GFIE-500 - Project Support Apprentice - Bristol, Nottingham, Swansea or Newcastle

This role at Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is available to people who served in the Armed Forces, OR be in your resettlement period and due to leave the Armed Forces within a reasonable time frame OR Military Spouse/Partner: Your current partner must still be serving OR was discharged within the last 12 months.

We want you to join us, learn new skills and bring your experience to our organisation. We believe that everyone has the potential to make a difference, and we want to ensure that all our staff are equipped with the knowledge and skills to do so. As part of your employment, you will have access to a range of learning and development, and a buddy who can help you to understand the Civil Service and enable you to make the most of the opportunities it offers.

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency

We carry out driving tests, approve people to be driving instructors and MOT testers, carry out tests to make sure lorries and buses are safe to drive, carry out roadside checks on drivers and vehicles, and monitor vehicle recalls.

Organisation

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency

Job Title

Project Support Apprentice

Job Grade

Administrative Officer (AO)

Positions available

2

Salary

£ 25,159

Location

Based in either Bristol, Nottingham, Swansea or Newcastle.

• DVSA Berkeley House, Croydon Street, Bristol BS5 0DA
• DVSA 1 Unity Square, Queensbridge Road, Nottingham NG2 1AY
• DVSA The Ellipse, Padley Road, Swansea SA1 8AN
• DVSA The Lumen, St James Boulevard, Newcastle
• Upon Tyne NE4 5BZ

Contract Length

24 months

Hours

Monday to Friday – times to be agreed with the manager – 37- hour week generally, between 8-5.

Flexible Hybrid Working Model, where typically staff can

spend 40% of their time home working.

Some training may need to be completed at the office.

Job description

Most days start with a review of a personal to do list, checking emails and actioning any urgent updates to documentation or upcoming meetings. The Project Support Officer (PSO) may check the shared project calendar and action any urgent updates for upcoming meetings.

During the day the PSO will liaise with a variety of stakeholders monitoring progress of actions from meetings and update documents like the action log, risks, decisions and prepare any board packs/information for upcoming meetings. PSOs attend a variety of project meetings, from quick stand ups/catch ups to more in depth finance meetings, commercial meetings, risk reviews or project boards. They take appropriate notes and minutes at these meetings and update any planning or tracking documents being used by the projects.

Occasionally the PSO may stand in for the project manager at these meetings and provide simple updates to the stakeholders where appropriate. The PSO will meet with the project manager at times to track governance milestones and identify updates needed from stakeholders to keep the project on track.

PSOs may spend time doing more detailed work on minutes, actions and risks before they are communicated out to the stakeholders for approval or action. To succeed as a PSO you will need good administrative skills alongside organisation and communication skills. Good analytical skills allowing you to anticipate problems and action resolutions for things to run smoothly, maintain structure continuity and efficiency across projects.

Role Purpose

Work with project support officers, project managers and programme managers to deliver the change portfolio.

You will be a member of the Project Support Officer (PSO) Team that delivers the PSO service to the change portfolio, reporting to the Programme Support Officer. You will be assigned to work on projects and learn to be a Project Support Officer.

You will also spend 20% of your time studying for an external apprenticeship.

Main Duties Activities may include

• Participate in PSO Team meetings and discussions, using your own experience, to learn how to perform the project support officer role and improve the service offering provided by the Team delivering the service offering,
• Study for an apprenticeship. This will take up 20% of your work time. You will be supported by the PSO Team and the Portfolio Delivery Team to study for this.
• Provide support to the project team and stakeholders to help to deliver the project. Ensure that all relevant information and data is captured in a timely manner.
• Arrange and record project boards, reviews and other meetings. Assemble board packs, write minutes, record decisions and follow up actions. The PSA may work with a PSO to support a large programme.
• Ensure that information is recorded, stored and kept up-to-date, in accordance with the Agency PPM standards.
• Support the project manager to produce and maintain the project plan by updating the information in the PPM Tool and reviewing risks and issues.
• Support the production of progress reports. support the recording and maintaining of project information, using the PPM Tool This will include recording progress, risks, issues, decisions and actions.

Relationships Internal External

Report to the Programme Support Officer. Works with Project Support Officers to support project managers, programme managers and SROs.

• Business Change Managers, Assurance Leads and Project Teams Project Stakeholders
• PSO Team and Portfolio Delivery Team
• Service Manager, Product Owners and Delivery Managers Finance business partners Suppliers (as required)
• Other Agencies and Departments (as required)

Essential

• Committed to providing good service and displaying a pro-active approach to ensuring that tasks are completed in time and relevant parties are kept informed.
• A willingness to work closely with project support officers to deliver projects across DVSA and learn the skills needed to do this effectively.
• A willingness to work as a member of a team of project support officers that provide a key service to projects across DVSA.
• An ability to collect and communicate information effectively to a wide variety of people using various methods/tools.

Requirements and Timeline

Informal interviews with candidates are expected to take place in September and it is hoped that successful candidates start in following successful security checks.