Assistant to Office and Estates Manager - DFID Afghanistan

Reference: DFIDJOB-0256

Closing date: 05 September 2012

Interview date: Not Specified

Number of vacancies: 1

Salary: US $15,633 - US $ per annum

Location: Kabul, Afghanistan

Appointment Terms: Permanent

Working Arrangements: Full-time

Specific requirements: The successful applicant will need to hold Afghan citizenship or have a valid work permit for Afghanistan.

Brief description: DFID Afghanistan (DFID A) is looking for a motivated and enthusiastic person to fill the role of Assistant Office and Estates Manager within the Resources Group in our office in Kabul.

The British Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), one of Afghanistan’s major donors, invites applications for the post of Assistant Office and Estates Manager in its Kabul office.

DFID Afghanistan (DFID A) is looking for a motivated and enthusiastic person to fill the role of Assistant Office and Estates Manager within the Resources Group in our office in Kabul. This is a full time permanent post. The post is ideal for someone with experience of Estates and Office Administration in a busy office environment. Candidates should enjoy being part of a highly motivated team which has established a reputation for attention to outcomes, flexibility and willingness to cooperate with others to meet shared objectives.

This is an excellent opportunity to be part of a major donor development programme in Afghanistan, where DFID is the second largest bilateral donor. Afghanistan is one of the UK’s top development priorities.

The Resources Group is responsible for all aspects of DFID Afghanistan’s Resource Management portfolio - Human Resources (recruitment, pay and remuneration, policy and procedure); Office and Estates Management (including maintenance of Health, Safety and environmental policy standards); Travel; IT; Accounts and Finance.

You will play a key role in supporting delivery of DFIDA’s Office management objectives, so you need to have a broad range of generalist Office Administration skills and experience. Experience of office and/or estates management would be an advantage as you will be expected to cover for the Office Manager periodically. You will engage with DFIDA staff, contacts in the British Embassy as well as key corporate stakeholders in the UK via e-mail and telephone. You will need to ensure due diligence on Office and Estates activity and monitoring and compliance with DFID systems and Green initiatives. A high level of ability in English is required both spoken and written. You will also need a good level of skill in Information Technology (knowledge and skills in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets; MS Word and MS Outlook email are essential).

You will be working in a high pressure, but supportive, environment where turn-around times are much shorter than usual. You will have to learn DFID Office and Estates procedures quickly and work proactively and independently to process and complete tasks to a high standard and to tight deadlines. You will bring with you a sense of humour, a can-do attitude, a willingness to pitch in and provide support and advice on a wide range of issues.

Job Description/duties

Under the supervision of the Office and Estates Manager the successful candidate will perform the following duties:

Office and Estates Management

• Procurement of goods and services for DFID office and residential estate in line with DFID procurement policy;
• Provision of short term accommodation for consultants and visitors according to DFIDA’s accommodation policy, and keep the Guesthouse Manager updated daily in advance of expected DFID visitors, as soon as confirmation of their visit has been received;
• Efficient management and ordering of office stationary to ensure that we have adequate stationary at all times;
• Facilitate maintenance work and urgent repairs on DFID office and residential estate, ensure works requests are sent to the Technical Works Group (TWG) on time;
• Effective management of the DFIDA office, ensuring the office is clean, tidy and a pleasant environment to work in;
• Allocation of equipment to short-term visitors and consultants, ensuring the equipment allocation form is signed when they arrive at post. Ensure they are reminded a day before they leave post to leave all equipment in their room;
• Ensure that on arrival each visitor has all necessary equipment, and a copy of the current security procedures;
• Attend the monthly residents group meeting and take forward action points as requested by the Estates and Office Manager;
• Manage the Estate inventory and ensure the six monthly checks are processed;
• Scanning of Estates related documents and saving them on the Electronic Documents Records Management (EDRM) system;
• Translation of documents from Dari to English and vice versa as required;
• Input payments in line with DFID finance principles;
• Comply with Health and Safety Guidelines in all DFID Estates tasks.

Office/Estates Management

• Provide periodic cover for the Estates and Office Manager during absences. This will include booking accommodation for, and issuing security passes, to visitors as well as updating the weekly muster list of staff.

Personal Qualities and Skills Required (Person Specification)

The successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate the following five core competencies:

• Planning and Delivery of Work (level 1)
• Working with Others (level 1)
• Managing Change (level 1)
• Communicating with Others (level 1)
• Organisation Awareness (level 1)

Information on these competencies can be found on the right hand side of this page.

The successful candidate will:

• Have relevant employment experience in Office and Estates Administration, preferably in a donor agency, multilateral organisation; International NGO or Embassy;
• Have completed Secondary education and possess a relevant degree;
• Have excellent spoken and written English and Dari or Pashto language skills;
• Have good interpersonal skills and a proven ability to work well in a team;
• Be proactive in providing office and estates management advice to the Resources Group and staff, and able to work with limited supervision;
• Have strong IT skills and be familiar with Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook;
• Can demonstrate that they will respect DFID working principles including understanding and adherence to Equal Opportunities and able to work productively with others and with respect to others (what ever their gender; race; culture; religion or personal orientation); and
• Have an interest in, and commitment to, assisting DFID with the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan.

Salary & Benefits:

According to DFID local staff pay scales, a competitive salary and benefits package will be offered including a starting salary of US$15,633 per annum (before tax), non negotiable.Transport services and reimbursement of 85% of medical costs for you, your spouse and children (up to a maximum of US$1,500 per calendar year). DFID is committed to staff development. The successful candidate will receive both on the job and formal training and have the opportunity to apply for funding for higher/further education upon satisfactory completion of their probation period and having completed 12 months in post and are performing well.

How to apply:

If you meet the above standards, you should apply by submitting the following three application documents to the email address r-kabul@dfid.gov.uk:

• Completed application form;
• CV;
• Covering letter (which must set out how you meet the requirements above including evidence of work under each of the five core competencies),

You can access the Application Form and the DFID Competence Framework from the links on the right hand side of this page.

Only applications with all three duly completed application documents listed above will be considered. All application forms should state “Assistant Office and Estates Manger” in the subject box.

The closing date for receipt of applications is close on Wednesday 5th September 2012. Interviews and an assessment centre (written test and group work) will take place in the second half of September. Only candidates invited for interview receive a response to their application.

Related documents

• DFID competency framework [PDF - 108 KB]
• Application form [DOC - 60 KB]

The successful candidate will be required to complete medical, security, reference and educational qualifications checks before starting in the job.

The successful applicant will need to hold Afghan citizenship or have a valid work permit for Afghanistan.

DFID is an equal opportunities employer. Applications are welcomed from all parts of the community and we actively encourage interest from ethnic minority groups, women and those with a disability. Selection is on merit although you will need to hold Afghanistan citizenship or have the legal right to live and work in Afghanistan.