PART 1 – TO BE COMPLETED FOR ALL ROLES

Employment Project Officer (Women in SET) /
Role Descriptionmanaging employment programme across Scotland
Grade & Salary:
Campus Location: / Scottish Resource Centre for Women in SET, 42 Colinton Road,
Line Manager: / Manager, Scottish Resource Centre for Women in SET
Line Management Responsibility for: / N/A
Organisational Structure: / Tick to confirm attached
Role Summary: / Developing and implementing the strategies of the Scottish Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET):
  • To support SET employers and organisations, including sector skills councils, in developing gender equality action plans and realising gender equality targets;
  • To provide gender equality advice, training and consultancy on organisational and culture change and best practice in recruitment, retention and progression to SET employers in industry and further and higher education.

Main Duties and Responsibilities
 / To work with the Manager of the Scottish Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology to build positive relationships with employers, employer groups, professional associations and trade unions across relevant industry sectors to support effective consultancy on diversity and deliver this across Scotland
 / To work with partners of the Scottish Resource Centre, particularly sector skills councils, and develop plans with them to support change in employment practice and increased number of women working in construction, oil and gas, energy and utilities and land based industries
 / To work with the UKRC team, supporting the achievement of targets in Scotland through providing gender equality advice, training and consultancy on organisational and culture change and best practice in recruitment, retention - Utilising a range of UKRC products and services for organisational change and assessment of current practice by gathering evidence through data and cultural analysis surveys, sharing good practice through good practice guides and improving workplace behaviours through awareness raising training.
 / To proactively approach employers using a variety of marketing techniques
 / To organise and deliver workshops and training events and web pages
 / To meet companies on a one-to-one basis to discuss workforce development and investigate opportunities
 / To communicate and share findings with relevant colleagues at Edinburgh Napier University involved in knowledge transfer, business development and Faculty development
 / To work closely with other team members in the Scottish resource centre to ensure that work is shared effectively and that objectives are achieved, to assess current practice, and identify, document and communicate good practice, and exchange relevant information, to contribute to the achievement of the strategic priorities and targets across the team as a whole
 / To meet and regularly communicate with employer liaison consultants working in other parts of the UK and with managers at the UKRC to ensure the delivery of a consistent message to national employers and to ensure cross fertilisation of ideas and development of materials
 / To liaise and network with other national initiatives to ensure collaboration and to maximise effectiveness of impact
 / Be responsible for ensuring that the information and records processed (received, created, used, stored, destroyed) on behalf of the University are managed in compliance with ALL applicable legislation, codes and policies e.g. Data Protection, Information Security and Records Management
 / To keep accurate databases and records and provide reports as required by the project team and in accordance with the requirements of external funders
/

Person Specification
Attributes / Essential Requirements / Desirable Requirements
Education/Qualifications / Degree or equivalent in SET or relevant equivalent experience / Higher degree in a relevant discipline
Experience (Type/Duration) / Experience of managing or coordinating equality and diversity initiatives
Demonstrable experience in events organisation
Excellent communication and presentation skills, ability to communication effectively with
people at all levels / Consultancy experience
Understanding of employment issues in Science, Engineering, Construction or Technology, from having worked in the sector
Media/Communication experience
Skills/Personal Requirements / Competence in English Language
Knowledge of the economic and business benefits for employers of recruiting, retaining and progressing women in SET
Knowledge and awareness of the organisational and cultural barriers to women’s access to and progression in careers in SET
Ability to engage women in activities to increase their employment opportunities through group activities and 1to1 advisory sessions
Confident IT user, Word, Excel, Outlook
Self motivating, calm and well organised
Ability and willingness to travel / Knowledge of personnel and management issues relating to flexible working, recruitment practices and harassment.
Can demonstrate understanding and awareness of specific issues relevant to minority ethnic women and women with disabilities
Ability to show initiative and creativity
/

PART 2 – ONLY TO BE COMPLETED FOR NEW ROLES

Key Activities

Communication:

Oral - Does the role holder receive, understand and convey:
  1. Straightforward information in a clear and accurate manner?
/ Contacting employers to explain the work of the centre
  1. information which needs careful explanation or interpretation to help others understand, taking into account what to communicate and how best to convey the information to others?
/ Presenting and explaining the advantages of employing a diverse workforce and recruiting women in sectors where they are under-represented
Delivering workshops and training events to support the development of family friendly employment policies.
  1. complex conceptual ideas or complex information which may be highly detailed, technical or specialist?

