Accommodation & Commercial Services

Grade 3: - £17,682-£19,133
Open-Ended/Permanent - Full Time
Contracted Hours per Week: 35
Closing Date: 27-Oct-2021, 6:59:00 AM

Job Family: Business Process and People Services

Department: Estates and Facilities, Accommodation and Commercial Services
Responsible to: Business Support Team Leader
Grade: Grade 3
Salary range: £17,682-£19,133
Contract type: Permanent
Working arrangements: Full-time (35 hours) Five days out of seven (primarily Monday to Friday)

Working Arrangements

At Durham, we recognise that our staff and students are our greatest asset and we want to support the health and wellbeing of all. Hybrid working supports this ethos and provides many benefits to our colleagues, including empowering people, where their role allows, to work in a manner which is more suitable for them, whilst encouraging our commitment to environmental sustainability.

Depending on the needs of the business and the job role, Durham University is piloting hybrid working for all Professional Services colleagues in the academic year 2021/22, which may include the opportunity to work both on and off campus and flex working hours. If appointed to the post, your line-manager will discuss the specific arrangements with you.  Any hybrid arrangements are non-contractual and may change within the pilot and when the pilot ends.

Reward and Benefits

To support the delivery of the University's People Strategy to attract, retain and reward the very best, we offer a fantastic range of rewards and benefits to our staff, including:

• 27 days annual leave, plus 4 customary days and 8 bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time) and the option to purchase additional leave
• Automatic enrolment into a pension scheme
• Corporate and local discounts
• Wellbeing resources and discounted health benefits
• Health discounts on sports and activities at Maiden Castle Health and Activity Centre
• Reward and Recognition Schemes
• Personal and career development
• And SO much more, with further information available here.

The Department and role purpose

The Estates and Facilities Directorate provides a number of essential services to Durham University and is responsible for managing, maintaining and developing the infrastructure and building fabric of the various campuses, including:

• maintaining and regularly reviewing a maintenance programme which takes account of short, medium and long term needs of all buildings and University grounds;
• implementing the works identified and funded within the various maintenance programmes and operating a system for dealing with day-to day requirements, including the provision of an out-of-hours emergency service;
• providing a professional, technical service to the University for the design, construction and procurement of new buildings and adaptation works to existing buildings;
• identifying and recording the use of space and advising on ways of increasing space utilisation;
• property and asset management;
• acquisition and disposal of built environment related assets;
• procuring and managing utilities and services;
• providing postal, delivery and security arrangements and advice to the University; and
• the delivery of a wide-range of customer-facing services, including: contract management; estates and facilities relationships management; housekeeping and cleaning, business resilience, event management; reception helpdesk; university retail; business support; health and safety; and management information.

The Senior Business Support Assistant will provide comprehensive administrative support to a wide range of teams, including, but not limited to: Estates Operations; Health and Safety; Space Management; Projects and Infrastructure; Event Durham; Housekeeping, Cleaning and General Services; Reception Helpdesk; and the wider-University; etc.

Core responsibilities:

• Provide a highly responsive and/or frontline service to stakeholders, through the delivery of a full range of administrative services.
• Assist team members within a wider service team with a rotation of tasks and duties or with own small area of day-to-day responsibility.
• Respond to service users, logging and recording queries and information systematically in accordance with procedures.
• Operate a system to record, dispense and distribute resources and information as required.
• Assist team members to concentrate effort on a more regular basis to achieve common goals and pre-agreed performance targets.
• Apply skills and techniques to operate and use a range of everyday and task or job specific equipment, tools and resources.
• Follow a set of pre-determined tasks and objectives, with some discretion for variation, referring to team members where necessary.
• Gather and collate data and information, such as fleet emissions, space utilisation, waste management data, for others to use for evaluation and decision-making.
• Support the planning, organisation and delivery of various events and associated activities/campaigns, for example: Freshers’ weekend events, contractor inductions, environment/sustainability initiatives, etc.
• Liaise with representatives from other teams/service areas, where necessary.
• Collaborate with team members to identify work flows, timescales and where support is required.

