Personal Assistant

at  Cambridgeshire County Council

About the role
Are you looking for a new challenge in an organisation committed to making a real difference and where you will be highly valued for the contribution you make?
Our leadership team are committed to making a real difference to the lives of people of Cambridgeshire and you will play a vital role in supporting them to do deliver their ambition to create a greener, fairer, and more caring Cambridgeshire. Supporting a Service Director, we are looking for a Personal Assistant to deliver efficient, effective and proactive support to enable them to focus on the key priorities and strategic needs of the organisation within our Commissioning Directorate.
This will be on a 12-month fixed term basis or if an internal applicant this would be on secondment basis as we are also very much interested in developing our staff at all stages in their career and would be fantastic for an already established administrator with good organisational and technology skills with an understanding of commissioning within a local government setting being an advantage. This is also a fantastic opportunity for you to make a highly valued contribution to Cambridgeshire. We are passionate about flexible working, with several flexible working options available and the ability to work on a hybrid basis.
If you think this could be you, please get in touch for an initial conversation with Rachel Hickmott, Executive Assistant to Executive Director for Adult Social Care and Commissioning at Rachel.Hickmott@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
What will you be doing?
ou will play a vital role in supplying professional, proactive, and confidential support to one of our Service Directors to enable them and the organisation to focus on our organisational priorities and for their respective services to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. In providing personal support this will include diary management and email monitoring, agenda management, minute taking and acting as a link to key corporate areas of work the coordination of Councillor complaints and internal governance processes as well being part of an already established hub of Executive Assistants and Personal Assistants to guide and support you when needed.
About you
As a Personal Assistant you will have well developed knowledge of business administration processes and IT systems and advantage would be an understanding of the key commissioning principles within local authority, but not essential as this is something that can be taught by the team. You will also have an A-C grade in GCSE English and Maths or equivalent standard including experience. You will have well-developed knowledge of general business requirements such as HR and finance processes, information management, risk management, customer service and health and safety and an understanding of contracting within a local authority would be desirable as would knowledge or experience of social care statutory services too.
You will be able to predict and pre-empt challenges and provide solutions with a calm, balanced and positive approach showing good judgement. You will develop strong and effective working relationship with colleagues, stakeholders and partners and providers where necessary which help the council, communities, and our wider operational services too.
About us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.
Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network ‘IDEAL’ and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.
Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.
https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers
Our benefits

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage…

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes

Please refer the Job description for details