Administrative Assistant

United Nations Secretariat

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Experience: 5 to 10 Years

Skill Required: HR and Admin

The position is located in the United Nations Resident Coordination Office (UNRCO) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and reports to the Head of the Resident Coordinator's Office. The office is located in Putrajaya.

Responsibilities: 

  • Responds to enquiries and provides information and advice to staff regarding their entitlements, administrative procedures, processes and practices, conditions of service, duties and responsibilities, and entitlements under the Staff Rules and Regulations. 
  • Oversees the maintenance of vacancy announcement files and keeps track of status of vacancy announcements. Reviews and processes personnel actions through IMIS. 
  • Monitors staffing table and prepare relevant statistical data/charts.
  • Assists in the preparation and review of financial and human resource proposals/requirements.  Consolidates budget/work programme with respect to Headquarters’ budget, trust funds, grants and procurement.   
  • Monitors expenditures and compares with approved budget; prepares adjustments as necessary. 
  • Assists managers in the elaboration of resource requirements for budget submissions. 
  • Assists in preparation of the RCO’s annual Integrated Budget and Workplan and budget performance submissions and finalization of budget performance reports, analysing variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
  • Prepares or customizes financial reports from IMIS system generated reports.
  • Co-ordinates with other finance and budget staff on related issues during preparation of budget reports.
  • Provides weekly updates to the Head of RCO and RCO Team on the status of the RCO budget, procurement activities, and contracting requests. Maintains a real-time, accessible tracking document to ensure transparency and coordination across the team.   
  • Drafts routine correspondence to respond to enquiries in respect to relevant administrative, financial audit, personnel matters.   
  • Coordinates extensively with service units and liaises frequently with internal team members both at Headquarters and in the field.
  • Performs other related administrative duties, as required (e.g., operational travel programme; monitoring accounts and payment to vendors and individual contractors for  services; physical space planning; identification of office technology needs and maintenance of equipment, software and systems; organizing and coordinating seminars, conferences and translations).
  • May be responsible for guiding, training, and supervising the work of more junior General Service staff. 
  •  Assists with the collection and analysis of data as well as preparation of data presentations and reports for information sharing, responding to queries, knowledge management, planning and decision making.
  • Assists with visualizations and updating information material such as web pages or brochures.
  • Maintains and regularly updates a well-organized and efficient filing system for the RCO and UNCT, using Microsoft Teams and other platforms as appropriate to ensure easy access and retrieval of documents.
  • Organizes internal and external meetings on behalf of the RCO and UNCT, as required, ensuring effective IT and technological support, timely procurement of catering and other meeting requirements. 
  • Prepares RSVP lists, minutes of meetings, notes and other background materials as needed by the RCO and UNCT. 
  • Provides efficient and well-coordinated support for missions of UN officials and experts to Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam, ensuring smooth logistical and administrative arrangements.
  • Builds and maintains effective working relationships with the front offices of all UN entities and other relevant staff to support smooth coordination.
  • Maintains and regularly updates the RCO asset inventory, ensuring accurate records and proper tracking of office equipment and resources. 
  • Assists with day-to-day administration of contracts between the UN and external contractors for outsourced services.
  • Audits the contractors' invoices against the goods and services provided by the contractor and approved by the UN.
  • Processes the payment of contractors' invoices and monitor payments in a timely and efficient manner. 
  • Prepares and processes all UN forms and permissions for contractual and work Unit, Section or Service UN staff, including: UN grounds passes, property passes, UN parking permits, swipe-card access and door keys. 
  •  Ensures that requirements and background information used for data analysis are documented.
  • Maintains protocol procedures. Ensures adherence to established UN and host country protocol standards in all official engagements and communications of the UNRC. This may include coordinating with government ministries, diplomatic missions, and relevant stakeholders to manage high-level visits, courtesy calls, and ceremonial events; and drafting, formatting, and processing of Note Verbales, official letters, appropriate diplomatic exchanges, and other internal and external communications on behalf of the RC and RCO.
  • Represents the RCO in interagency meetings and committees such as the Common Premises Committee, Operations Management Team, administrative working groups and others. Supports related reporting via the Information Management System / UN INFO such as on common premises as needed. 
  • Maintains and regularly updates the RCO Leave Monitor, tracks absences and work-from-home arrangements of RCO team members, and provides timely reports to the Head of RCO. 
  • Updates and maintains repositories of partner contact lists, the RCO database of UNCT members, Results and Thematic Groups, and other inter-agency coordination mechanisms, as well as database of stakeholder contact lists by categories. 

Education:

  • Completion of High school diploma or equivalent is required.
  • Additional certification in any of the following areas: administrative services, finance, accounting, audit, human resources or related area is desirable.
  • A first level university degree is an advantage.

Work Experience:

  • A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in administrative services, finance, accounting, audit, human resources or related area, is required.
  • The minimum years of relevant work experience is reduced by two (2) years for candidates who possess a first level University degree.   
  • Previous experience with United Nations agencies, NGOs or similar international organizations is desirable   
  • Working experience with an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system such as Umoja (or similar), is desirable.    Work experience of one (1) year or more in Data Analytics is desirable.

Languages:

  • English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat.
  • For the post advertised, fluency in ( Fluency in English ) And  ( Fluency in Malay OR Bahasa ) is required.
  • Knowledge of another official United Nations language is an advantage.   

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/260691?language=en