Executive Assistant

Purpose of the Post

This post holder will be responsible for:

o Providing organisation and supervision of all administrative activities that facilitate the efficient functioning of the office of Chief Financial Officer. This includes the provision and co-ordination of secretarial and operational support to the CFO.

o Co-ordinating and managing the preparation of documentation in respect of meetings arranged for and those attended by the CFO.

o Aiding the Business Managers in ensuring that the CFO is furnished with all required papers, (including concise summaries of key information and up-to-date data) and that they are fully and accurately briefed well in advance of any required attendances.

o Managing the CFO email and calendar and ensuring that all agendas are in place and CFO understands all upcoming meetings.

Principal Duties & Responsibilities

The role of Executive Assistant can be broken into the following principal areas of responsibility:

Administration:

• Operation and management of the CFO email account, including responsibility for ensuring responses to correspondence are prepared within suitable timeframes and available to the CFO by liaising directly with relevant members of Senior Finance Team/ Finance Division or others.

• Keeping the CFO fully apprised of all daily events requiring his attention or awareness.

• Management of the CFO’s diary, meeting requests, associated briefing material.

• Dealing appropriately and efficiently with communications, queries, callers or visitors to the office, and provision of all administrative support required by the CFO.

• Creating agendas, booking rooms, adding catering, collating and distribution of documents and taking minutes for Senior Management meetings.

• Management and associated filing / storage of documentation –email archives, personnel and other filing systems (shared folders) – from receipt in the office to transmission to other parts of the HSE or external stakeholders.

• Provision of cover to colleagues during periods of leave or absence.

• Point of contact for CFO’s direct reports (including ND of Procurement and Senior Finance Team (SFT)).

• Work with the PA in the Office of the CFO to ensure appropriate and efficient management of the CFO email and calendar.

• Review all emails before highlighting most important ones to CFO.

• Responsibility of the management of CFO’s calendar. Ensuring agendas and paperwork are attached to all meeting invites in a timely manner.

• Complete tasks/actions delegated by the CFO and the Business Managers.

Finance:

• Process invoices on SAP in compliance with the National Financial Regulations and Prompt Payment Act.

Human Resources

• Approve annual leave, travel and subsistence, run reports on SAP for CFO direct reports and staff in Office.

• Engage in the HSE performance achievement process in conjunction with your Line Manager as appropriate.

• Promote good working practices and uniformity of standards.

• Participate in the development of staff including training and continual assessment.

• Provide HR and recruitment support to assigned team/unit and act as first point of contact for HR issues.

• Work with HR & Finance specialists to ensure adherence to the legislative framework & internal HSE policies and procedures.

Information / Communications

• Development and maintenance of good working relationships with the members of the Senior Finance Team, Finance leadership team and other key internal and external stakeholders.

• Liaise with other National Director offices to promote interdepartmental knowledge sharing.

• Develop efficient and effective internal and external communication with other directorates, relevant bodies and the general public.

• Co-ordinate the implementation of decisions of senior management.

Change Management:

• Promote and participate in the implementation of change.

• Proactively identify inequities / inefficiencies in service administration and implement solutions to improve service delivery.

• Encourage and support staff through change process.

General

• Maintain own knowledge of relevant HSE policies, procedures, guidelines and practices, to perform the role effectively and to ensure current work standards are met by own team.

• Maintain own knowledge of relevant regulations and legislation e.g. National Financial Regulations, Health and Safety Legislation, Employment Legislation, FOI Acts etc.

• Ensure consistent adherence to procedures within area of responsibility.

• Ensure consistent adherence to policy and legislation governing the HSE.

• Adequately identifies, assesses, manages and monitors risk within their area of responsibility.

The above Job Specification is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to them from time to time and to contribute to the development of the post while in office.

Eligibility Criteria

Qualifications and/ or experience

1. Professional Qualifications, Experience, etc

(a) Eligible applicants will be those who on the closing date for the competition:

i) Have satisfactory experience as a clerical officer in the HSE, TUSLA, other statutory health agencies, or a body which provides services on behalf of the HSE under Section 38 of the Health Act 2004

Or

ii) Have obtained a pass (Grade D) in at least five subjects from the approved list of subjects in the Department of Education Leaving Certificate Examination, including Mathematics and English or Irish1. Candidates should have obtained at least Grade C on higher level papers in three subjects in that examination.

Or

iii) Have completed a relevant examination at a comparable standard in any equivalent examination in another jurisdiction.

Or

iv) Hold a comparable and relevant third level qualification of at least level 6 on the National Qualifications Framework maintained by Qualifications and Quality Ireland, (QQI).

Note1: Candidates must achieve a pass in Ordinary or Higher level papers. A pass in a foundation level paper is not acceptable.

