Do you have a talent for minuting and strong organisational skills? Work in a supportive team and being valued in a job that makes a difference to the lives of others?
Fostering, Placements and Permanence service is part of the Families, Children and Wellbeing directorate. You will be part of our business support / administrative team, performing specialist and general administrative duties and supporting our Fostering and Kinship Panel.
There are two positions available: 37 hours (full time) and 24 hours.
There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact Vera Abbott (Business Support Manager) by email [email protected]
About the Role
You will provide an efficient and effective clerical service to the Panel and its members. You will be involved in setting Panel dates, coordinating forms and documents and preparing Panel paperwork, minuting complex Panel discussions and following this up by updating our systems and circulating necessary documents after. General duties may include answering telephone and email enquiries providing customer-focused information to people who contact the team (service users and other professional agencies), database recording, dealing with some financial queries and supporting Panel Advisor and members, pod managers and social workers. It is essential that you have the ability to communicate effectively in person, by telephone and in writing and to manage an evolving workload using your time management skills.
You will have experience of working in a busy office environment with the ability to prioritise your workload around the demands of the service and strict deadlines. This role involves the use of various computer packages and requires you to be able to monitor and analyse data as well as running reports to ensure adherence to statutory deadlines. First impressions count so we are looking for an enthusiastic, organized, confident and self-directed administrator to represent our service.
Key skills you can offer:
- A flexible, adaptable approach to work with ability to multitask effectively according to business priorities
- Ability to deal with confidential information tactfully and with discretion
- Accuracy and attention to detail
- Competent in working with Outlook and Microsoft Office packages
- Inputting and retrieval of data on service-based IT system
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).
Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
- be connected
- be confident
- be innovative and creative
- be diverse and inclusive
- be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.
How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours.
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
