NOTES
· Forms must be downloaded from the UCT website: http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/sapweb/forms/forms.htm
· This form serves as a template for the writing of job descriptions
· A copy of this should be kept on file in your office
· For re-evaluations, this form must be sent to your relevant HR Advisor/Officer
POSITION DETAILS
Position Title (current title) / Senior SecretaryStatus of Post (tick) / New Post / Re-evaluation
Job Grade (current grade)
Faculty (if applicable) / All Faculties
Department
Section (if applicable)
Date of Compilation
FOR OFFICE USE
Job Title
Date of Grading
Grading Result
ORGANOGRAM
PURPOSE
The main purpose of this position is to proactively provide efficient and effective administrative and secretarial support to the Faculty / Department / Section.NOTE: Individuals in these positions should select KPA’s from this document depending on job emphasis.
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Key Performance Areas (5 – 8) / % of time spent / Activities / Tasks / Results / Outcomes / Competencies /1) General and Office Administration / Correspondence Handling
· Receive all incoming emails and letters: own/faculty /department / section
· Keep records of all correspondence
Typing
· Type correspondence, memoranda, agendas, test/exam papers, time tables and letters generated by the department
· Preparation of power point slides for lectures and conferences
Admissions
· Update all website information for post graduate courses and admissions
· Receive applications for posts
· Complete all admissions data for post-graduate selection process.
· Plan registrations
· Type up class lists and the origin of post-graduate applications
Meeting Administration
· Compile and circulate dates of monthly staff meetings
· Co-ordinate meetings / functions
· Type up meeting agendas and distribute
· Take minutes, type up and distribute to meeting attendees
General Administration
· Coordinate maintenance of office equipment
· Maintaining a logical, methodical filing system that is accessible
· Do photocopying for the faculty / department / section
· Typing up, distributing and storing class timetables and class lists
· Make travel arrangements for staff
· Co-ordinate and set up meetings for student support
· Co-ordinate the printing of class and lecture notes
· Prepare promotional material
· Label coursework hand-in boxes for under and post graduate students
· Maintain formatting and updating of on-line course brochures, outlines and applications
· Maintain stock levels of hard copy course information and material
Database Administration
· Collate and compile information for inputting on the Database system
· Check data for accuracy
· Update data and database regularly
· Maintain current personal and work files for each post-graduate student
Records Administration
· Capture all marks data for under and post graduate students
· Compute duly performed lists for all under and post graduate students
Telephone Coverage
· Answer the faculty / department / section’s telephone and route calls accordingly
· Screen all calls for the manager / Head of Department / Section
· Take messages
· Respond to voicemail messages / · Correspondence handled within the required timeframe
· Positive feedback
· Accurate records off all correspondence
· All documents typed up accurately and within the required timeframe
· Website information current
· All required documentation and files available prior to the deadline for post graduate selection
· Monthly staff meeting dates circulated promptly
· Meeting minutes taken, typed up and distributed according to the required format and within the required deadline.
· Equipment maintenance done timeously
· Photocopying completed as required
· Class timetables and lists available at the start of the academic year
· Accurate, prompt travel arrangements made
· Class / Lecture notes printed and available for the start of the first lecture
· Course work boxes labelled as per specification and available at the beginning of the academic year.
· Printed course information and material available on request.
· Accurate, relevant data appears on the website
· All under and post graduate marks data captured according to specification and by the required deadline.
· Telephone calls answered within the specified time / · Initiating Action
· Information monitoring and management
· Planning and organizing
· Detail Orientation
· Communication (verbal & written)
· Teamwork
· Work standards
· Client Services Orientation
· Administrative knowledge and skills
· Technical / professional / job knowledge
· Building interpersonal relationships
· Adaptability
· Stress Tolerance
2) Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting / · Monitoring and updating the asset register
· Monitor, maintain and order office consumables
· Monitor the level of tidiness of meeting rooms, post-graduate rooms, notice boards and monitor the Maintenance Department and cleaners to keep areas tidy / · Updated, accurate asset register
· Office consumables available as required
· Office consumables budget not exceeded
· Meeting rooms and notice boards tidy at all times
3) Diary Management / · Handle the manager’s diary
· Set up meetings and venues via the electronic diary / · Diary constantly up to date
4) Front Office Assistance / · Assist at the front office / reception as required
· Manage front office calls as required / · Available for reception as per the schedule
5) Purchase Orders and Procurement / · Process orders for equipment and stationary / · Orders processed according to procedure and within timelines
6) Financial Administration / · Advise students/applicants/general public on financial aid
· Processing of payment for external examiners
· Prepare reimbursements
· Process payment for air tickets
· Maintaining records of financial payments
· Administer notes levy
· Administer payment of copyright printing
· Manage purchasing cards / · Payments and reimbursements processed according to required specification and within required timeframe
· Accurate financial records available
· Purchases done timeously
· Monthly reports on purchases
· Maintain paperwork for purchasing card
· Report buying patterns/trends
7) Client / Student Liaison / · Co-Ordinate liaison between faculties/ departments / sections
· Respond to student / staff / visitor queries
· Interact in a polite and professional manner with all clients (internal and external) / · Positive feedback from internal and external clients
· Queries responded to politely, professionally and within the required timeframe
8) Examinations / · Typing, proof reading, formatting and photocopying of exam papers
· Coordinate invigilating of tests, exams
· Liaise with external examiners for returning external exam paper and marks / · Typed, accurate exam papers available at deadline
· Invigilation schedule
· Accurate exam schedule available and circulated within the timeframe
· Exam papers and marks returned by external examiners by required date.
