policy.
• Adhoc administrative tasks to support outer office staff, acting as a professional representative of the principal at all times.

Essential Criteria:

• A sound understanding of Microsoft Office packages.

Desirable:

• Previous experience in a PA position would be advantageous.
• Experience of delivering outputs at pace in a lively environment would be advantageous.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £24,040, Ministry of Defence contributes £6,490 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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly.

We welcome applications from everyone irrespective of gender and ethnic group. Appointment will be based on merit alone.

At application you will be assessed against

• Experience: Work History and Personal Statement (no more than 750 words)

Please note that it is essential that your personal statement (750 words max) is aligned with the job description/person specification to provide evidence that you have the knowledge and recent practical experience

At interview you will be assessed against 

• Behaviours: Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing and Working Together

We will endeavour to sift applications within 5 working days of advert closing with interviews taking placing within 2 weeks.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.  

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.  

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.   

If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk 

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights. 

Any move to MOD from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ 

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

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.