Administrative Assistant for the Communications and Conferences Unit COST-ESF

European Co-operation in the Field of Scientific & Technical Research

Brussels, Belgium

COST is an inter-governmental system supporting European research networking. In order to accomplish its mission, the European Science Foundation (ESF) provides administrative and scientific management to COST (European Co-operation in Science and Technology), its Domain Committees and its Actions through the COST Office in Brussels and corporate support services in Strasbourg. This is achieved through a support grant provided to ESF by the European Commission. 

ESF-COST Office seeks an Administrative Assistant whose mission is to support the Communication and Conferences unit in contributing to the objectives of ESF-COST Office mission as implementing agent for COST through the EC-ESF contract.

Position responsibilities:

• Undertaking general administrative and clerical duties for the team such as answering phone enquiries, managing calendars, documents and general e-mail accounts, conducting mailings;
• Providing assistance to the PR and Com Manager and support for internal meetings and travel arrangements of permanent and temporary team members;
• Finance administration: general bookkeeping and reimbursements of participants, preparing purchase orders, processing team members’ expense claims and liaising with the COST and ESF finance departments on matters arising. Internal training will be provided;
• For the Communication Unit: act as publications officer responsible for publications as described in the COST Vademecum on the COST website (internal training will be provided), managing the internal publications archive (including online promotion) and the marketing tools storage (including production and shipment of material), dealing with national and international ordering and suppliers; Facilitate the communications tasks carried out by colleagues and assist by carrying out research, drafting documents, dealing with suppliers and assist by providing ad-hoc communications assistance;
• For the Conferences Unit: assist with participants registration and administration, collect and format conference documentation, provide customer service and administrative support. (Note: the same tasks are expected to be carried out for events organised by the Communication Unit.);
• Respond to ad hoc requests as they arise and cooperate with temporary team members (e.g. students).

Profile and competencies:

Specific competencies

• Bachelor’s degree in administration or 3 to 5 years of experience;
• Office-management experience or knowledge of office procedures, calendar and travel management;
• Experience in the administration of budgets, processing of invoices and related financial administration tasks would be advantageous;
• Keen interest in or first experience with Communication and Conferences including international meetings;
• High standard of spoken and written English; with a working knowledge of spoken and written French or Dutch;
• Very good knowledge of MS Office including mailmerge, Excel and PowerPoint, use of e-mail and internet;
• Experience with online research for event venues, hotels, local practical information and suppliers locally and abroad etc.;
• Working knowledge of databases and online tools or content management systems.

Inter-personal competencies

• Passion for administration;
• Flexibility and proven organisational skills;
• Task-orientated, responsible and autonomous, and continuous improvement minded;
• Detail-oriented and analytical mindset;
• Strong inter-personal and communication qualities within a multi-national context;
• Transparency in working and a team-orientated work ethic (both in terms of team and corporate working);
• Ability to deliver on allocated tasks and respond in a timely manner to deadlines;
• Ability to multi-task and assist several members of the team at the same time and on several subjects;
• Commitment to customer care with colleagues throughout the organisation and to ensuring external customer satisfaction;
• Positive and constructive attitude.

The ESF-COST Office offers:

• A full-time contract under the Belgian law with a duration linked to the FP7 COST Grant Agreement II (ending June 2014), with an initial probation period of 6 months;
• An international working environment located in Brussels (Avenue Louise 149, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium);
• Unless a national of the ‘EU and EEE’ candidates must be eligible to work in Belgium and must have a Work Permit.

Electronic applications (motivation letter + CV) should be addressed to Barbara Bottiau and sent to job@cost.eu. Reference code: 2012AACC.

For general details see http://www.cost.eu.

Closing date: 07 October 2012