I first met Ruby in August 2021 during her interview for our vacant Project Support Apprentice role.  She was a shy 15 year old girl who had no work experience and had just left school.  She was very nervous during her interview, but I could see potential in her.  As a team we have had a very successful apprentice program, and we have high expectations of the apprentices. 

Ruby started her apprenticeship role in September 2021, from that day forward she started to learn new skills, gain further knowledge and behaviours.  She had a lot of background information to get up to speed with, including all of our project management processes and procedures.  She settled into the team very well and wasn’t afraid of asking questions.  Ruby worked with me to complete a major data migration project which involved her working alone. 

 After the completion of this piece of work, Ruby was given additional responsibilities which would provide her with more exposure and greater skills and knowledge.  In March 2022, Ruby started to attend one of the team’s high profile monthly meetings which is attended by senior colleagues including Trust executives.  Ruby was responsible for creating the required agenda, collecting meeting papers and producing the meeting minutes. She has continued to produce minutes for that meeting, and she is also responsible for the agenda and administration of two more high profile monthly meetings. 

Throughout her time with the Trust, Ruby has become a very well liked, reliable, and hard working member of the team.  She has supported multiple projects and feedback from her peers and management has been very positive. 

Fast forward 13 months, Ruby, now 17 years old, has just started a new role of Project Support Officer within the team.  It has been a privilege to see Ruby mature, become more confident and an important member of the team.  Ruby should be very proud of her achievements to date.

Key responsibilities include:

- The administration of 3x exec level monthly meetings
- Support the Project Support and Development Manager in providing and coordinating a comprehensive support service to projects.
- Support the Project Support and Development Manager for the day-to-day administrative support of the project team.
- Support the maintenance of the programme management systems, libraries and SharePoint site.
- Be familiar with the aims and goals of each project.
- Support project managers in the development of their plans and act as a “centre of excellence” on programme and project management.
- Scheduling and coordinating project and team meetings: taking minutes, preparing meeting agendas and distributing papers, ensuring attendance and being responsible for progress chasing actions to be taken.
- Utilise significant personal initiative to deal with project issues on behalf of the responsible project manager and process matters arising on a daily basis, taking appropriate action to ensure urgent issues are dealt with suitably.
- Communicate information clearly and effectively within the project team and others using a range of influencing and negotiating skills. Receiving, handling and forwarding as necessary incoming and outgoing correspondence.
- Responsible for placing orders on behalf of project managers, tracking and invoicing of all project orders for the team.
- Maintain project procedures, to effect the efficient operation of the project support facility, including the development and maintenance of the project information and management systems.
- Maintain project processes to effect the efficient operation of the project support facility, developing and maintaining project information and management systems and processes to provide high level assurance.
- Implement and provide training on systems and changes to working practice or new policies and procedures.
- Manage workload effectively in accordance with departmental priorities seeking advice and guidance as appropriate.