Administrative Support Assistant 4

Full Job Description

Are you a dynamic and detail-oriented professional that wants to make a significant impact in what you do? If yes, look no further!

The Iowa State Public Defender’s Office invites you to join our team as an Administrative Support Assistant 4, a key position in the Administrative Office located in Des Moines, Iowa.

Who We Are

The mission of the Office of the State Public Defender is to ensure that all indigent persons in Iowa are provided high quality legal representation in criminal, juvenile, and other eligible proceedings in the most efficient and fiscally responsible manner.

What You’ll Do

As an Administrative Support Assistant 4, you will be the Assistant to the State Public Defender and become an integral part of the Administrative Office Operations team.

You will serve as personal secretary to the State Public Defender and provide a broad variety of administrative tasks for the administrative office staff.

Some of your key responsibilities will include:

• Assist in maintaining the State Public Defender’s calendar by scheduling meetings, appointments, calls, and updating routine employee dates. Work closely with the SPD to keep informed of upcoming commitments and responsibilities, following up appropriately.
• Reserve conference rooms or other meeting spaces, prepare agendas, coordinate attendees, take meeting notes and follow through on action items as needed.
• Screen phone calls and personal visitors, respond to or route inquiries to the State Public Defender or appropriate staff. Provide a bridge for smooth communications with staff, statewide SPD offices and other state agencies to maintain credibility, trust, support and collaboration.
• Organize and maintain shared cloud-based filing systems and physical files. Prepare and proof forms, correspondence, presentations for accuracy, grammar, spelling and sentence structure. Process all incoming and outgoing mail.
• Coordinate and research travel for statewide meetings and nationwide conferences with members of the legal and judicial community, prepare and process vouchers of payment of travel and other expenses for the State Public Defender.

Under the direction of the State Public Defender, process requests for new contracts, contract amendments, contract renewals and contract terminations.

Verify Iowa licenses and attorney disciplinary history. Prepare documents for approval by the SPD, send out routine contracting correspondence and notices.

Maintain accurate contract attorney records and files. Serve as a primary point of contact for phone, email and mail inquiries about the indigent defense contract attorney program.

Maintain confidential supervisory files for all State Public Defender employees.

Locate documents as requested by the State Public Defender and ensure necessary documents are delivered to the HR contact.

Manage and track performance evaluations, including sending reminders to supervisors, forwarding completed evaluations to the State Public Defender for authorization and submitting to the HR contact.

Provide recruitment support by tracking positions, preparing hiring approval documents, posting attorney job openings, setting up interviews, generating offer letters and processing rejection letters.

Assist with new hire onboarding tasks and answering general HR inquiries from employees.

• Perform other duties as directed by the State Public Defender, including special projects that often are of a complex or sensitive nature.

What We’re Seeking
The successful candidate for this is a motivated, organized, and a detail-focused individual.

Desired skills and abilities include:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Good computer skills – preference given to those with experience in Google Workspace and Microsoft Office.
• Displays high standards of professional and ethical conduct.
• Good people skills – this position requires regular contact with Public Defender staff, clerks, judges, county attorneys and service providers, good people skills are necessary.
• Legal experience desired, but not required.

What We Offer
When you join the SPD, you become a part of a strong team culture that is committed to serving the community. In addition to providing a respect for work-life balance, we have a competitive total compensation package for all of our full-time employees, including:

• Robust benefits, including excellent health, dental, life and vision insurance.
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, paid holidays, and sick leave accrual.
• On the job training by dedicated, experienced professionals.
• Opportunities for professional development.
• Flexible Spending Accounts for medical and dependent care.
• Iowa Public Employee Retirement System (IPERS) Retirement Package.
• Retirement Investors Club (Employer Sponsored Retirement Plan).
• Employee Assistance Program for support when you need it most.
• Employee Discount Programs from a variety of vendors (vision, cellular, fitness, and more)
• Access to an on-site employee fitness center (6200 Park Avenue location only).

For additional information on benefits click here.

E-Verify and Right to WorkThe State of Iowa participates in E-Verify, a federal program that helps employers confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees.

Within the required timeframe, new hires will be verified through the E-Verify system to ensure authorization to work in the United States.

The State of Iowa also complies with the federal Right to Work laws, which protect employees’ rights to work without being required to join a labor organization.

For more information, please visit www.e-verify.gov.

Embark on a rewarding career dedicated to public service and make a difference with us!

This is a non-merit position with the Department of Inspections, Appeals & Licensing - Public Defender.

Positions in this class are exempt from the screening and referral requirements of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services - Human Resources Enterprise.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet at least one of the following minimum requirements to qualify for positions in this job classification:

1. Three years of full-time work experience in a secretarial or administrative support capacity.
2. All of the following (a and b):
   1. One year of full-time work experience in a secretarial or administrative support capacity; and 
   2. A total of two years of education and/or full-time experience (as described in part a), where thirty semester hours of accredited college or university coursework in any field equals one year of full-time experience.
3. Current, continuous experience in the state executive branch that includes eighteen months of full-time work as an Administrative Support Assistant 2 or six months as an Administrative Support Assistant 3.

For more information click on this link to view the job description