Executive Assistant

Here at East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust,

Our mission is: Providing high-quality, compassionate care for our communities

Our vision to 2030 is: To be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service

Job overview

We are recruiting for an Executive Assistant who shares our vision to be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service to our patients.

To provide confidential and comprehensive support our Director and Deputy of Estates & Facilities. Incorporating secretarial, administrative, and clerical support.

To assist in delivering projects by drawing up action plans, preparing presentations, organising stakeholders’ events (including organising speakers).

At the heart of everything we do are our core values: Include, Respect, and Improve. We encourage you to embrace these values throughout the recruitment process and in your role with us.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth operation of the office, with a focus on managing the director’s diary, organising events and conferences, and handling correspondence with professionalism and confidentiality.

Organise conferences, events, and meetings by sourcing venues, coordinating speakers, and sending invitations to participants and guests. Ensure all necessary details, including confirmations and joining instructions, are prepared and communicated effectively.

Manage the diary of the Director/Deputy Director, prioritising meetings, appointments, and reflective work time. Respond promptly and professionally to all queries, correspondence, and telephone calls, always ensuring clear and effective communication.

Proven experience in an executive support role or similar, ideally at a senior level. Exceptional organisational skills with the ability to multitask and manage competing priorities.

Strong communication skills, both written and verbal. Ability to work independently and exercise judgment in decision-making. Strong attention to detail and time management. Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) or equivalent tools

Working for our organisation

At East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust, we are proud of the range of general & specialist services we provide & our 6,000 or so dedicated staff ensure our patients get the best care. Our ability to be flexible & innovative in the way in which we work and deliver our services to our catchment has never been more important than it is now.

We run the following hospitals:

• The Lister Hospital, Stevenage
• New Queen Elizabeth II (New QEII), Welwyn Garden City
• Hertford County, Hertford
• Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (MVCC), Northwood

We have ambitious plans to become an outstanding, patient-led Trust where dedicated staff provide high-quality, compassionate care to our patients. We continue to undergo significant transformation; our staff & patients are at the heart of delivering this ambitious agenda.

We are committed to a positive work life balance for our employees. Employees are entitled to seek to work flexible working patterns & we are committed to listen and consider all requests. Such requests, of course, have to be made & considered formally, & will need to be balanced against service needs, but our starting point will always be to find ways to support making them happen.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification applicant pack for further detailed information regarding this role

Person specification

Previous Experience

• Substantial experience in use of IT systems e.g. Word, internet, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Outlook & MS Teams
• Experience of working to tight deadlines and under pressure
• Experience of negotiating and obtaining information
• Experience of analysing and presenting data

Qualifications / Training

• Able to demonstrate a good level of general education to Grade C and above GCSE level in Mathematics and English or equivalent.
• RSA III or equivalent and/or Word Processing
• NVQ Level 3 Administration qualification or equivalenr
• Advanced IT Skills in MS Office, including MS Outlook & MS Teams

• Audio Typing
• Secretarial qualifications
• Minute taking qualification

Skills

• Ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team and establish good working relationships at all levels
• Ability to arrange and minute meetings, develop agendas and supporting documents, chase actions etc
• Ability to work and act on own initiative
• Ability to demonstrate excellent communication skills both orally and written
• Ability to work to tight deadlines and under pressure
• Ability to complete tasks and projects on time and to a high standard, demonstrating a can-do attitude
• Excellent organisational skills
• Proactive – to anticipate difficulties and deal with them with minimal reference to the Director
• Ability to work in a highly demanding and pressurised environment
• Ability to deal with challenging situations
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to manage and organise own workload
• Regularly demonstrates a positive attitude and is patient focused ensuring that the needs of our patients are maintained and managed appropriately

Knowledge

• Previous experience of working as a Personal Assistant
• Previous experience of supporting at Director Level

• Experience of working in the NHS

Other

• Willingness to work flexibly
• Understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity
• Role model our Trust values every day
• Resilience

Our values

We want our staff to believe in, demonstrate and live our values in everything we do.

Include

We value the diversity and experience of our community colleagues and partners, creating relationships and climates that provide an opportunity to share, collaborate and grow together.

Respect

We create a safe environment where we are curious of the lived experience of others, seek out best practice and are open to listening and hearing new ideas.

Improve

We are committed to consistently delivering excellent services and continuously looking to improve through a creative workforce that feels empowered to act in service of our shared purpose.

Committed to our Community

In particular we encourage applications from candidates with disabilities, and candidates from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds who are currently under-represented in various parts of our workforce .

We understand the importance of balancing work and home life. We are committed to support flexible working for our staff wherever possible and all our employees are given the opportunity to discuss potential for flexible working.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and achieved our status in 2019.

We will remove barriers that prospective candidates might face at any stage of our recruitment process. If you have a disability and would like the advert in an alternative format, or would like to talk about how we can adjust the interview process to best support you, please contact us by emailing [email protected]

We are also proud to support our UK armed forces by supporting Reservists, Cadet Instructors, Veterans and military spouses/partners into employment and offering supportive policies that value their contribution to the community and to our Trust.

Our approach is inclusive, recognizing diverse challenges and creating a supportive environment where carers feel valued.

When you apply...

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date in certain circumstances. Please ensure that you make your application as soon as possible.

All correspondence relating to vacancies will be via the e-mail address you have provided on your application form. Some servers automatically send e-mails to your junk mail so please check as well as your inbox.

As a publicly funded employer, we need to ensure we utilise our funds responsibly, this may mean we are unable to support sponsorship required to gain the right to work for particular positions. We strongly advise you to contact the line manager or a member of the Resourcing Team before applying to confirm if we will be able to support with sponsorship for that post.

King's Trust Support

Please contact Enquiries.H&[email protected] for support.

Secondments/Fixed term

Where a vacancy is advertised as a temporary position, the duration will be specified in the advert. If the vacancy becomes permanent towards the end of the specified duration, the successful applicant may not be required to re-apply and can be slotted into the role on a permanent basis if appropriate.

If you are an internal applicant applying for a temporary working arrangement, please see the attached notes on secondments.