Job Description - Parliamentary Assistant

Key Objectives

The Parliamentary Assistant will be mainly responsible for the administrative management of the office and for preparing relevant research material for Jill Evans for her work in the European Parliament and in Wales.

Main Responsibilities

• General administration including answering the telephone, opening the post, dealing with faxes and emails.
• Manage all correspondence and make the MEP aware of important issues that arise from them.
• Maintain the office's filing system.
• Keep the MEPs diary in Brussels and Strasbourg, organise meetings as requested.
• Organise the MEPs international travel.
• Liaison with the parliament finance office.
• Follow issues on parliamentary committees.
• Draft briefings, speeches and articles for the MEP.
• Undertake research on a wide range of local, national and European issues
• Attend meetings on behalf of the MEP and prepare notes.
• Other reasonable activities that the MEP or Head of Staff may decide from time to time.

Responsible to

The appointee will be responsible in the first instance to the Head of Staff and ultimately to the MEP.

General

This is a busy office that works in close cooperation with staff in the MEPs constituency offices in Wales, with the Green/EFA Group staff in the parliament and the Plaid Cymru The Party of Wales staff and members.

The appointee will need

-good all round IT skills (Word, Excel, Outlook, Internet, Powerpoint)
-a good understanding of prioritising work and adapting to situations that arise
-political sensitivity
-the ability to work flexibly and both independently and as part of a team

Awareness of, and interest in, the political situation in Wales and the institutions of the European Union is also an advantage.

Knowledge of Welsh and French is desirable.

Location

The Parliamentary Assistant will be based in the European Parliament office of Jill Evans MEP in Brussels, with occasional travel with work to Strasbourg and Wales.

Working Hours

These will be defined formally in the contract of employment as 37.5 hours a week. A degree of flexibility is necessary to take account of the parliamentary schedule.

Terms and Conditions

The post is full-time and for a fixed term until the next European Parliament elections. This shall be subject to the satisfactory completion of a six month probationary period. The starting salary will be at grade 2 of the accredited assistants' salary scale. It will be subject to the EU tax and social security provisions. There are 22 days holiday in addition to UK bank holidays, St David's Day and the two week Parliamentary recess over Christmas and the New Year. Further details regarding terms and conditions are contained in the contract of employment and may be discussed further with the employer.

Please send CV and covering letter to:
jill.evans-office@europarl.europa.eu

Deadline - 12:00 (noon) Monday 16 January 2012

Interviews will be held on Friday 20 January 2012 in Wales.