Business Support Officer - Environment

Job summary

As Business Support Officer - Environment, you will play a key role in enabling the effective operation of the West England Forest District Environment team. You will provide high-quality business and administrative support, coordinate activities across the Ecology and Nature Recovery teams, and help drive continuous improvement in systems, processes and communications.

The post holder will report to the Operations Manager – Environment.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

• Proactively provide outstanding business and administrative support to our district Environment team.
• Coordinate meetings, workshops and events, including scheduling, preparation of papers, actions tracking and follow-up
• Lead on identifying opportunities to improve business processes, administrative systems and ways of working, working with colleagues to implement practical solutions that enhance efficiency and service delivery.
• Coordinate and communicate key business updates, ensuring information is shared effectively between senior managers and operational teams.
• Act as a trusted first point of contact for the Environment team, responding to enquiries and directing colleagues and stakeholders to appropriate information or support.
• Act as the Environment team’s representative on the West FD Health and Safety Committee.
• Any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• Competent IT user with experience in MS Office suite of applications.
• Experience of working in a dispersed, and often remote, team.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work as part of a team
• Strong organisational skills, good attention to detail with a problem-solving approach
• Experienced at working under pressure handling multiple tasks and prioritising own workload

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Working knowledge and experience of using core Forestry England systems
• Experience of supporting environmental, land management or public sector teams.
• Experience of process improvement or continuous improvement initiatives.

Qualifications

Essential

• A GCSE in Maths and English or functional skills equivalent.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £30,105, Forestry Commission contributes £8,721 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

How to apply…

We cannot accept applications via email. Please follow the steps outlined below. Any CVs and/or personal statements sent outside the system will not be considered for shortlisting.

You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form.

You will be assessed on experience and behaviour-based questions at interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together

Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk.

If candidates pass the interview but are not the leading candidate they can be placed on a reserve list. We may offer candidates on the reserve list for this role the opportunity to be considered for other roles at the same or lower pay bands

If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines here first.

Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk
• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact FCE by email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.

Attachments

Forestry England Job Description - Business Support Officer - Environment (PB6A) Opens in new window (pdf, 153kB)