Written - Does the role holder receive, understand and convey:
  1. Straightforward information in a clear and accurate manner?
/ Communicating with groups and networksthrough mailbase communications to explain the work of the centre.
  1. information which needs careful explanation or interpretation to help others understand, taking into account what to communicate and how best to convey the information to others?
/ Writing case studies and press articles. Presenting the business case for diversity and flexible work practices to employers and influencers.
Writing model policies and recruitment plans for employers and personnel officers
  1. complex conceptual ideas or complex information which may be highly detailed, technical or specialist?

Teamwork and Motivation:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. participate in and deliver your contribution to a team?
/ Yes, at regular team meetings and events
  1. be supportive and encouraging of others in a team; help to build co-operation by setting an example and showing a flexible approach to delivering team results; contribute to building team morale as an active participant in the team?
/ Yes, supporting the planning for the whole centre. Contributing to Centre events. Supporting the progress of other team strands, including work with returners, mentors and entrepreneurs.
  1. clarify the requirements; agree clear task objectives; organise and delegate work fairly according to individual abilities; help the team focus their efforts on the task in hank and motivate individual team members?
/ Where appropriate, commissioning tasks from other team members and external contributors, to enable employment programme to be achieved. Eg web page design, data base specifications, designing, supervising and analysing telephone surveys of employers
  1. form and communicate a clear vision of what is to be achieved overall by a team; encourage individuals to contribute to this common goal to the best of their ability; create a sense of unity and common purpose?

  1. understand and manage the inter-relationship between different teams and their impact on the overall aims of the institution; help to break down barriers between teams; build beneficial working relationships across the teams?

Liaison and Networking:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. carry out standard day to day liaison using existing procedures?
/ Yes, contributing to team administration
Building relationships with networks and employers to encourage opportunities for woman returners, women entrants and promotions for female staff.
  1. participate in networks within the institution or externally?
/ Yes, representing the Scottish Resource Centre at events in the UK (at 3 monthly UKRC meetings), ensuring that we learn from initiatives elsewhere and that our best practice is shared. Also that the Scottish context (eg high number of SME’s) is included in UK strategies.
Contributing to networks for workforce development within Scotland.
  1. initiate, build or lead internal networks; maintain relationships over time; establish Communication channels for self or others to use?

  1. initiate, develop or lead networks which are external to the institution?

Service Delivery:

Is the role holder required to:
16 deal with internal or external contact who ask for service or require information? Create a positive image of the institution by being responsive and prompt in responding to requests and referring the user to the right person if necessary? Is contact usually initiated by the customer and does it typically involve routine tasks with set standards or procedures? / Yes, with employers, sectorskills councils and others seeking advice on how to recruit, retain and promote women in SET.
  1. deal with internal or external contact where the service is usually initiated by you, working within the institution’s overall procedures or policies;
And or
understand and explore customers needs; adapt the service accordingly to ensure the usefulness or appropriateness and quality of service (content, time, accuracy, level of information, cost)? / Exploring the needs of sectors through contact with employers, HR departments and sector skills councils.
Developing plans with employers and HR depts to increase the presence and progression of women in these sectors through a range of initiatives including:
Gender awareness training,
Cultural audits and surveys
Work placement and shadowing schemes,
Insight days,
Introduction of flexible and part time working,
Retention schemes to improve return after maternity leave,
Mentoring schemes
Monitoring the implementation of these and their effectiveness.
Ensuring that standards are comparable with UKemployment in SET programmes elsewhere.
Disseminating good practice through case studies, events and awards (eg CEO Charter, QualityMark).
  1. set the overall standards for service across a function or area of the institution; monitor service levels; pre-empt changes in customer needs and anticipate future requirements; maintain overall quality balancing different demands; ensure others have the support they need to provide quality service and fulfil their role?

