About the job

Job summary

The Areas Directorate is a joint unit between the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and Department for Business and Trade (DBT). Our mission is to empower places - from rural to major cities, from prosperous places to those facing challenges in the modern economy, to bolster their potential through boosting economic growth. We lead within the UK Government on regional policy, including a range of initiatives including support for regenerating towns and high streets, local growth plans and economic intelligence. We work at different levels, from the small neighbourhood to the large sub-national strategy.

This is an exciting opportunity to work as an executive assistant in a fast-paced and varied environment. It would suit someone wants to work with a variety of stakeholders and actively engage in corporate activities to drive a high performing team culture.

There is an expectation that the postholder will be in post for around 18 months to ensure that they can fully embed themselves into the role and deliver on objectives.

Job description

• Providing proactive and comprehensive diary management for the Deputy Director by scheduling meetings and continually monitoring for any subsequent adjustments (through direct liaison with counterparts in other senior offices), organising travel arrangements, and booking meeting spaces.
• Proactively screening the Deputy Director’s emails for meeting requests, papers, as well as any urgent issues requiring the Deputy Director’s immediate attention, and ensuring that these are dealt with efficiently and promptly.
• Advising the Deputy Director on key priorities, ensuring the Deputy Director is aware of any emerging important or sensitive matters.
• Undertake general administrative duties and tasks as required by the Deputy Director or the wider team. This may include arranging meetings for the team and managing the process by which follow-up actions arising from team meetings are progressed and recorded.
• Support the North West area team in any recruitment campaigns.
• Support the North West area team to coordinate the regular requests for information the team receives to ensure that deadlines are met.
• Support the North West area team in organising visits and away days across the region.

Person specification

• Have strong communication skills, and the ability to develop and maintain positive working relationships with a variety of people – including with very senior stakeholders in a pressurised environment. They will also be able to appropriately tailor their communication style to suit the audience
• Need to be able to work at pace, and effectively manage competing priorities using good judgement and decision-making abilities
• Be able to see how their work and the work of their team supports wider objectives of the NW and NPH Directorate and meets the needs of diverse stakeholders
• Bring a very proactive attitude and will always strive for the highest standards of quality in every area of their work.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,464, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £7,145 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, Strengths and Experience.

We are for everyone 

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation. 

Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role.   

As part of our pre-employment checking process we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process. 

We are for everyone 

DLUHC want to bring in a diverse workforce at all levels.  

Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).  

At application stage you will be asked to upload a CV document. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage. 

Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.  

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors. 

When writing your application, remember: 

• The assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially.  
• Do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers.  
• If talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!) 

At sift, we will be assessing 

Behaviour 1 (Lead Behaviour) - Managing a Quality Service 

Behaviour 2 - Seeing the Big Picture

Behaviour 3 - Communicating and Influencing 

Behaviour 4 - Delivering at Pace 

Experience - Please provide a summary of your experience working with stakeholders and providing administrative support.

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:    

Behaviour –Managing a Quality Service, Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace 

Strength - Yes

The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements: 

Behaviour –Managing a Quality Service, Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace 

Strength - Yes

Experience: Yes

 

We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs 

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign. 

EO 

• The salary for this role will be £26,464 (National). 
• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. 

 
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.    

BENEFITS: 

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018: 
Any move to DLUHC 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 

For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: 

• Manchester  

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role. 

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C  28/04/2024 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.  

Reserve List

In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details in a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.  

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules 

 

Internal Fraud Database 

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.  

For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register 

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. 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.