Office Manager (Post Level 10/11) (Job ID: 5837) at University of the Free State

Duties and responsibilities:

Operational Support

• Provide professional service to the CIO’s office by attending to all telephone, email and other enquiries to the CIO.
• Provide an effective interface between the office of the CIO and members of the University community, public, private and community organisations, and business and government sectors.
• Provide support to the CIO by dealing with or referring enquiries.
• Contact and liaise with internal and external visitors and staff members who enter the CIO’s office. 
• Screen visitors to the CIO’s office.
•  Assist other staff of the CIO’s office as and when required, to guide visitors, taking of messages and making phone calls.
• Manage the diary of the CIO, including setting up meetings with relevant departments, committees, and or external stakeholders. 
• Make, cancel or change appointments when necessary to accommodate important commitments.
• Ensure that the diary is kept up to date.
• Compile the CIO’s daily programme, ensuring that they are familiar with it and that all the relevant documents are available.
• Alert the CIO to urgent and important matters on a day-to-day basis.
• Scrutinise and record details of all incoming mail, print out relevant messages and prioritise according to urgency, and redirect inappropriately addressed mail to correct quarter.
• Investigate complex queries and prepare responses/reports for the CIO.
• Maintain a pending system for following up previous correspondence and refer items to the CIO for follow-up action.
• Maintain confidentiality when dealing with sensitive and confidential information.
• Arrange travel and accommodation bookings for the CIO and other ICTS staff.

Office Administration 

• Deal with general administration.
• Prepare material, including electronic presentations.
• Ensure office compliance with safety regulations and arrange for maintenance and repairs when necessary.
• Co-ordinate ICTS calendar and venue bookings for key ICTS meetings.
• Maintain distribution lists on MS Outlook for the CIO’s Office.
• Co-arrange and coordinate key ICTS events in collaboration with other ICT staff.
• Maintain important documents on SharePoint.  
• Order and keep stock of office supplies, stationery, and refreshments.
• Responsible for the arrangements and coordination of ICTS strategy planning sessions and workshops.

Financial administration

• Assist with registration of training, workshops and seminars of ICT staff members.
• Gather quotations from service providers.
• Process requisitions and F1 claims of ICTS staff.
• Handle the financial administration for travel and accommodation bookings of ICTS staff.

Meeting administration

• Deal with meeting administration including preparing agendas, circulating documentation to committee members, taking minutes of meetings for the meetings that the CIO is chairing.
• Co-ordinate meetings including booking of venues, ordering of catering, preparing documentation.
• Type and check final minutes, arrange duplication and despatch to relevant members.
• Prepare, distribute and follow up on the action list of the CIO.

People Management

• Provide leadership and mentorship to employees within the business unit to achieve objectives and goals. 
• Provide positive influence to ensure high levels of morale and business continuity. 
• Manage performance management discussions and plans of staff. 
• Manage staff leave requests within the unit. 

Professional Development

• Fulfil all responsibilities regarding performance management and associated outcomes.
• Remains competent and current through self-directed professional reading, developing professional contacts with colleagues, attending professional development courses, and attending training and/or courses.

Inherent Job requirements:

• National Diploma on NQF 6 in Office Administration or similar field.
• A minimum of two (2) years of relevant experience office administration experience.

Recommendations:

• Knowledge of the UFS’s Structures, Protocol, Policies and Procedures.
• Knowledge and understanding of the purpose of the Senior Director’s job.
• Knowledge and understanding of the organisational structure of ICT Services and the key responsibilities of the different departments.
• Understanding of secretarial and office administration principles.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office package, Outlook, and PeopleSoft System.