About the Role

To provide support for the School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care (HWSC) team in the management and delivery of current and future School programmes in Nursing, Social Work, and Health and Social Care.

The Team Assistant forms a vital link between Academics, Faculty Coordinators, Practice Based Learning Assistants, Associate Lecturers, Practice Tutors, Students, Employers, external organisations and other areas of The Open University.

This post is available on a 0.5FTE basis (18.5 hours)

Key Responsibilities

• Accessing, using and maintaining management information systems and sending out information for the HWSC programmes;
• Maintaining accurate databases for the HWSC programmes and providing up to date information as required;
• Support, maintenance and updating of external partner details using a range of different IT applications, including Microsoft Office products and university systems;
• Organising and supporting a variety of internal and external meetings with internal and external stakeholders; 
• Responsible for taking minutes at internal and external meetings and events;
• Providing administrative support for the HWSC programmes and Staff Tutors/Faculty Coordinators/Practice Based Learning Assistants;
• Contributing to the induction and training of others, both within the team and other teams within HWSC programmes;
• Supporting the distribution of confidential reports to external stakeholders, and schedule reporting timetable, liaising with colleagues to ensure the accuracy of content;
• Undertaking any other duties as required to support the HWSC programmes that reasonably fit within the range of duties and responsibilities of the post; 
• Complying with the university’s Health and Safety and Equal Opportunities policies in the performance of their duties.
   

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Demonstrable experience in successful administrative work and developing administration systems; 
• Excellent organisation and communication skills with the ability to express ideas clearly both orally and in writing;
• To analyse and interpret numerical data and disseminate information effectively;
• Excellent interpersonal skills with experience in building good relationships, using tact, discretion and own initiative and managing, organising or coordinating others;
• Experience of working effectively either alone (able to use own initiative) or in a team (cooperatively), and comfortable with working under pressure;
• Excellent information and communication technology skills, including the ability to use Microsoft applications including Word, Excel & Outlook, and experience of using databases, spreadsheets and templates; 
• Willingness to develop existing skills, as well as to learn new ones;
• Ability to work to deadlines and prioritise tasks, using initiative and discretion to action items requiring immediate attention, referring matters to others as appropriate;
• Experience of working with confidential information and awareness of the principles of data protection issues; 
• Knowledge of and commitment to the OU mission, including equality and diversity issues.

Desirable:

• Knowledge of the local context of the post;
• Experience of higher education either as a student or through employment;
• Experience of working within a professional health or social care setting;
• Familiarity with distance learning and the teaching methodology of the OU.

Essential Requirements

As part of the application process, you will be expected to submit your CV and a Supporting Statement (max 1000 words) that demonstrates how you meet the essential/desirable criteria listed above. 

Key Information

Interview date: To be confirmed

Flexible working patterns will be considered. 

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Northern Ireland office it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. 

Full time starting salary is £26,642 to £27,344 per annum, with potential progression when in post to £29,659 per annum. Internal candidates already within the salary banding will remain on their current spinal point as per policy.

Early closing date notification 
We may close this job advert earlier than the published closing date where a satisfactory number of applications are received. We would therefore encourage early applications. 

To apply for this role please submit the following;

CV and Supporting Statement, up to 1,000 words. You should set out in your statement why you’re interested in this role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the required competencies for this role as detailed in the above essential and desirable criteria.