Clerical Assistant, College of Engineering

Clerical Assistant, College of Engineering

Primary Purpose: The primary purpose of this position is to provide high quality customer service and comprehensive clerical assistance to support the effective and efficient operations within multiple departments or units in the College of Engineering. This includes providing high quality support for administrative processes to ensure effective and efficient operations to enhance the student experience and the overall academic mission of the College of Engineering. Additionally, this position may provide a wide range of financial services to faculty and staff.

Nature of Work: The incumbent is part of a team, who provides administrative support to all undergraduate or graduate students as well as faculty and staff in the College of Engineering. The position is expected to coordinate their workflows within the team.

The position will receive day-to-day direction from multiple stakeholders in the college. The incumbent reports to the Executive Officer while working in collaboration with other professional staff and academic leaders.

This position will operate in a diverse, complex, and often highly active office environment with multiple, competing demands and very strict deadlines. Continuous change, shifting priorities, and frequent interruptions are the norm. The volume of work will fluctuate through the year. The expectation is that work volume can be completed in a normal workday and the level of stress is moderate, with higher levels of activity anticipated during higher volume periods.

Impact of error is high as the position is responsible to ensure day-to-day work is completed with the highest degree of accuracy. Prompt, complete and accurate work is extremely important to mitigate risks associated with supporting students through the life cycle of their degree, accreditation, safety, finance and overall reputation.

The incumbent is expected to operate independently, use sound judgment to make decisions, and provide accurate information to all relevant stakeholders. Decisions are made based on established policies and procedures, with assistance provided by professional staff or academics when interpretation is required or when complex issues arise. The incumbent is expected to remain current and well versed in policies and procedures related to their position.

This position is expected to adapt and modify known practices to solve problems and achieve goals. The incumbent is expected to make recommendations to the work or work environment and is expected to contribute to policy and process improvement.


Typical Duties or Accountabilities:

This position is part of a clerical support team, which provides support to multiple units within the College of Engineering. This position primarily provides support in the following areas:

Responsible for supporting all members of the college through the provision of effective and efficient general clerical services including, but not limited to the following:

• Providing effective and professional reception (including, but not limited to: answering the phone, administer both incoming and outgoing mail, and greeting and assisting visitors to the department and college);
• Preparing correspondence and high-volume mail merge productions as required including emails, individual letters, mailings and invitations and other material for signature;
• Meeting, seminar, course, field trip/survey camp, committee, and/or event coordination and support.
• Ensuring data/content on website (USask and college) is current by updating the information or inform changes to applicable parties.
• Provide accurate and timely data as required to support academic and administrative processes.
• Developing, coordinating, and maintaining confidential records pertaining to college operations (ex. Finance, employee, students, safety and professional development, etc.)
• Assembling and maintaining photo sheets for current undergraduate and graduate students in department.

Responsible for timely and accurate processing of financial and payroll transactions, ensuring appropriate, approved supporting documentation is attached, filed and secured for future review:

• Prepare and process financial transactions ( cheque requisitions, cash reports, purchase orders, vendor invoices, brokerage invoices, travel claims, Pcards, JVs, etc)
• Process AboutUs transactions (EJSs) - includes graduate student stipends, GTFs, GRFs, EGRFs, etc.
• Reconcile funds including research funds for fund manager review
• Create, maintain, and close funds for fund managers
• Coordinate graduate student funding process with department administrative staff for processing

Responsible for coordinating and supporting employee-related processes including, but not limited to:

• Coordinating course and student evaluation processes and disseminating to departments as required
• Support hire/appointment processes including immigration processes as required
• Processing on-boarding and off-boarding related requests for people leaders

This position may also support other units in the college by providing coverage and relief in the following areas:

Provides effective and professional customer service to undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Engineering through activities which may include:

• Triaging academic advising inquiries appropriately and schedule advising appointment.
• Respond to general inquiries from students by directing them to administrative information which supports their education.
• Registering and updating incoming and current co-op student academic profiles.

Education:
Successful completion of grade 12 and an administrative assistant diploma from a recognized post-secondary education institution. A relevant post-secondary education will be considered.

Experience:
A minimum of 3-5 years of relevant experience is required. Experience in a University setting supporting administrative processes would be ideal.

Skills:
The following soft-skills are required for this position:

• Possesses high standards of professional integrity and proficiency in all aspects of operations;
• Maintains confidentiality and handles sensitive matters diplomatically while exercising sound judgement and discretion;
• Shares knowledge appropriately to allow fully informed decision making by colleagues and senior members of the unit and college;
• Works both independently with minimal supervision, and as an effective team member;
• Develops and maintains collaborative, professional working relationships with key stakeholders, both within and external to the college, to exchange accurate information, initiate planning, coordinate projects, and resolve crises;
• Demonstrates an ability to deal effectively with multiple priorities that originate from a variety of sources with competing deadlines while maintaining attention to detail and ensuring accuracy;
• Possesses effective organizational and time management skills;
• Maintains the ability to learn new tasks in a fast-paced environment;
• Exercises sound judgement in decision-making and problem solving to ensure priorities and deadlines are met;
• Takes initiative to move beyond completion of assigned tasks to plan for future requirements;
• Demonstrates the ability to communicate effectively – both in writing and verbally – with a diverse population of faculty, staff, and students;

The following technical-skills are required for this position:

• Advanced proficiency using the most current Microsoft Office suite, particularly Word, Outlook, Excel, and SharePoint;
• Advanced proficiency using the most current Adobe Professional software;
• Proficiency working with social software programs;
• Advanced proficiency inputting and retrieving data from databases, experience using university specific databases will be considered an asset; and
• Proficiency in inputting data and maintaining information on web