Directorate Business Support Apprenticeship

Contents

• Location
• About the job
• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

ONS operates a flexible hybrid working model across the UK, with colleagues linked to one of our contractual locations in Newport, Titchfield (Fareham), or Darlington and working between office and remote throughout the week.

As part of the hybrid working arrangement there is a 40% minimum office attendance requirement. Attendance is typically at your contractual office, with occasional travel to alternative locations. Due to estates constraints, there are currently temporary exceptions to this for colleagues based at Darlington who are required to attend the office for a minimum of 20% of their work time

About the job

Job summary

Do you have excellent communication and organisational skills? Have you got a good eye for detail? If so, this might be the role for you.

As a Business Support Apprentice, you will study towards the Level 3 Business Administration apprenticeship and combine your job and hands-on experience with virtual learning, workshops, and research projects. You will achieve a Level 3 qualification on successful completion.

Join our dynamic team and embark on an exciting journey as a Business Support Officer. This apprenticeship offers a unique opportunity to learn and grow within a supportive environment, working closely with our business support team, personal assistants, and senior leadership team to ensure the smooth functioning of the data science campus.

What You’ll Learn: 

This apprenticeship will guide and support you in developing your capabilities in:

• Communicating in a business environment
• Managing personal and professional development
• Principles of business communication and information
• Principles of administration
• Principles of business
• Developing and presenting presentations
• Secretariat skills
• Organising travel and accommodation

Additional Skills:

You will also develop other valuable skills that will aid you in the workplace, such as organisation, communication, the ability to work under pressure, teamwork, and much more, giving you a real and valuable insight into the industry.

Why Join Us?

• Gain hands-on experience in a professional, cutting edge environment
• Work with a supportive and experienced team
• Develop a wide range of skills that are highly valued in the civil service and beyond
• Opportunity for growth and career development

You will gain experience to help you work towards your qualification, as well as attending formal training and other development opportunities that will consist of 20% off-the-job learning.

Job description

The business support function aims to ensure the efficient operation of the directorate by handling organisational and administrative matters, collaborating with other enabling functions, and providing support to the director and senior leadership team.

Roles within this function work with colleagues across the organisation to aid the Business Manager in delivering effective support activities, with work distribution depending on the directorate’s size and complexity. Additionally, there are opportunities to join communities of practice to develop and share best practices and improve processes.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain good working relationships across the directorate, working collaboratively and flexibly to achieve organisational goals.
• Operating in a matrix management environment, undertake a broad range of business support activities under the guidance of a Business Support Officer, providing general administrative support to the team, which includes but is not limited to supporting appropriate storage and deletion of business documents in SharePoint; organising meeting arrangements; organising travel arrangements, including car hire and train ticket purchasing.
• Support in the organisation of divisional and / or directorate management meetings, managing diary conflicts and ensuring that key attendees are available, and that meeting papers/itineraries are complete, printed and distributed with sufficient time for attendees to review ahead of time. Attend meetings and take minutes as required.
• Manage team inbox, responding where appropriate and ensuring that emails are passed to relevant team members to action responses. Supporting Senior Manager PAs in diary and inbox management.
• Where appropriate, undertake small self-contained assignments under the direction of a Business Support Officer or Manager, or other senior managers
• Provide administrative support to the enabling function spokes that sit within the DG group and / or directorate, including but not limited to: recruitment activity administration; learning & development / capability administration (such as raising purchase orders, but not including uploading Personal Development Plans).

Eligibility Criteria

• To meet funding requirements for the apprenticeship, applicants must be either 16-24 years old, OR 25+ years old and be able to demonstrate a significant job role change.
• You must not already hold a qualification in a related field of study at Level 3 or higher.
• You must not be undertaking another apprenticeship at the same time.
• Qualifications – you are not required to hold any specific qualifications to undertake this apprenticeship, as there is the option to take functional skills modules (literacy, numeracy and digital skills) as part of your apprenticeship programme.
• The training provider makes the final decision if the individual is eligible for the apprenticeship, and subsequently the offer could be withdrawn if you are not eligible.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Good interpersonal skills, both written and verbal, with an ability to interact well with people across the organisation, including those more senior to you.
• Ability to work under pressure and deliver to tight timescales, with a good attention to detail, responding effectively to changing priorities.
• Ability to proactively work well as part of a team, taking responsibility for delivering agreed business objectives.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, across a range of tasks, seeking advice and guidance from managers as appropriate.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of Microsoft applications

Behaviours

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £24,139, Office for National Statistics contributes £6,993 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our 5400 valued colleagues across the business.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that the benefits pack attached (bottom of page) will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Recruitment Operations
• Email : recruitmentoperations@ons.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitmentoperations@ons.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission

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