Candidates must have achieved these grades on the Leaving Certificate Established programme or the Leaving Certificate Vocational programme.

The Leaving Certification Applied Programme does not fulfil the eligibility criteria.

And

(b) Candidates must possess the requisite knowledge and ability, including a high standard of suitability, for the proper discharge of the office.

Health

A candidate for and any person holding the office must be fully competent and capable of undertaking the duties attached to the office and be in a state of health such as would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service.

Character

Each candidate for and any person holding the office must be of good character.

Post Specific Requirements

• Significant administrative experience working in a busy office environment, and working collaboratively with multiple internal and external stakeholders, as relevant to this role.

• Experience in managing competing demands and delivering multiple concurrent pieces of work within a required timeframe.

• Experience providing diary management and in professional writing to include dealing with correspondence and email communications, the preparation of documents, reports, drafting of presentation materials, as relevant to the role.

Other requirements specific to the post

• A flexible approach to working hours is required in order to ensure deadlines are met.

• Access to appropriate transport to fulfil the requirements of the role

Additional eligibility requirements

Citizenship Requirements

Eligible candidates must be:

(i) EEA, Swiss, or British citizens

OR

(ii) Non-European Economic Area citizens with permission to reside and work in the State

Read Appendix 2 of the Additional Campaign Information for further information on accepted Stamps for Non-EEA citizens resident in the State, including those with refugee status.

To qualify candidates must be eligible by the closing date of the campaign.

Skills, competencies and/or knowledge Professional Knowledge & Experience

Demonstrates:

• A broad knowledge understanding of the National Finance and Procurement Division.

• Knowledge of the HSE, the broader health service structure, health service reform as set out in Sláintecare and the current key challenges and developments in the Health Service.

• Significant experience of operating in an EA capacity for a senior executive

• Significant experience in the creation of professional documents and presentations

• Significant experience in a role that has involved dealing with senior managers and other key internal and external stakeholders

• Excellent organisational and time management skills to meet objectives within agreed timeframes and achieve quality results.

• Experience of supervising the workload of a busy office

• Excellent writing skills and attention to detail.

• Awareness and appreciation of service users and stakeholders

• Maximise the use of ICT, demonstrating excellent computer skills particularly Microsoft Office, suite of programs.

• Experience in computer coding is desirable but not necessary.

• Commitment to developing own professional knowledge and expertise.

• The ability to work on a self-directed basis.

Planning and Managing Resources

• Demonstrate the ability to effectively plan and manage own workload and that of others in an effective and methodical manner within strict deadlines, ensuring deadlines are met.

• Prioritises effectively to manage multiple projects concurrently, structuring and re-organising own workload and that of others as needed.

• Demonstrates responsibility and accountability for the timely delivery of agreed objectives.

Commitment to a Quality Service

• Practices and promotes a strong focus on delivering high quality customer service for internal and external customers and an awareness and appreciation of the service user.

• Proactively identifies areas for improvement and develops practical solutions for their implementation.

• Embraces and promotes the change agenda, supporting others through change and effectively seeing it through.

• Demonstrate flexibility and initiative during challenging times and an ability to persevere despite setbacks.

Evaluating Information, Problem Solving & Decision Making

• Demonstrate numeracy skills, an ability to analyse and evaluate information, considering a range of critical factors in making effective decisions. Recognises when it is appropriate to refer decisions to a higher level of management.

• Demonstrate initiative in the resolution of complex issues / problem solving and proactively develop new proposals and recommend solutions.

• Ability to make sound decisions with a well-reasoned rationale and to stand by these as appropriate.

Team working

• Demonstrate an ability to work as part of the team in establishing a shared sense of purpose and unity.

• The ability to work with the team to facilitate high performance, developing clear and realistic objectives.

• Demonstrates leadership; creating a team spirit, leading by example, coaching and supporting individuals to facilitate high performance and staff development.

• Demonstrate a commitment to promoting a culture of involvement and consultation within the team, welcoming contributions from others.

Communications & Interpersonal Skills

• Demonstrate excellent communication and interpersonal skills including the ability to present information in a clear, concise and confident manner (verbally and written).

• Demonstrate the ability to influence people and events and the ability to build and maintain relationships with a variety of stakeholders to assist in performing the role.

• Demonstrate commitment to regular two-way communication across functions and levels, ensuring that messages are clearly understood.

Tenure

The current vacancy available is permanent and whole-time.

The post is pensionable. A panel may be created from which permanent and specified purpose vacancies of full or part time duration may be filled. The tenure of these posts will be indicated at “expression of interest” stage.

Appointment as an employee of the Health Service Executive is governed by the Health Act 2004 and the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointment) Act 2004.