Recruitment and Onboarding Administrator

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales.

We have an opportunity for a Recruitment and Onboarding Administrator to join our Recruitment Team within the Corporate Enablers Directorate.

The water sector is entering a new chapter. Following the Independent Water Commissions Final Report and subsequent White Paper - 'New Vision for Water', the UK government has set out a bold new direction - one that brings together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment.

Ofwat is working in collaboration with the government and other regulators to help establish a new body for England, combining our strengths with those of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency, and Natural England. Were also continuing to engage with the Welsh Government to support future decisions for Wales.

While these changes take shape, our mission remains the same: to hold water companies to account, drive performance, and ensure the sector delivers real value for customers, communities, and the environment. If youre passionate about making a difference, this is a unique moment to join us and help shape the future of water, and together we can continue to make a positive impact.

You can find out more about why you should join Ofwat, our strategy, values and our framework for success in the attached Information for Candidates Pack.

We have an excellent opportunity for an experienced Recruitment and Onboarding Administrator to join our friendly, expert Recruitment team. This is a 12-month fixed term appointment to cover Maternity leave.

You will provide administrative support for recruitment and onboarding activities, working closely with our Onboarding Advisors, Talent Partners, the wider People Hub and Corporate Enablers teams.

The Recruitment team (part of wider People Hub team) sits within the Corporate Enablers' directorate. Corporate enablers provide professional support services (Finance, Procurement, HR, IT and Facilities) that enable Ofwat to be a highly performing organisation that is effective, efficient, and able to adapt to change. Corporate Enablers' impact is felt every day, as they ensure Ofwat's people have the right capabilities, tools, and culture to deliver for customers, society, and the environment.

The Recruitment Team at Ofwat is a friendly, supportive and ambitious team of 9 that takes real pride in what we do. Our aim is to ensure the right people are recruited to the right roles at the right time, helping Ofwat deliver its strategic priorities.

We work closely with colleagues across the organisation, building strong relationships and delivering excellent stakeholder support, while providing exceptional candidate care, and making sure every candidate has a positive and fair experience. Were committed to being open, transparent and inclusive in our approach, and we take our responsibility to uphold Civil Service recruitment principles seriously were proud to be rated Good by the Civil Service Commission, their highest rating.

Key deliverables:

In this role you will be expected to:

• Ensure a smooth candidate experience throughout the recruitment and onboarding process. You'll do this by providing excellent candidate care and support.
• Manage the recruitment central mailbox, ensuring timely, accurate responses, using your initiative to escalate queries where appropriate.
• Support with recruitment campaign administration, which involves processing sift and interview outcomes using our ATS (applicant tracking system) and scheduling interviews.
• Assist the Onboarding Advisors with administrative tasks relating to pre-employment checking, including Right to work checks, DBS and reference checks etc.
• Maintain and update accurate records in Excel and SharePoint, while ensuring integrity of sensitive data.
• Liaise with relevant teams within Ofwat (such as Facilities, HR Operations, IT, etc) as and when required to support onboarding of new joiners.
• Support with administrative tasks relating to the co-ordination of inductions plans for new starters.
• Monitor central tracking of contingent workers pre-employment checking and escalating issues.
• Manage multiple tasks and priorities in a fast-paced environment, ensuring deadlines/SLAs are met and stakeholders are kept informed.
• Provide general administrative support to the team as required

To be successful in this role you will need the below essential attributes, experience, skills and knowledge:

Experience, skills and knowledge

1. Lead Criterion: Previous experience in an administrative role in a Recruitment or HR environment supporting recruitment processes (e.g. interview scheduling, drafting contracts of employment, providing timely updates to candidates and stakeholders)
2. Good knowledge of and experience using M365 software suite, specifically; Outlook, Excel, Word, and MS Teams.
3. Experience of handling high volumes of queries or inbox management.
4. Ability to use sound judgement to take ownership of queries and issues, using initiative to identify practical solutions and escalate where appropriate.
5. Excellent organisation and prioritisation skills, with the ability to effectively manage your own time whilst working to agreed SLAs.
6. Exceptional attention to detail, ensuring accuracy and completeness in data handling and in communication with candidates and stakeholders.
7. Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team, building effective working relationships to deliver shared outcomes across recruitment and onboarding.

Attributes

8. Creates clarity

9. Adaptable thinker

10. Delivering outcomes

11. Committed Learner

Attributes as per Ofwat's Framework for Success for the relevant salary grade. You can read more about Attributes here.