Business Support Assistant - Leadership Support Team (Apprentice)

Are you highly organised and motivated? Are you looking for a new challenge? 

Dorset Council is seeking to appoint a proactive organised individual who has great attention to detail, works well in a team, and has a keen interest to learn.  You will be reporting to the Business Manager of the Chief Executive’s Office and will join the Leadership Support Team of PA’s, who will support and guide you as you progress in the role, ensuring the delivery of a high-quality customer focused service.

This is an excellent opportunity to gain exposure at a senior level in local government, improving your skills and knowledge to develop your career. You will work towards completing a Level 3 Business Administration Apprenticeship.

What you will be doing 

This is a fantastic opportunity to join the Leadership Support Team to assist with work demands for the Senior Leadership Team (Chief Executive and Executive Directors) and Business Manager. You will work on a variety of tasks including:

• Providing a range of administrative support to the Business Manager and Senior Leadership Teams
•  Correspondence processing and monitoring (letters and email inboxes)
•  Organising meetings, workshops and events
•  Undertaking financial functions - including procurement, payments and invoice processing

There will be the opportunity to build on customer care skills by way of answering calls, emails and collecting visitors. 

Under supervision and guidance you will assist with diary & task management, being a first point of contact (screening telephone calls & emails), meeting/event coordination & management (including arranging hospitality), distributing agendas, minute taking etc. There will also be the opportunity to assist with duties for the wider Corporate Leadership Team.

About you  

You will have good working knowledge and experience of using a wide range of IT applications including Microsoft Outlook, Teams, Word, PowerPoint and Excel with a positive ‘can do’ attitude. Good written communication skills are essential.

You will work with colleagues and alongside our most experienced PAs to resolve problems and to learn about Dorset Council, gaining experience working with our directorates. You will be able to prioritise and work to deadlines as well as working on your own initiative or as part of a team.

Ideally you will possess the skills to deal with difficult people sensitively and assertively.

If you require any further details or would like an informal chat regarding the role please contact Liza Exton, Business Manager – Chief Executive’s Office on [email protected] .

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.

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.

Find out more about how to apply.