About the job

Job summary

Have you always wanted to start a career in the fast-moving, innovative world of procurement? Do you want to work for the biggest procurement company in the UK?

Do you want to earn whilst you learn a new skill? This apprentice position could be your chance to start!

The Role

This is an exciting opportunity to begin a career in commercial Procurement and Supply.  In this role, you will work as part of a fast-paced procurement team and undertake the Level 4 Commercial Procurement & Supply Apprenticeship.

An Apprenticeship provides work-based, on the job training and development. The training is fully funded so it doesn’t cost you anything – and you’ll earn whilst you learn.  It will provide you with the skills, knowledge and behaviours you need to be fully effective in a designated role. With very few exceptions, you don’t need to have related work experience or qualifications to apply.

What is important throughout the Apprenticeship is that you put into practice what you learn, and capture evidence of this so your progress and increasing capability can be assessed.

We want you to get the most out of your Apprenticeship. To help you manage your learning we will give you, over the duration of the Apprenticeship, a minimum of 20% of your paid working hours to focus on skills development. This means you won’t be asked to study in your own time.

However, both the role and the Apprenticeship are very demanding and you will need to work hard. You will be assessed throughout and at the end of your Apprenticeship by submitting coursework, undertaking exams and presenting your work to others.

Job description

These will include:

• Follow established procedures and instructions to provide general administrative, clerical, computer operations and data handling support to procurement teams and customers in line with regulations and procurement policy.

• Support the management of projects, including updating project plans, risk and issues logs

• Arranging project meetings, booking venues, drafting agendas, recording actions, communicate updates, progress and action required and coordinate all responses

• Support risk management by identifying risks relating to own activities, taking action or escalating as required

• Support the drafting of tender documentation

• Responsible for managing the clarification processes

• Assist with the coordination of the evaluation of tenders

• Responsible for the production of commercial agreement contracts

• Develop strong working relationships with the Procurement and Category teams in addition to external Customers

• Support in the development and publication of written material for the maintenance and update of the CCS website, e-Sourcing systems and Contracts Finder and other corporate material as required

• Support continuous improvement across the team through proactive participation in improvement projects and via identification and communication of improvements via the appropriate channels

Person specification

Essential Criteria (to be assessed at application stage):

• Ability to build and develop internal and external stakeholder relationships, including managing expectations and conflicting priorities.

• Communication skills, including the ability to provide/obtain information, seeking clarified detail, explain and implement policy and procedures.

• Excellent organisational and project management skills with the ability to proactively manage workloads, undertake independent decisions and an eye for detail.

• Ability to confidently handle data with good IT skills in a Microsoft Windows environment including Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £27,292, Crown Commercial Service contributes £7,385 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.

Selection Process

Candidates who are successful at sift will be contacted as soon as possible following the closing date and advised of the interview process in more detail. The sift and interview times and dates to be confirmed. (Subject to change)

To find out more about our recruitment process please click here

Please note: Applicants can make use of artificial intelligence but the information presented at application must be factual.

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, which the Civil Service may use to fill future suitably similar vacancies across government for candidates who are considered appointable following interview. Should you be placed on a reserve list and want to be removed please contact recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk.

Complaints procedure:

Our recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles details of which can be found at http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk in the first instance.

If you remain unsatisfied with the response you receive you can then contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk 

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

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist 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.