Friday, August 4, 2017

Staff Assistant, New York (G-5) Department of Political Affairs Closing date: Tuesday, 8 August 2017


Staff Assistant, 
New York (G-5)  
Department of Political Affairs 
Closing date: Tuesday, 8 August 2017
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Responsibilities
Under the overall supervision of the chief of the unit, the Staff Assistant will be responsible for the following duties: 

• Performs, under minimal supervision, the full range of office management and administrative support functions.
• Provides assistance to the chief and team leader of the unit, including the following: Maintaining the calendar/schedules; preparing travel requirements and materials; monitoring changes and communicate relevant information to appropriate staff inside and outside MSU; screening phone calls and visitor requests; helping in the recruitment and hiring of staff and consultants within MSU
• Maintains liaison with the Executive Office and with senior officials in other units regarding on-going programmes and other administrative matters; monitors processes and schedules related to the unit’s outputs, products, tasks, etc.
• Facilitate and keep detailed track of deployments of the Standby Team of Senior Mediation Experts managed by MSU.
• Ensures smooth and efficient information flow within the unit; prepares and processes confidential information; assists in the development of office administrative systems and procedures.
• Researches, compiles and summarizes background materials for use in preparation of reports, briefs, speeches, etc.
• Provides assistance in the coordination of service-wide activities (meetings, training, etc.), special projects and events. 
• Orients new staff to relevant administrative procedures and practices and provides general assistance to other office support staff, as required.
• Attends meetings, prepares minutes, monitors follow-up activities.
• Responds or drafts responses to a wide range of correspondence and other communications; uses standard word processing package to produce a wide variety of large, complex documents and reports.
• Manages, updates and further develops internal databases; updates website; generates a variety of standard and non-standard statistical and other reports from various databases. 
• Carries out quality control function for outgoing documents; proofreads and edits texts for adherence for format, grammar, punctuation and style.
• Responds to complex information requests and inquiries (e.g. answers requests requiring file search, etc.).
• Assists tracking of the Unit's project expenditures from extra-budgetary (XB) funds.
• Assists in the preparation of presentation materials using appropriate technology/software.
• May provide some specialized support to unit (e.g. technology support, editing, desktop publishing, etc.).
• Maintains calendar/schedules; monitors changes and communicate relevant information to appropriate staff inside and outside the immediate work unit.
• Performs a variety of administrative duties (e.g. leave recording, meeting organization, reservations, office supply and equipment orders, etc.), including preparing and/or processing administrative requests/documents (e.g., travel requests, expense claims, vouchers, visa applications, etc.).
• Maintains files (both paper and electronic) and databases for work unit including serving as MSU focal point for various management tools (e.g. UMOJA, Unite Docs).
• Provides administrative support to MSU teams as required. 
• Performs other duties as assigned.
Competencies
• PROFESSIONALISM: Knowledge of general office and administrative support including administrative policies, processes and procedures. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Commitment to implementing the goal of gender equality by ensuring the equal participation and full involvement of women and men in all aspects of work.

• TEAMWORK: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

• PLANNING AND ORGANIZING: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.
Education
High school diploma or equivalent. Must have passed the United Nations Administrative Support Assessment Test (ASAT) at Headquarters or an equivalent locally-administered test at Offices Away from Headquarters.
Work Experience
A minimum of five years of experience in general office support or related area. Experience in using integrated information management systems, such as Inspira, Umoja, UniteDocs or other comparable systems is required. Experience in organizing official travel of staff is required. Experience in tracking information including maintaining databases is required. Experience in organizing workshop and training activities, including high-level meetings, is desirable.
Languages
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is an advantage.
Assessment
Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.