Resilience Officer

Essex Resilience Forum Resilience Officer 

Contract: 12-month FTC 

Working Hours: 37 hrs per week 

Grade: 9                                                         

Salary: £44,711 – £47,754 per annum

Location: Kelvedon Park

Closing Date: 1st December 2024 

*We are open to discuss working arrangements including flexibility over hours and location 

This role is a fixed-term opportunity. If the role is extended (or made permanent), the extension or permanent position may be offered to the successful applicant ahead of any further recruitment process.  

The Essex Resilience Forum brings a wide variety of agencies together to manage major incidents.  As well as planning for emergencies, training and exercising, it also ensures that the county remains as safe as it can be and that we work together to minimise the impact. 

The Role 

We have an opportunity within the Essex Resilience Forum (ERF) for a Resilience Officer.  Your role would be to provide a responsive, efficient and effective service to the Essex Resilience Forum Team and partnership. 

Providing support, advice and guidance, across Essex Resilience Forum (ERF) member agencies; ensuring Essex agency emergency plans are in place and supporting training, exercising and learning outcomes to support preparedness, response and recovery activities for emergency planning and incident response.  

What You Will Be Working On 

·       Working within the Essex Resilience Forum team and reporting to the ERF Manager, this role will include but is not limited to: 

·       Engaging with ERF partners with the delivery of their obligations under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) and associated legislation. 

·       Support ERF partners within the multi-agency domain to enhance collaborative working through the Programme Delivery Group (PDG), delivering the objectives against the National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA), multi-agency emergency planning activities and training, exercising and lessons learned.  

·       Designated lead on key workstreams and special projects within the ERF providing guidance, delivery and support across the ERF.  

·       Develop, support and uphold the governance and assurance structures of the ERF Secretariat, to ensure multi-agency activities align with the ERF Strategy and the National Resilience Standards (NRS).  

·       Support with the monitoring and evaluation of the ERFs performance and compliance in line with changes to legislation and government led directives. 

·       Develop and build strong customer relationships with multi agency groups and partners. 

·       Develop, challenge and evaluate emergency plans by the identification of potential issues; delivering expertise knowledge and understanding of resilience issues; identifying areas for improvement and communicating and raising the awareness of these to the partner agencies.  

What Are We Looking For? 

The ideal candidate for this role will have experience of working both independently and as part of a dynamic team.  They will also have experience of working within a Local Resilience Forum and multi-agency environment within the past 2 years supporting the delivery of project objectives and milestones. It is essential that they also have a good understanding of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA) and associated legislation, the emergency planning management, JESIP and Microsoft programmes.  It is essential that this individual has excellent communication and interpersonal skills, to engage and influence individuals at different levels both internally and externally. The ideal candidate will be expected to support and chair meetings, delivering presentations and provide support and guidance to a variety of audiences. 

The ideal candidate should hold a recognised qualification in Emergency Planning and Management or is working towards achieving this qualification. 

How to apply  

Internal candidates in either the development or resource pool –  

If you meet the essential criteria listed above, you should express an interest for the role by clicking Apply in Cornerstone (recruitment portal). 

Internal candidates who are not in either the development or resource pool –  

You are required to submit a supporting statement of no more than 750 words detailing how you meet the essential criteria for the role via Cornerstone (recruitment portal). It is important that you provide as much evidence as possible as to how you meet the essential criteria of the person specification as this statement will be used to shortlist your application. Please ensure you have uploaded the supporting statement before clicking Apply. 

External candidates 

You will be required to submit a supporting statement of no more than 750 words that demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria of the Person Specification. You may submit this either as a word document, pdf, or an mp3 (voice note) or mp4 (video), however the word count must not exceed 750 words no matter which format you choose to present your application.  

You may attach separate documents (such as qualifications, or a CV) should you wish. Your additional documents will be referred to in shortlisting to confirm eligibility (e.g., your current role and any existing qualifications). 

Assessment and selection:   

The assessment and selection approach will be:  

Stage 1 

Application & shortlisting (assessment of your supporting statement will be made against the essential criteria)  

Stage 2 

Presentation and panel interview.  

For an informal discussion regarding the role please contact the Recruitment team – recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk 

Our Culture and Benefits 

Here at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service we are committed to prioritising and promoting the wellbeing of our employees.  

You can find out more about our benefits at https://www.essex-fire.gov.uk/recruitment/benefits 

Disability Confident

We are an equal opportunities, Disability Confident, employer who welcomes applications from everyone and values diversity in our workplace. A commitment to promoting diversity and developing a work environment where all staff are treated with dignity and respect is central to our recruitment process and all applications will be considered solely on merit. 

As part of our offer to support all our candidates to perform to the best of their abilities during our recruitment and selection processes and we would like to let you know about a couple of support options you can access, should you wish to, including our employee forums, who are keen and willing to support all of our potential colleagues.  

Our employee forums and partners include:  

Asian Fire Services Association (AFSA), BEING (our LGBTQ+ employee support network), Christian Fellowship, Ethnic Minority Forum, Men’s Forum, and our Women’s Forum. In addition, we also have a female firefighters operational group.  

Further to the above, the Service has a Digital Accessibility Inclusion Group (DAIG) that supports all colleagues to improve their digital skills and provides additional support and guidance to colleagues with neurodivergent strengths and struggles as a result of dyslexia, ADHD, Autism, dyspraxia etc. We want everyone to thrive at work, and so we encourage and enable people to access digital tools to help them perform at your best. The DAIG is a group of colleagues from across the Service that unite to support others as a result of their lived experience and desire to make a difference. They support people with a range of visible and invisible disabilities to identify and access digital workplace adjustments and solutions and may be able to assist with your application too.  

Should you wish to discuss support, or access further information, from one of these groups, please contact Equality.Diversity@essex-fire.gov.uk  

You are also able to raise any queries or requests for support, including any adjustments you may require, at any stage of the process by email to recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk 

You can find out more about Essex County Fire & Rescue Service via www.essex-fire.gov.uk and about our vacancies and application processes via www.essex-fire.gov.uk/join-essex-fire 

Safeguarding 

Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. 

It is our policy to require all applicants for employment to disclose if you are currently being investigated by any regulatory body or have any decisions or sanctions pending or in progress in respect of your suitability to work for the Service. 

You agree to inform the Service within 24 hours if you are subsequently investigated by any agency or organisation in relation to concerns about your behaviour towards children, young people or vulnerable adults. 

The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be considered only in relation to the appointment for which you are applying. 

This role will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.