Coordinator: become a vice chair for the Civil Service LGBT+ Network

Applications open until 11:59pm, Friday 18 October 2019.

The Civil Service LGBT+ Network is led entirely by volunteers. Currently around 50 volunteers from across government are involved in delivering our projects, running our events, and representing your views to senior leaders in the Civil Service.

The Coordinator is a vice-chair position and is part of the Civil Service LGBT+ Network’s Committee. Alongside the chair and other vice-chairs, you will coordinate our work and volunteers, develop our strategic plans, and lead on specific projects. If you’re looking for a stretching volunteer role that can make a difference in the Civil Service, then this is the role for you.

The recent expansion of the LGBT+ Network Committee has highlighted the need for someone specific to be responsible for arranging routine meetings, providing effective oversight of the network mailbox, and managing the information stored/produced by the Network. In addition, this role is designed to have some flexibility in it, allowing the post-holder to lead on or contribute to important short-term projects that need to be delivered quickly e.g. Pride events, creation of innovative campaigns etc.

In this role, you will help the Network to manage its engagement with departmental networks, its relationship with its volunteers, and help to drive the delivery of projects. Due to the role’s flexibility, it is also a varied role which will allow you to work on a range of projects you are passionate about and develop new skills. It’s a great opportunity to really contribute to making a difference to the experiences of LGBT+ civil servants.

Our constitution doesn’t specify how these roles need to be constituted, nor does it require an election, so we’ll be appointing the roles through fair and open competition. Find out more about what the role involves, and how to apply, below.

How to apply

To apply for the role you will need to submit a personal statement to kate.hughes@civilservice.lgbt.

Your personal statement should:

be no fewer than 500 words and no more than 1,000 words long
explain why you want to be a vice-chair
explain what skills and experience you can bring to the role, in line with the role description below
explain how you would approach the task of managing a virtual team of volunteers.

Application deadline

The deadline for applications is 11:59pm on Friday 18th October. Late applications will not be accepted.

Applications will be marked on a 1 to 7 scale, as used in standard Civil Service recruitment.

If you score above the minimum pass mark, you will be invited to interview in late October and will commence the role from November/December 2019.

Role description

As a vice-chair you will work as part of a small senior team responsible for the day-to-day running of the Civil Service LGBT+ Network. You, as Coordinator, will be responsible for the following:

managing the shared mailbox
arranging routine meetings, ensuring venues, phone conferencing and agendas are all available in advance
tracking actions and delivery against them from meetings, escalating concerns to the project lead or the Network Chair
planning and executing discrete projects that meet the strategic objectives of the Network
representing the Network to senior stakeholders across government, to Civil Service HR colleagues and to local departmental networks
regularly communicating about your work in an open and transparent manner via our website and social media

The vice-chair role can be demanding, and you should expect to spend at least two or three hours a week on Network activity. Whilst line managers are encouraged to provide you with facility time to undertake this work, you may need to use some of your own time to undertake the role too.

The role is entirely voluntary, but reasonable expenses can usually be paid for costs incurred whilst undertaking network activity.

If you have any questions, please email kate.hughes@civilservice.lgbt