Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Private Secretary to Directors (Buildings, Fire and Resilience Group)
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Bristol, Darlington, Leeds, London, Manchester, Wolverhampton
Job Summary
The postholder is responsible for the effective day-to-day running of one Director’s office, operating with autonomy and judgement within agreed ways of working set by the Head of Office.
They will report to the relevant Head of Office (SEO or G7) and work as part of a wider private office function, helping to deliver consistent support, agreed ways of working and shared service standards.
Job Description
Key Responsibilities
- Coordinate and commission briefings, advice and information for the Director, ensuring quality, clarity and timely delivery, and quality-assure submissions, briefings, correspondence and presentations in line with their preferences.
- Maintain oversight of the Director’s priorities, commissions, inbox and follow-up actions, ensuring business is well organised, deadlines are met and emerging issues are surfaced promptly.
- Support the implementation of office-wide systems and ways of working set by the Head of Office, providing feedback on what is working well and where improvements are needed.
- Manage meetings and follow-up, including agendas, notes, action tracking and read-outs. Build strong working relationships across the Directorate, private offices, the wider Department and external stakeholders, representing the Director professionally in routine engagement.
- Coordinate the Director’s internal communications, including agendas for regular meetings, drafting routine updates for review, issuing responses on their behalf to straightforward enquiries, and overseeing relevant group email lists to support effective communications across the directorate.
- Support routine directorate coordination for the Director’s office, including forward looks, returns and other agreed business management tasks, including coordinating Director’s administration of corporate schemes such as the Exceptional Performance Scheme, working closely with EO diary managers and other support staff to ensure diary pressures, briefing deadlines, actions and key meetings are managed coherently.
- Provide an evolving service in response to principal’s and business needs.
Person specification
- Strong IT skills, including confidence using Microsoft Office applications
- Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and competing priorities.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information clearly and concisely.
- Sound judgement and confidence to act independently, including knowing when to escalate issues.
- Ability to build effective relationships and work collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders.
- Resilience and flexibility, responding positively to changing priorities and pressure.
- Discretion when handling sensitive information.
- Experience of coordinating senior business and handling sensitive material in a fast-paced environment.
Alongside your salary of £36,169, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £10,478 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Staff Benefits Scheme, Childcare Vouchers, and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
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Selection process details
Application and Selection
The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:
- Behaviours
- Experience
- Strengths
Please ensure your CV does not contain any personally identifiable information.
Note: We do not consider direct CV applications. All applications must be submitted via the provided application link.
Important: Your CV and Cover Letter must be merged into a single document before uploading.
Stage 1: Sift (CV & Cover Letter)
Experience: To apply for these roles, please provide a CV and short personal statement of no more than 1000 words, setting out why you’re a good fit for the role and how you meet the essential criteria, drawing on relevant examples where possible.
If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.
Stage 2: Interview
Behaviours: Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together. Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.
Sift and Interview Dates
Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 17/08.
Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 31/08 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.
Disability Confident Scheme (DCS)
We are a Disability Confident employer.
We apply a fair and proportionate interview process for all candidates. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to progress candidates who apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and meet the required minimum selection criteria.
However, where high application volumes are received, progression to interview may be limited to those who best meet the role criteria. In these circumstances, the benchmark required to proceed to interview may be raised for all candidates.
How We Recruit
Find out more about our recruitment processes here.
Applying Sifting Interview Interview Results & Feedback Reserve List Near Miss Civil Service Grades We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer Reasonable Adjustments
How To Apply
Find out everything you need to know before applying here.
You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.
Security Clearance Requirements Civil Service Nationality Requirements Right to Work Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles CV Declaration Sponsorships Salary and Grade Existing Civil Servants Conflict of Interest Location and Flexible Working Internal Fraud Database Appeals and Complaints Fixed Term Appointments for: External Candidates Existing Civil Servants (Including Loans) Secondments MHCLG employees
Security Clearance Requirements
National Office: BPSS
London Office: BPSS + CTC
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
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Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact
Name: Billy Green Email: Billy.Green@communities.gov.uk
Recruitment team
Email: recruitment@communities.gov.uk
Further information
About
If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:
- a procedural irregularity
- an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy
- exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.
It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.
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