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MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Minimum Qualifications / MatricSecretarial and Office Management Diploma
Minimum Experience / 2 years, preferably in an education institution
Computer Literate: MS Word, Excel, Power Point, Access / Database, Internet, email
AUTHORITY
PRINT NAME / SIGNATURE / CONTACT NO. / DATECompiled by
Approved by
Reviewed by
GUIDELINES FOR COMPILING A JOB DESCRIPTION
GENERAL
· Complete each section of the template when compiling a job description
· Consider the following when drawing up a job description:
o If this is a new job, have you considered the implications for your department in terms of structure, staff and resourcing?
o If this is a re-grading, are you sure that the re-grading is needed for the requirements of the organization and not the individual?
o If this is a re-grading, have you considered the rest of your structure as this is an opportunity to re-evaluate your requirements?
o The job description should indicate the requirements of the job in relation to the organization, not the person.
o The job description should describe the job, not the performance required.
o The job description denotes a clear description of the job that is observable.
POSITION TITLE
· Consider the label or name of this post in relation to others in your department and to standard UCT naming conventions. The latter are obtainable from your HR Officer.
NEW POST / RE-EVALUATION
· Indicate if this is a new post or if this is a current post that is being re-evaluation.
JOB GRADE
· Indicate the current job grade of this post if it is an existing job that has changed and has been submitted for re-evaluation.
FACULTY
· Indicate the faculty where this post exists - where applicable.
DEPARTMENT
· Indicate the department where this post exists. For example, Chemistry would be a department within the Faculty of Science. Alternatively, Finance would be an example of a PASS department.
SECTION
· If the post falls within a PASS department, indicate the section here. For example, Creditors would be a section within the Finance Department.
DATE OF COMPILATION
· The date denotes when the job description was compiled/updated/reviewed.
JOB TITLE
· The job title will be completed by the Remuneration Specialist during the job grading process.
DATE OF GRADING AND GRADING RESULT
· These dates will be completed by the Remuneration Specialist.
ORGANOGRAM
· The organogram must show the reporting lines of authority for this post.
· Complete the organogram in a way that shows the line manager, the peers and the staff that report to this post.
· As a rule of thumb, the organogram should show up to a maximum of 4 hierarchical levels.
PURPOSE
· The Purpose of the job should convey in no more than one or two sentences a summary of the job which will clearly distinguish it from other jobs, establish the role of the job holder and the contribution he/she should make towards achieving the objectives of the University and his/her own function. It would begin with the words: "The purpose of the job is ..."
KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS AND % TIME
· This is a high level summary of the key performance areas. When completing this exercise it may be useful to start with a list of tasks that are then grouped together into key areas of responsibility.
· As a rule of thumb you should be able to identify between 4-6 key performance areas for the job.
· The key performance areas would be short headings for these clusters of tasks.
· It is useful to list these in order of importance, to assist you in creating the framework and overall direction of the job
· It is also useful to reflect on how much of the job’s time is spent on each key performance area, as some things take up a lot of time and are not as important as others that may take up a little time but are critical.
OUTCOMES
· For each key performance area identify the main outcomes / end results that will be achieved by the incumbent under each heading. You should be able to identify several outcomes for each key performance area. It is useful to reflect on this as it may become apparent that what you have identified is not actually a key performance area at all, but an outcome of another key performance area.
· As far as possible ensure that the outcomes are clearly autonomous to the job holder and are not shared by other people in the department. If an outcome seems to be a shared outcome, the incumbent cannot be held responsible for attaining this outcome. For example: “assist with marks processing” would either become “Marks are processed” or “reports are filed” (if the nature of the work is around assistance).
· The steps required to define outcomes are as follows:
o Identify and list the tasks that have to be carried out. No attempt should be made to describe how they are carried out, but some indication should be given of the purpose or objectives of each task.
o Analyse the initial list of tasks and, as far as possible, simplify the list by grouping related tasks together. Use headings that will describe the end result once all these tasks have been completed, e.g. all work related to processing of marks could be listed under "Marks are processed".
o Describe each outcome as an end result that needs to be delivered, rather than indicating the tasks that will lead to the attainment of the end result. For example: an outcome could be “ Vacancies are filled according to UCT policy” vs. the number of tasks that would lead up to the vacancy being filled such as placing the advertisement, short-listing candidates, conducting interviews, etc, etc. Notice that quality indicators may also be stipulated; these will indicate how well the outcomes must be done. In this example the quality indicator is that the vacancy is filled according to UCT policy.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
· Minimum qualifications specify the minimum qualifications required to do the job and do not indicate desirable qualifications.
· Minimum experience should indicate the minimum experience required to do the job. It should not indicate experience required to fully perform the job.
· Key competencies must indicate competencies essential to do the job. For example, if working on SAP is a key component of the job, this should be listed as a key competency. When identifying the competency requirements of a specific job, be certain that the competency is essential and not desirable.
AUTHORIZATION
· Compiled by: would be signed off by the person(s) who compiled the job description and the date.
· Approved by: would be signed off by the line manager and the date.
· Reviewed by: would be signed off by the Remuneration Specialist and the date.
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