To act as a point of contact for the Health and Lifestyle Research Unit and it’s projects, responding professionally and courteously to enquiries in person, by email and by telephone, whilst escalating more complex queries to the Stop Smoking Advisors and Research Team. Required to provide an excellent standard of customer service and convey a helpful, positive image, both within and external, to the unit. To work as a member of the Unit’s administrative team, being mutally supportive and covering duties as necessary during colleagues absenses and at times of additional pressure, as directed.

Main duties and responsibilities

Administrative Assistant Duties Operations

- Assist the Stop Smoking Manager and Stop Smoking Teams in maintaining the efficient running of the busy Stop Smoking Services; this will include first line support for telephone and email enquiries, servicing interviews, arranging appointments, preparing starter packs for new staff and dealing with internal and external correspondence including dissemination (as requested) of any Institute, Faculty or University information to staff within the unit. 

- Support the organisation of meetings (booking rooms, audio-visual equipment, catering where agreed as required) and the organisation of travel and accommodation for overseas conferences for colleagues attending these. 

- Provide support for meeting/event/conference organisation (including training and outreach events) and any requirements on the day(s) including registration of those attending etc. 

- Maintain, develop or enter any data on relevant databases/spreadsheets used in conjunction with unit activities. 

- Provide administrative support for the unit team when necessary (sickness/holiday cover, project deadlines).

Finance

- Assist in raising purchase orders for relevant activities undertaken. 

- Process colleague expenses claims and liaise with Finance for payment of these.

Facilities

- Maintain office equipment (photocopiers, printers etc.) and arrange servicing and repairs when necessary. 

- Assist with Health and Safety inspections.

Receptionist Duties

- Manage the reception area of the Health and Lifestyle Research Unit, providing a professional, courteous and effective reception service, responding to enquiries from patients, staff and external visitors to the Unit. 

- Ensuring that building access procedures are followed at all times. Be aware of safety procedures within the Unit and ensure that in the event of a safety breach or emergency the prescribed procedures are followed, and that the relevant staff are notified. 

- Manage the room booking process for rooms within the building, including monitoring usage and ensuring users are aware of the need to conform to all appropriate building access and procedures. 

- Ensure that handover to alternative staff during and at the end of the day is carried out in full and according to the appropriate procedures. 

- Develop and maintain a network of contacts, knowing who to liaise with on key issues.

Qualifications

- GCSE Maths and English (grade C/4 or above) or equivalent

- Further educational qualifications / accreditation (ideally related to this role) (Desirable)

Experience/Knowledge

- Experience of carrying out a range of administrative tasks, in relation to supporting an organisation’s day to day operational delivery

- Experience of delivering excellence in customer service in a front line reception (or similar front of house) environment

- Experience of / involvement with / knowledge of accounts (financial) administration (e.g. ordering supplies, financial record keeping, stock control, purchase orders) (Desirable)

- Experience of working in an Academic or Higher Education environment (Desirable)

Skills/Abilities

- Ability to understand and actively contribute to the advancing of your own knowledge and that of others, with regards to diversity, equality and inclusion

- Ability to draft correspondence through good written skills.

- Good interpersonal skils and ability to establish good working relationships with both staff and students and a wide range of external agencies

- Good oral communication skills, that will enable you to provide engaging support to a variety of visitors to the Institute reception.

- IT skills, including knowledge of MS Word, excel and other software applications

- Good numerical skills with a methodical approach and attention to detail

- Good organisational skills with the ability to balance competing demands and prioritise a varied workload with minimal supervision

- Ability to work within a team and contribute to effective team