Location

Westminster, London

About the job Job description

Are you a positive, focused and hardworking person who has a natural ability to build fantastic working relationships with key people? 

Do you have exceptional organisational skills and broad experience of drafting high level documents for business critical needs? 

We would love to hear from you if this sounds of interest to you. 

This is a great time to join the Department of Transport (DfT) and you'll get great exposure to senior leaders across the DfT and wider civil service. You will have insight across a range of business activities in an HR Function which is currently undergoing an exciting transformation. 

We would encourage you to apply if you are someone with superb organisational and project skills, strong communication and relationship building skills and also the knowledge and skills to craft high quality materials such as presentations and briefings for key people. 

You're passionate about developing others and within this role will line manage a Personal Assistant based in our Swansea office. You'll be committed to travelling at least once a month to this location. 

As the Head of Private Office and HR Projects, you'll have the opportunity to lead on a dynamic and broad portfolio of work on behalf of the Group HR Director, providing high quality and timely advice to aid decision-making. You're a key person who will develop positive relationships with officials across the Department, Agencies and government to drive forward the current priorities. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Owner of the HR Programme Plan. You'll alert the HR Director to any risks to key landmarks and deliverables, providing advice on mitigating actions 

• ensuring the smooth running of the Group HRD’s office including line management of their Personal Assistant 

• overseeing the Communication and Engagement strategy for the HR department. You'll liaise with Internal Communications to produce and implement a Communications strategy for use over the next 12 months for the Group HR Director. This will include managing a programme of visits across the Group, ensuring effective communications across the wider Directorate, and developing a creative social media strategy 

• ensuring that there is a capability and resourcing plan across the Directorate and support Group HRD in their role as Head of Profession including oversight and governance of Learning and Development activity 

• Group People Committee and People Committee Secretariat. You'll work with the HR SCS and Board Chairs where appropriate ensuring linkages with the DfT HR Programme Plan. You'll collaborate with others to set agendas for meetings, and commission papers (including drafting where necessary) and ensure action points are tracked to completion. In addition, you'll ensure the right set up and smooth progress of the internal HR Directorate meeting structure 

• lead for HR on drafting relevant sections of corporate documents including the Annual report, Single Departmental plan, and ensuring co-ordination of any required briefings and commissions across the team 

About you 

You're able to build positive relationships quickly, are highly organised and efficient and can easily juggle multiple, often conflicting priorities. You possess superb drafting skills, including briefings and presentations and experience of social media, including the use of Twitter and LinkedIn. Private Office experience is not essential. 

About us 

We are part of the Department for Transport (DfT). DfT is a great place to work, and our ‘one team’ approach really makes a difference. We value our staff and that’s why we’re committed to nurturing an inclusive environment across the Department. 

You’ll be part of an innovative organisation that invests in all our people, ensuring we have the diverse skills to deliver transport that moves Britain ahead now and into the future. 

 

Find out more about what it's like working at the Department for Transport. 

DfT has been recognised for its leadership on workplace gender equality by being included in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2017. 

DfT’s inclusion is recognition of our commitment to make the Department a great place to work through our culture of equality and inclusivity and the great strides we’ve made to raise the number of women in senior positions.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits Pensions

Civil Service pension schemes may be available for successful candidates.

Benefits

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits. We offer generous annual leave, attractive pension options, flexible working, inclusive working environments and much more to support a healthy work/life balance.

Things you need to know Security

Successful candidates must pass basic security checks.

Nationality statement

Candidates will be subject to UK immigration requirements as well as Civil Service nationality rules.

If you're applying for a role requiring security clearance please be aware that foreign or dual nationality is not an automatic bar. However certain posts may have restrictions which could affect those who do not have sole British nationality or who have personal connections with certain countries outside the UK.

Selection process details

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

Please tailor your CV to demonstrate your experience related to the role profile. Please tailor your personal statement to evidence your experience of: 

• having strong stakeholder management and communication skills and the ability to quickly build strong relationships across teams and wider government 

• managing multiple, often conflicting priorities and projects using excellent organisational skills

• drafting documents, including briefings and presentations 

• using social media, including the use of Twitter and LinkedIn 

The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment could include: 
• an interview 

The Department for Transport alongside other Government Departments recruit using Success Profiles. This means for each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate in order to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. For further information on Success Profiles please click here 

Your interview may consist of a range of question types. These may include questions about: 
• what energises and motivates you 
• how you would manage situations relevant to the role 
• your previous experience 
• your professional skills and knowledge 

You’re encouraged to become familiar with the role profile, as you may be assessed against any of the criteria recorded within.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK, Commonwealth and European Economic Area (EEA) and certain non EEA nationals. Further information on whether you are able to apply is available here.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Apply and further information Contact point for applicants

For further information on this vacancy please contact - Christina Duncan: 
[email protected]

Sift/interview dates and location

The sift is due to take place w/c 15/05/19 

Interviews are likely to be held from 31/05/19. 

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

Further information

We have adopted anonymised recruitment. This means that your name, date of birth and other personal details will not be seen by the sift panel. 

We may hold a merit list for up to twelve months. During this time, if a similar role is identified and you have been placed on the merit list you may be considered for the post. Within the merit list period, your application form and selection information may be shared across the department and its agencies.