HR Assistant (Maternity Cover)

We're looking for an enthusiastic and organised HR Assistant to join our HR service on a 12-month maternity cover contract. This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to take their first steps into a career in Human Resources. You'll be passionate about delivering excellent customer service, enjoy working with people and data, and be keen to learn and develop within a supportive HR environment.

You'll have excellent organisational skills, a keen eye for detail and the ability to manage a varied workload. As one of the first points of contact for the HR team, you'll help manage the shared HR inbox and telephone enquiries, providing a professional and responsive service to managers, employees and external contacts. You'll support recruitment activity, maintain accurate employee records and HR systems, assist with the administration of the Council's training programme, and play an important role in workforce reporting and data analysis. This includes maintaining data quality across HR systems, producing regular reports and analysing workforce information. You'll be confident using Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, comfortable working with data, and able to communicate effectively with a wide range of people.

This role offers an ideal entry point into HR for someone looking to build a long-term career in the profession. Working as part of a HR support team, you'll gain valuable experience across recruitment, employee support, workforce reporting, HR systems, learning and development, employee relations and policy implementation. You'll develop practical skills in HR administration, data analysis, reporting and workforce metrics, while contributing to a range of HR projects and initiatives. Working alongside experienced HR professionals, you'll gain exposure to the full HR function and receive the support and experience needed to build a successful career in HR.

Please note this is a multi-graded post and the successful candidate will be offered the band that reflects their knowledge, qualifications and experience shown at interview.

The rewards for working at Darlington Borough Council go beyond the salary you will receive; we have numerous additional benefits such as:

• 32 days Annual Leave, plus Bank Holidays, with option to purchase additional Annual Leave (pro-rata for part time working)
• Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme with option to make Additional Voluntary Contributions
• Generous Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave schemes
• Staff equality forums
• Access to a wide range of training, learning and development
• Physiotherapy service
• Confidential counselling service
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Dolphin Centre Fit for Life Discounts
• Local and National retailer discounts
• Vivup employee benefit app and Lifestyle Savings

For detailed information on this role, please refer to the Role Profile and Person Specification. The Interview date for this post will be Monday 24th August at the Town Hall.

General Information for Applicants: For a further informal discussion and any queries around the role profile and jobs itself please contact Aidan Coomber on 01325 405484 or aidan.coomber@darlington.gov.uk. If you have any further questions regarding applying for this role or the questions and required fields within the application form, please contact the HR Support team on 01325 403217 or HR@darlington.gov.uk.

All applicant email correspondence will come from donotreply@northeastjobs.org.uk and may be directed to your Junk folder depending on the settings of your email account. Please check both your email and Junk folder as all applicants will be notified whether they have been shortlisted. You must ensure that anything submitted in your application is factually accurate. Plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own. Whilst we accept candidates may use AI tools within job applications; submissions must be truthful and relevant to your own experience.

We are an equal opportunities' employer. We welcome applicants from all sections of the community. We aim to interview any applicant who declares a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job.