Ministry of Justice

ABOUT THE ROLE:

This is a unique opportunity for an enthusiastic and proactive individual, eager to develop their experience and launch a career across Human Resources or Finance. As a pivotal support to both the HR and Finance teams, you will engage in a wide array of administrative and transactional duties, offering a comprehensive understanding of departmental operations within the Northern Ireland Office. You will have the opportunity to split your time between supporting both the Finance and HR functions.

This role is specifically designed to provide significant development opportunities and exposure to diverse functions, including working closely with senior members of staff, making it an ideal stepping stone for someone keen to explore and advance different career paths within a supportive and dynamic environment.

Depending on the preferences of the candidate, the NIO will provide training support on either HR or Finance to support their career development. 

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

 The main responsibilities of the role include but are not limited to:

 HR:

• Provide administrative support for recruitment processes, including uploading sift and interview scores, scheduling interviews, and managing Avature the recruitment system. 
• Liaise effectively with external partners, such as SSCL
• Support colleagues with recruitment queries and other HR transactional tasks.
• Manage the shared HR inbox and respond to queries. 
• Assisting with onboarding new employees 
• Maintaining HR records and databases, ensuring accuracy and compliance with data protection regulations.
• Supporting with raising Purchase Orders and liaising with AccountNI
• Preparing HR-related returns as required 
• Keeping up-to-date with relevant HR legislation and best practices.
• Supporting the implementation of new HR policies or procedures.

Finance:

• Provide admin support to the finance team, including ownership of the finance team mailbox and responding to queries.

• Liaise with teams across the department supporting Purchase Order and other finance queries. 
• Support the COG with all finance matters and lead on management of purchase orders. 
• Support key monthly, quarterly and yearly financial processes and support the implementation of new procedures.
• Assist with the provision of information for monthly internal and yearly external reporting. 

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:

 The post holder will need to demonstrate the following in their application and at interview:

• Proven administrative support experience, particularly within an office environment, demonstrating the ability to manage data and systems efficiently.
• A to build and maintain effective working relationships with various stakeholders, including external partners.
• Experience in performing transactional tasks, including accurate data entry and record-keeping, especially in a support function.
• Skilled in providing direct support to colleagues, effectively resolving queries, and managing communication channels.
• A commitment to maintaining accurate records and an understanding of data compliance and confidentiality.
• A strong interest in developing a career within the Human Resources or Finance field, with a proactive approach to learning and growth.

DESIRABLE CRITERIA:

• Experience working within a finance or HR related field.
• Familiarity or experience with Civil Service recruitment processes.

BEHAVIOURS:

We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours at EO level during the sift and interview process:

• Managing a Quality Service (lead behaviour) 
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

EXPERIENCE:

Please provide a CV and statement of suitability no longer than 500 words outlining how you meet the essential and desirable criteria. Both will be used in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role. 

Your statement of suitability needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role. 

If you don’t have work-based examples then give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.  

You will also be asked to complete a CV with details of your education, professional qualifications, previous skills and full employment history. Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement. 

More information on behaviours and success profiles can be found here.

Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift on the lead Behaviour “managing a quality service”.

INTERVIEW:

You will be assessed against behaviours at the interview stage and will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours.

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:    

• WHO- What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? or
• STAR- What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take?  What were the Results of your actions?

Strengths

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this.

If you do not have work-based examples then please give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.   

All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.

OFFER

Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first.

The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks.

Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered.  Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview.

SECURITY CLEARANCE: 

This role requires National Security Vetting given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role.  You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links:

United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The vetting charter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

In addition, there is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role.

This role requires CTC and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 5 years

Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. 

Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. 

Further Information:

Further information about the post may be obtained from Stephanie Carubia via email to stephanie.carubia@nio.gov.uk 

All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.

This job description should not be taken as constituting conditions of employment.

Please note that due to the high interest in NIO opportunities, feedback cannot be given if you are unsuccessful at the sift stage. Feedback is available on request if unsuccessful following the interview.

COMPLAINTS:

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.  Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles. 

Please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@sscl.gse.gov.uk) in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages:

http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/

https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/code/

 RESERVE LISTS:

In the event that the advertised post following interview, identifies more appointable applicants than available posts, we may hold applicant details on a merit/reserve list for a period of 12 months from which further future appointments can be made. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact

MoJ-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com to be removed from the reserve list.

Additional Information  

Interview dates  

Date(s) TBC

Closing Date:  

7th September 2025 23:55 hours.

Contact information  

If you require any assistance please call 0345 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com