Business Support Officer - Operations Business Services - 14053

This is an incredibly exciting time to join the ‘Businesslike’ and ‘People Programme’ teams within Operations Business Services (OBS). These roles are integral in helping us deliver projects to benefit the whole of the Environment Agency (EA).

Our Businesslike team ensure our data, information and processes support officers, leaders and managers make the right decisions at the right time, whilst our People Programme own and coordinate the people priorities for Operations, to enable a professional, diverse and progressive workforce reflecting the communities that we serve.

You will be responsible for managing sensitive and confidential information from both internal and external sources, so a high level of discretion and awareness of GDPR is important.

You will be passionate about the work of the Environment Agency and have an interest in our outreach and engagement activities combined with the ability to think differently to overcome problems, and identify better ways of working

Being of a pragmatic nature, prioritising will come naturally to you allowing you the ability to achieve timely outcomes in line with policies and procedures.

Exceptional communication skills are required to support campaign leads, recruiting managers and points of contact across the organisation.

Operations Business Services are an inclusive, hard-working department. Our vision is for the organisation to thrive and improve, both now and in the future.

We provide services that; put people first, provide excellent delivery and shape an outstanding organisation. We enable our customers to create a better place through; an inspirational people programme, simpler more effective business planning and performance, unlocking the benefits of change and improvement, ensuring risk and assurance improves our decisions.

You are likely to be an experienced professional administrator and have excellent organisational skills. You will ideally have a good understanding of the data management and / or recruitment policies and processes of the Environment Agency.
You will need:
• Exceptional attention to detail
• The ability to deal with confidential, high profile and sensitive information
• Excellent communication skills - the ability to build strong networks/ relationships
• The ability to prioritise incoming tasks
• To be a self-starter and work proactively on your own
• To work efficiently and effectively at a fast pace to shifting deadlines and parameters
• Good planning skills with the ability to handle multiple priorities and deliver to tight timescales
• Be familiar and competent using EA / Microsoft systems.

There are two full-time, permanent positions available. The Environment Agency are fully committed to having an inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve.

We welcome flexible working patterns for all our vacancies, including job share.

We are offering these posts with the opportunity to complete an ‘Intelligence Analyst’ or ‘Business Administration’ apprenticeship as part of the role, in addition to our extensive range of employee benefits (See candidate pack for more details).

As part of a national team some travel and overnight stays may be required.

For more information regarding these roles please contact James Bax, National Workforce Coordination Manager; james.bax@environment-agency.gov.uk or 07795 452198 or Jack Skelhorn, Programme Manager – Businesslike Team; jack.skelhorn@environment-agency.gov.uk or 07584202520.

PLEASE NOTE: Your answer will be used for interview selection - please draw out your skills and experience in your response.

Please describe a time when you had to support the delivery of a project?

• What did you take personal responsibility for?
• Why was this so important?
• How did you help ensure the objective was achieved?

You may find it helpful to research the STAR approach when formulating your response.

PLEASE NOTE: Your answer will be used for interview selection - please draw out your skills and experience in your response.

In your current/last role, what information were you responsible for collating and communicating to others?

• What was the information you were collating and communicating?
• How did you ensure the information was appropriate for the audience?
• How did you communicate the information?
• How did you know the audience understood what you delivered?

You may find it helpful to research the STAR approach when formulating your response.

PLEASE NOTE: Your answer will be used for interview selection - please draw out your skills and experience in your response.

Please describe an occasion when you have had to gather information from a variety of sources.

• How did you go about gathering the information required?
• How did you ensure you understood all of the information?
• How did you pull all the different pieces of information together?

You may find it helpful to research the STAR approach when formulating your response.