Decision Making Processes and Outcomes:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. take independent decisions?
/ Yes, responsible for contacting employers.
  1. be party to some collaborative decision; work with others to reach an optimal conclusion?
/ Yes in developing employment plans in the context of centre plans. For example, designing employer workshops for rural areas to meet HIE needs and requirements. Working with Sector Skills Councils to develop plans for recruitment of womenthrough women only Insight Days and job shadowing.
  1. provide advice or input to contribute to the decision making of others?
/ Yes advising on centre proposals, bids and plans, as the expert on employment. Providing advice on operational issues.

Planning and Organising Resources:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. complete tasks to a given plan, with allocated resources?
/ yes
  1. plan, prioritise and organise your own work or resources to achieve agreed objectives?
/ Yes, meeting with manager on a fortnightly basis
  1. plan, prioritise and organise the work or resources of self and others within own area on a daily, weekly or monthly basis; plan and manage small projects, ensuring the effective use of resources; receive information from and provide information to others to complete your planning; monitor progress against the plan?
/ Yes, with responsibility for designing and planning employment programme and developing strategy in this area.
Drawing up budget plans and monitoring these for a budget of 10k per year.
Monitoring progress of companies.
  1. take responsibility for the operational planning and organisation of larger projects or an area of work; co-ordinate a number of teams or projects on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis; set performance standards and establish monitoring procedures to keep track of progress across these different aspects of work; provide input to longer term planning?
/ Yes, designing and planning a programme of events. Tracking engagement with companies. Developing long term strategies that take employment work.
Contributing to UK plans and strategy as Scottish expert.
  1. carry out planning on a long-term or strategic basis that will affect large parts of the institution and possibly national or international activities? Does your planning and organisation typically cover a period of at least three to five years?

Initiative and Problem Solving:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. solve standard day to day problems as they arise; choose between a limited number of options which have clear consequences, by following guidelines or referring to what has been done before; recognise when a problem should be referred to others?
/ Yes
  1. use initiative and creativity to resolve problems where the optimal solution may not be immediately apparent but has to be assessed by a process of reasoning, weighing up the pros and cons of different approaches; identify and assess practical options; break the problem down into component parts?
/ Yes. Engaging employers in improving the diversity of their workforce. Selling them gender quality as a business improvement strategy.
Designing workshops, responding to an analysis of the needs of employers and sector skills councils in taking forward gender equality.
Developing solutions for individuals and groups, using good practice dissemination, meetings with successful role models, mentoring, awards and audits.
Managing budget to support these activities
  1. resolve problems where there is a mass of information or diverse, partial and confliction date, with a range of potential options available; apply creativity to devise varied solution, approaching the problem from different perspectives?

  1. resolve problems where there is a lack of precedent which calls fro innovation and creative thought to develop appropriate options; anticipate problems and make projections; initiate solutions which take into account strategic implications for the institution and which do not limit future choices?

Analysis and Research:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. establish the basic facts in situations which require further investigation and inform others if necessary?
/ Yes, eg advising employers whether they are eligible for support
  1. analyse routine data or information using predetermined procedures and gathering the information from standard sources; need to work accurately to complete the task precisely as specified?
/ Yes, completing monitoring forms required for to demonstrate outcomes to funders
  1. identify an appropriate existing method of analysis or investigation according to the data and objectives; recognise and interpret trends or patterns in data; identify or source additional information which could potentially help the investigation as the analysis progresses?
/ Identify appropriate tools for evaluation.
Research labour market information using information from FutureSkills, Sector Skills Councils, Careers Scotland, S1 jobs.
Use this information to identify employers who will be interested in gender equality strategies.
Analyse the effectiveness of programme and report this to steering group/funders.
  1. analyse or research complex ideas, concepts or extensive data from different perspectives; work out how bet to apply existing methodologies according to the overall context, objectives and expectations; identify the relationship between complex, interdependent factors?