Role responsibilities:

• Operate a range of standard office equipment to process, record and store data and information for a large part of the role according to procedures.
• Collate data and information into standard report formats/packs for team members, committees and/or service users.
• Update and maintain information lists for different purposes within the role.
• Carry out straightforward tasks and assist team members to collate and prepare resources for distribution.
• Archive information and documentation in accordance with security and statutory requirements.
• Carry out first-level process checks and actions to ensure payments, resources and information is handled safely and securely.
• Provide advice to help signpost appropriate services for service users.
• Assist team members to carry out stock and inventory checks.
• Respond to first-line queries from suppliers, stakeholders and contacts where necessary.
• Any other reasonable duties.

Role requirements

• May be required to work evenings and weekends, as business demands.
• Maintain the strictest confidentiality at all times, both within and outside the University.
• Will be required to wear a uniform.
• Attend all training and development, as required.

Recruiting to this post

In order to be considered for interview, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification below (including those listed in the section ‘Realising Your Potential Approach’).

In some cases, the recruiting panel may also consider the desirable criteria, so we recommend you evidence all criteria in your application.

Please note that some criteria will only be considered at interview stage.

How to apply

We prefer to receive applications online.

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.dur.ac.uk/ig/dp/privacy/pnjobapplicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.

What you are required to submit

1. A CV.
2. A covering letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in all of the requirements set out in the Realising Your Potential Approach
3. Examples of how you satisfy the essential criteria in the person specification, this will require completion of the 'Questionnaire' application section.

For external applicants, when evidencing the Realising Your Potential Behaviour Approach elements in your Cover Letter, please use examples from your current/previous organisations in instances where the ‘University’ is referenced.

Please ensure that you submit all documentation listed above or your application will not be considered.

Contact details

For further information please contact: Bernie Taylor or Daryll Duffy, email: bussupport.teamleader@durham.ac.uk.

At Durham University, our aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work.  We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force, including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails.

Person specification - skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience required

Essential

1. Good IT skills, including use of Microsoft Office
2. Five GCSEs at least Grade C or Level Four (or equivalent) including English Language and Mathematics (or equivalent experience)
3. NVQ Level III in Business Administration (or equivalent) or relevant experience working in a similar roleJob 
4. General administrative experience in an office environment, including the maintenance of efficient administrative processes
5. Experience of working as part of a team in a customer-focussed service to ensure the delivery of a wide range of high quality services
6. Proven ability to organise and deliver work, without close supervision
7. Demonstrable ability to provide advice and guidance to a range of customers and colleagues
8. Experience of managing time and prioritising high-volume, varied workloads, in order to meet, often conflicting, deadlines
9. Exceptional attention to detail and high levels of accuracy

Desirable

1. Evidence of personal development to maintain skills
2. RSA Level III word processing qualification (or equivalent)

Realising Your Potential Approach

Providing Excellent Student Services and Professional Support: Providing the best quality service to all our students, customers and stakeholders. Building genuine and long-term relationships, through every day interactions, in order to drive up service standards and to enhance their experience.

1. Resolving problems efficiently in a cheerful, friendly manner.
2. Being clear about where you can be flexible, where you cannot, and why.

Achieving Results: Planning and organising workloads to ensure that deadlines are met within resource constraints. Consistently meeting objectives and success criteria.

1. Taking personal responsibility for getting things done.
2. Maintaining a high standard of work, even when under pressure.
3. Working effectively to meet deadlines.

Developing Myself and Others: Showing commitment to own development and supporting and encouraging others to develop their knowledge, skills and behaviours to enable them to reach their full potential for the wider benefit of the University.

1. Using all situations as potential learning opportunities.
2. Proactively engaging in formal and informal learning and development activities.
3. Demonstrating self-motivation.

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.