Staff Assistant

Full Job Description

The incumbent serves as Program Assistant in the Congressional Office for International Leadership (COIL).

The incumbent provides assistance and general support on matters associated with COIL's service functions, business operations and international exchange programs, completes on-going assignments and business support functions with supervision, and undertakes special assignments under the supervision of the program managers.

Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills. Ability to interpret policy and resolve complex problems that may arise.

Excellent interpersonal skills to form mutually beneficial relationships with staff, vendors, or other external and internal stakeholders.

Ability to work quickly and accurately in a quick-paced environment while code-switching between various unrelated tasks effectively. Legislative Branch experience preferred, but not required.

Attention to detail is a must. Major Duties:

Works with higher-graded Program Managers/Officers and assists with specific/selected phases of the design, implementation, and evaluation of program and projects, including communicating issues and assisting in the coordination of activities with COIL.

Reviews assigned program issues in accordance with instructions and participates in the preparation of project documentation, including concept and planning papers, program descriptions, and program assessments in line with COIL regulations and specific guidance.

Reviews objectives based on requests, perceived needs, U.S. policy, and determined priorities.

Assists the program managers/officers with work related to the conceptualization, design, documentation, and/or management of programs and/or projects.

Assists the program managers/officers with designing, documenting, and/or evaluating mission-specific and/or centralized programs and projects.

May travel to view and/or monitor project implementation and to participate in project activities.

Under the guidance of an assigned supervisor or mentor, completes work assignments and special projects.

Plans and carry out assignments in strict accordance with instructions and policy guidelines and informs the supervisor and mentor of progress and status.

Provides support for and assists in the research and/or analysis of established or regularly recurring issues of a program and/or administrative nature.

Determines pertinent issues and collects relevant information from a variety of sources.

Prepares correspondence, reports, proposals, or other documents related to work assignments or program activities conducted under supervisory guidance.

In conjunction with the immediate supervisor and/or program managers/officers, gathers and records information necessary for reports and other documents.

As needed, the program assistant will input contact information for local host families in the agency database.

This task requires careful attention to detail, as duplications must be avoided, and identifying the hosts' congressional district will usually require outside research.

Data must be entered following a correct sequence of events to ensure relationships between database tables are established.

No knowledge of SQL or other database languages is required for successful database operation.

Also creates participant profiles, runs reports, and other related tasks for the program managers/officers as requested.

Works with higher level staff to identify and analyze feasibility and effectiveness of existing and proposed agency standards, regulations, programs, or policies.

Researches and gathers data, preparing reports for a variety of functions. Perform additional duties as assigned.