Apprentice Democratic and Electoral Services Officer (Fixed term until 31.12.2024)

Salary details: £21575 - £21968

Apprentice Democratic and Electoral Services Officer

37 hours per week - Fixed term until 31.12.2024

Salary £21,575 - £21,968 per annum 

County Hall, Dorchester

What’s in it for you:

This is an opportunity for eligible pathway to employment individuals such as care leavers, young carers, young people with an educational health care plan and adults with Care Act eligible needs. This position is offered as an apprenticeship and you will be completing a Level 3 Business Administration qualification where you will be provided with a tutor and support.

Our apprenticeships are designed to give you the hands-on experience needed, that brings out the best in you, with real responsibilities, real challenges, real projects and scope to grow your career.

Undertaking this apprenticeship you will gain a highly transferable set of knowledge, skills and behaviours that can be applied in all sectors. In addition to learning how to develop, implement, maintain and improve administrative services in the organisation, you will develop key skills and behaviours to support your own progression towards management responsibilities.

You must deliver your responsibilities efficiently and with integrity, showing a positive attitude. As part of the apprenticeship you will develop and demonstrate strong communication skills and adopt a proactive approach to developing skills. You are also expected to show initiative, managing priorities and own time, problem solving skills and decision-making.

The apprenticeship will run alongside this role with dedicated time allocated during your working hours to undertake the apprenticeship. Your employment contract will be supplemented with an Apprenticeship Agreement for the duration of the apprenticeship, which will enable you to spend 20% of your time on apprenticeship work. Additional work in your own time may also be required to complete your apprenticeship. 

What you can expect to be doing:

This is an exciting opportunity for an apprentice to assist with work demands of the Democratic & Electoral Services Team in the administration of the council's committee meetings and elections. You will work on a variety of tasks including:

- Processing of registration and canvass forms and Voter Authority Certificates
- Processing of postal and proxy vote applications
- Assistance with the preparation of elections
- Organising committee meetings and taking minutes
- Dealing with communications from councillors and members of the public
- Administration of school appeals
- Providing administrative and training support to 82 councillors

Under supervision and guidance you will assist with being a point of contact for councillors, officers and members of the public (answering the telephone and responding to emails), meeting co-ordination and management and preparation and distribution of agenda.

You will be expected to work to tight deadlines and be willing to be flexible in your day to day working, prepared to work extended hours, including evenings and occasional weekends in the busy period leading up to elections taking place. 

About you:

You will be over aged18+ as election work can involve long hours due to the polling hours and the need to attend the overnight count of votes.

You will have a good working knowledge and experience of using a wide range of IT applications including Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams with a positive 'can do' attitude. Ideally you will possess the skills to deal with difficult people sensitively and assertively. 

Contact details:

Susan Dallison

susan.dallison@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

+44 1305 252216

Dorset Council: A great place to work

We’re passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.

At Dorset Council we:

• provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents
• have ambitious aspirations
• are excited about our future
• care about Dorset and all the people who live here
• know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success

You will:

• have access to a range of employee benefits
• be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed
• have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression

We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. We have a commitment to equality and welcome applications from everyone.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.

We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.

We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours. We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.

If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.

Additional information:

You will require a basic DBS check and hold a driving licence and access to a car. 

This post requires you to have access to sensitive information. It will be subject to a Basic Criminal Records Check. See our policy on the employment of ex-offenders.

This is an opportunity for someone who is eligible under the pathway to employment scheme to undertake an apprenticeship in the Democratic and Electoral Services Team.

This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.

We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.

We cannot accept CVs in the place of an application form as we need the same range of information from all our candidates.

Find out more about how to apply. 

Skills required:

High degree of computer literacy
Excellent Organisational skills
Excellent Communication skills
Ability to take minutes at meetings

Personal qualities:

Confidence in dealing with people, hardworking, flexible and presentable

Qualifications Required:

4 GCSE's at Grade C or above including Maths and English

Things to consider:

Is a local authority apprenticeship right for you?

Questions:

Question 1 - Why have you chosen to apply for an apprenticeship?

Question 2 - Can you describe the role of a Dorset Council Councillor?