Intermediate Administrative Assistant

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Position Purpose

Reporting to the Intermediate Specialist of Academic Human Resources, the incumbent provides administrative support to the faculty's departmental chair to ensure smooth office operations and support the implementation of activities and projects. Provides frontline client service and, in particular, greets internal and external clients, provides them with information and refers them to the appropriate person or service. Provides support for academic operations and for teaching staff recruitment activities while complying with the University's procedures and regulations.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Customer Service: Greets, informs and redirects internal and external clients on behalf of the chair. Receives and screens correspondence and phone calls intended for the chair, determines their relevance and urgency to ensure follow-up, and informs the chair as necessary. Acts as a resource person for internal and external clients for inquiries pertaining to faculty programs, procedures and regulations in order to ensure understanding.
• Administrative Writing: Drafts and revises documents using templates and coordinates the translation of administrative correspondence on behalf of the chair. Attends management meetings to take notes and minutes to follow up on decisions. Prepares presentations, brochures, publications and other related documents from handwritten notes to support the chair.
• Schedule and Meeting Management: Manages the chair's calendar, and schedules and confirms meetings to optimize use of time. Organizes and coordinates meetings and committee meetings led by the chair and any other assigned meetings to ensure these meetings run smoothly. To this end, maintains updated lists of members, and prepares and sends out meeting invitations and agendas. Prepares and distributes any necessary documents and files, and follows up on decisions.
• Travel Arrangements: Coordinates travel arrangements for the chair. Researches suppliers to obtain estimates and make the necessary reservations in compliance with uOttawa procedures and regulations. Assembles the necessary documentation, follows up and collaborates with other uOttawa sectors to finalize the payment of invoices and the reimbursement of travel expenses.
• Recruitment of Teaching Staff: Coordinates logistics for hiring teaching staff, including posting jobs and selecting, interviewing and onboarding candidates in order to support the department's operational needs.
• Academic Operations: Performs a variety of tasks to support the department's academic operations. To this end, coordinates the management of course and exam schedules in order to avoid conflicts in joint programs. Coordinates and controls classroom allocation based on enrollment projections (such as enrollment limits), professor's needs and University regulations. Coordinates textbook orders so that they arrive on time and are sufficient in number.
• File Management: Establishes and maintains an effective filing system to maintain the confidentiality of records and ensure the availability of complete, accurate records for future reference or audit purposes. Coordinates document archiving. Maintains a reminder system for files requiring follow-up.
• Reporting: Performs analysis and research, and compiles data, statistics and other information to produce reports to further the chair's discussions, decision making, special projects and activities.
• Documentation: Drafts and updates documents for internal use on procedures, processes and systems related to the incumbent's responsibilities.

What you will bring:

• Postsecondary education in administration and office technology or an equivalent combination of education and work experience.
• Minimum two years of demonstrated experience in a similar role.
• Experience using computer systems and software such as Windows, word processing software, spreadsheets, databases, the internet and email.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and customer service skills.
• Knowledge of the structures of uOttawa, the faculty and its programs of study, and the academic regulations is an asset.
• Experience interpreting, explaining and applying policies and regulations.
• Experience in bilingual administrative writing.
• Experience producing reports.
• Ability to produce high quality work under pressure while meeting strict deadlines.
• Initiative, autonomy and sound judgement.
• Organizational skills.
• Bilingualism – English and French (spoken and written).

Key Competencies at uOttawa:

• Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
• Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
• Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
• Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons.

The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact hrtalentmanagement@uottawa.ca to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.