  1. identify the research question within a specific context; generate original ideas to build on existing concepts; generate new concepts and methodologies; develop new avenues of research?

Sensory and Physical Demands:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. Carry out highly specialist or very complex tasks requiring either mastery of a wide range of complex sensory or physical techniques or involving unusually intense physical effort?

  1. Carry out tasks which require either mastery of a range of sensory or physical techniques, concentration to co-ordinate different sensory or precision in applying these sensory skills, or involve considerable physical effort?

  1. Carry out tasks at a level which would require either learning certain methods or routines or involve moderate physical effort?
/ Travel, flexibility about location of work and times and computer use are all requirements
Computer User
  1. Complete basic tasks which either would require either a minimum of instruction or light, if any, physical effort?

Work Environment:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. work in an environment which is relatively stable and has little impact on you or the way in which work is completed?
/ Standard working environment.
  1. understand how the work environment could impact on your own work or that of colleagues; take standard actions, within health and safety guidelines where applicable, to adapt to the environment
/ Responsibility for ensuring safe working during training sessions for self and attendees.
  1. understand variability in your working environment and its potential negative impact on the work process or the health and safety of yourself or colleagues; determine the level of risk and appropriate response?

Pastoral Care and Welfare:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. show sensitivity to those who may need help or, in extreme cases, are showing signs of obvious distress; initiate appropriate action by involving relevant people?
/ Yes, dealing with employers and HR officers in 1 to 1 and group situations
  1. give advice on commonly occurring welfare issues or queries; follow standard welfare procedures for the institution; recognise when and individual should be referred elsewhere for professional help; respect confidentiality?
/ Requires tact and sensitivity to deal with issues around personnel and recruitment.
  1. give support, guidance or pastoral care where standard procedures do not always exist; maintain confidentiality and build trust; judge when to listen, when to give advice or guidance and when to refer the individual for professional help; be fully aware of support networks for both yourself and the individual?

Team Development:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. advise or guide new starters working in the same role or unit on standard information or procedures?
/ Explain to others own role and how their role engages with team.
  1. train or guide others on specific tasks, issues or activities; give advice, guidance and feedback on the basis of your own knowledge or experience; deliver training?
/ Training other members of the team on employment issues and strategies
  1. carry out training or development activity according to the needs of the individual or group; identify current capabilities and future needs; define the performance standards required; identify appropriate developmental activity; assess the application of learning; give feedback and guidance on overall performance?

Teaching and Learning Support:

Is the role holder required to:
  1. introduce students or others who are new to the area to standard information or procedures?

  1. teach or train students or others on specific tasks, issues or activities; assess performance and provide feedback during the event?

  1. teach, train or facilitate development activities for individuals or groups on certain aspects or subjects within a particular academic discipline or specialism; monitor performance giving feedback and guidance; act as catalyst for further development or learning?
/ Yes, designing and supporting the delivery of workshops and seminars for employers, gender champions recruiters and gatekeepers.
Providing guidance and advice to the above on gender neutral recruitment processes and promotion practices.
Evaluating the effectiveness of this.
  1. deliver a range of teaching or development activity within a particular academic discipline or specialism, teaching across the breadth or depth of the subject; challenge thinking and fosters debate; encourage the development of intellectual reasoning and rigour?

Do you:
Provide standard information or delivers teaching or training? / Yes, regularly to new contacts
Design content or learning materials within existing frameworks; make appropriate modifications to existing materials on the basis of the knowledge or experience of the learner(s)? / Yes, developing learning materials to help organisations identify where how they compare to others in the sector and how to make themselves attractive to women recruits
Develop innovative approaches to the learning experience and the curriculum; originate content and methodology?

Knowledge & Experience: