Centrally located in the heart of Iowa, Ames is a vibrant, progressive community with more than 66,000 residents providing an excellent quality of life. Home to Iowa State University, Ames offers year-round recreation opportunities, diverse cultural offerings, a stable economy, safe neighborhoods, and a high-achieving school district.

The City of Ames is seeking a highly qualified individual to serve in this key support role in the City Manager's Office for 40 hours/week position.

Under general supervision, this position plans, implements and carries out support staff functions, complex administrative assignments, and projects; applies all departmental, customer service, and record-keeping policies to daily work; exercises sound judgment in applying departmental and City procedures; performs related work as required. This position is responsible for producing high-quality detailed work while also managing competing work demands. A key component of the job is providing excellent customer service in person, over the phone, and via email to a high volume of internal and external customers. Consistently accurate and efficient work output is a major focus of the job.

In order to be considered for this position, all applicants must submit their online application by the deadline listed on this posting. Your application includes complete responses to education and work history, as well as any required supplemental questions. Please keep in mind that submission of a resume in lieu of work history on your application or answering the supplemental questions is not sufficient.

Compensation Philosophy:

The City of Ames has a compensation philosophy that the starting pay for our merit salary ranges establishes the salary for employees who meet minimum requirements of a position. The median of any merit salary range is for an employee who can reasonably meet all expectations of the position responsibilities without initial extensive training. In order for employees to have an opportunity to grow within their position, we may consider a candidate's education, experience, and skills above the minimum requirements when looking at a salary closer to or slightly above the median. The median salary for this position is $58,299 annually.

Benefits

Our comprehensive benefits package can be viewed at: City of Ames Benefits

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program: The PSLF Program is a federal program that is intended to encourage individuals to work in public service by forgiving the balance of their federal student loans. To qualify, the individual must have made 120 qualifying payments while employed by a qualifying employer. For more information, please visit the website through this link: PSLF Program

Serves as frontline customer service representative. Provides needed support to members of work group. Receives and reviews documents in accordance with established policies and procedures; applies departmental and City policies; exercises sound judgment in applying departmental and City procedures. Plans, implements and manages complex administrative assignments and projects; collects and analyzes information; prepares summary reports for supervisory review. Composes meeting minutes and correspondence, which require a comprehensive understanding of departmental operations. Maintains filing systems and automated data bases; uses software packages to compile and analyze data and to generate reports. Responds to customer and citizen requests; and may maintain and balance employee time records. Routinely schedules meetings and plans events; organizes project work and resources. Responsible for proofreading and editing department documents for use of proper grammar, punctuation, and accuracy.

Other Job Functions: As determined by the department head, may serve as the secretary to one or more City boards or commissions, which includes preparing and compiling agenda items, distributing board packets, taking and transcribing minutes, notifying appropriate individuals, groups or agencies regarding board actions, and maintaining historical records of board actions. Will assist in creating and maintaining departmental Web pages; monitor outgoing departmental communications to ensure they reflect positively on the organization; and other duties as assigned.

Each employee is expected to continually strive to bring shared values to life through our Excellence Through People organizational culture. ETP values include: committing to continuous improvement; inspiring creativity and innovation; being customer driven; making data-driven decisions; committing to diversity, equity, and inclusion; championing employee involvement; striving for excellence; having fiscal stewardship; acting with honesty and integrity; exhibiting leadership; choosing a positive attitude; respecting one another; promoting safety and wellness; and cultivating teamwork. For leaders, this includes creating a work culture that brings these values to life. For all employees, this includes maintaining a Total City Perspective. The purpose of ETP is to deliver exceptional services to the public at the best price, and for employees to experience an enjoyable and stimulating work environment.

Education and Experience: Successful completion of high school or G.E.D. is required, with post-secondary professional development in support staff functions preferred. Three years of diversified office administrative and support staff experience is required. An equivalent combination of education in support staff functions and/or support staff experience may be considered. Experience working with scheduling, email, word processing, and various database programs is also required.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

• Strong administrative support and organizational skills and meeting minute taking work experience are required.
• Municipal administrative support experience is preferred.
• Cheerful disposition with an innate ability to provide exceptional internal and external customer service.
• Strong written and oral communication skills are essential.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Considerable knowledge of modern office practices and procedures including the utilization of automated technology to enhance office efficiency and effectiveness; considerable knowledge of departmental policies and administrative requirements as they affect administrative operations and responsibilities. Ability to take initiative to resolve challenging issues and leverage resources as needed. Basic knowledge of accounting, payroll, bookkeeping or billing procedures.

Skill in organizing and maintaining complex administrative operations including both manual and automated filing systems; skill in executing a wide variety of routine and specialized office administrative functions, including demonstrated proficiency in word processing and other office software; skill in operating a computer terminal and other standard office equipment.

Ability to exercise sound, independent judgment in applying City and departmental policies and procedures to routine, complex and/or sensitive situations; ability to make simple analyses of data and to make arithmetic calculations; ability to prepare routine written reports; ability to establish and to maintain effective working relationships with City co-workers at all levels, customers and the general public; ability to type at least 40 words per minute.

Required Physical Activities: Talking, hearing, walking, reaching, grasping, pushing, pulling, repetitive motions, stooping, kneeling, crouching, standing, sitting, and finger dexterity.

Physical Characteristics of Work: Work requires sitting and/or using various computer equipment approximately 75% of the time, and standing and/or walking 25% of the time. Frequently requires the exertion of up to 10 pounds of force, and infrequently requires the exertion of 10 – 50 pounds of force to lift or otherwise move objects.

Vision Requirements: The minimum standard for those whose work deals largely with preparing and analyzing data and written information, accounting, transcription, using a computer terminal, and/or extensive reading.

Environmental Conditions: For most positions in this classification, the worker is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions. In some positions, the worker may be subject to noise, vibration, mechanical hazards, electrical hazards, chemical hazards, or atmospheric conditions that affect the respiratory system or the skin.

Examples of Equipment Used on the Job: Computer terminal and hardware; a variety of word processing, spreadsheet, database, presentation, and specialized software; general office equipment such as copier, files and file cabinets, photocopy machine, and calculator; communications equipment such as telephone and fax machine.

Selection Process

The selection process consists of an evaluation of education and experience, phone interview, hiring assessment, on-site interview which will include a manager meeting and skills testing, and completion of a criminal background check, which includes a sex offender registry check. All candidates will be notified by email of their application status.

Depending on the number of qualified candidates, the City may forego phone interviews.

**Preference may be given to applicants possessing qualifications above the minimum.**

If any applicants tested with, and for, the City of Ames for an admin support position within 6 months prior to interview for this recruitment, the City will allow those candidates to use such prior passing scores and the applicant will not be required to retest.

E-Verify Process:

The City of Ames participates in E-Verify and will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with information from each applicant’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization. All candidates who are offered a position with the City of Ames must complete Section 1 of Form I-9 along with the required proof of their right to work in the United States and proof of their identity on their first day of employment. Please be prepared to provide required documents on your first day of employment. For additional information regarding acceptable documents for this purpose, please contact Human Resources at 515-239-5199 or go to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services web page at: http://www.uscis.gov.

NOTE: Persons with disabilities must submit requests for ADA testing accommodations to the Human Resources Department prior to the application deadline.

The City of Ames is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, marital status, disability, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against. Inquiries can be directed to the Human Resources Department at 515-239-5199.