Administrative Assistant 1 (Trainee 1 / 2) (NY HELPS) - Business Office

About SUNY Polytechnic Institute:

SUNY Polytechnic Institute is New York State's premier public polytechnic, highly regarded for leading the pursuit of knowledge and innovation through interdisciplinary engagement and collaboration across its four colleges - Arts & Sciences, Business, Engineering, and Health Sciences. SUNY Poly is a College of Distinction and nationally ranked by Forbes and U.S. News & World Report.

Guided by a bold vision for societal impact, the university advances use-inspired research and transformative collaborations that drive economic development, technological progress, and humanitarian solutions - locally in the Mohawk Valley region and in communities around the globe.

SUNY Poly is a proud, resilient community with like minds and like spirits who are inspired by a distinctive STEAM education and social experience that prepares its graduates for the 21st century workforce. The university is guided by a mission and vision that is grounded in "elevating impact" and in living out the values of Accountability, Community, Empathy, Gratitude, Inclusion, Innovation, Kindness, and Respect.

SUNY Poly's campus is located in Utica, N.Y., in the heart of the picturesque Mohawk Valley, where you will find the convergence of affordability, opportunity, and quality of life. Residents of the greater Utica area enjoy a lower cost of living than most cities while being part of a region undergoing a vibrant technological and economic renaissance.

Job Description:

The Administrative Assistant 1 provides essential clerical and operational support within the Business Office, with primary responsibility for assisting accounts payable, travel, and procurement functions. This role supports the accurate and timely processing of invoices, travel documentation, and purchasing activities while ensuring compliance with SUNY, New York State, and campus policies. Serving as a key point of contact for campus departments and vendors, the Administrative Assistant helps coordinate workflows through systems such as Jaggaer and FMS , maintains organized and audit-ready records, and monitors transactions to completion. This position is critical to maintaining efficient, organized business operations and enabling professional staff to focus on specialized financial and compliance responsibilities.
 

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: 

• Accounts Payable support - verify documentation, track payments, data entry, assist with reconciliation and vendor/constituent follow up while maintaining organized processes and ensuring procurement workflows are efficient, timely, and properly coordinated from initiation through completion.    
• Travel Processing - verify documentation, track payments, assist with reconciliation, and follow up, facilitating seamless coordination and maintaining workflow to ensure timely and accurate processing.
•  Procurement Support - Assist with purchasing activities in Jaggaer, monitor requisitions and orders, and coordinate with campus departments and vendors while maintaining organized processes and ensuring procurement workflows are moving efficiently, timely and properly coordinated from initiation through completion.
• Customer Service and Communication - Serve as a primary point of contract for the Business Office.  Respond to inquiries and provide guidance.
• Records Management and Compliance - Maintain organized, accurate and audit-ready financial and administrative records.
• Provide clerical support, including scheduling, correspondence and workflow tracking to ensure smooth office operations.

Requirements:

Minimum Requirements: 

This title is part of the New York Hiring for Emergency Limited Placement Statewide Program (NY HELPS) - For the duration of the NY HELPS Program, this title may be filled via a non-competitive appointment, which means no examination is required but all candidates must meet the minimum qualifications of the title for which they apply. 

To be eligible for appointment under NY HELPS, candidates must meet the minimum qualifications below:

• Administrative Assistant Trainee 1: Six months of experience in administrative support, which includes use of office software (e.g., email, word processing), provision of customer service, business writing, and/or office administration. To be advanced to the full performance level of this title you must successfully complete a set training and development program. Upon satisfactory completion of the 12-month training at the Trainee 1, you will automatically advance to Trainee 2.
• Administrative Assistant Trainee 2: One year of experience in administrative support, which includes use of office software (e.g., email, word processing), provision of customer service, business writing, and/or office administration. To be advanced to the full performance level of this title you must successfully complete a set training and development program. Upon satisfactory completion of the 12-month training as a Trainee 2 you will advance to the full level of this title without further examination.
• Administrative Assistant 1: Two years of experience in administrative support, which includes use of office software (e.g., email, word processing), provision of customer service, business writing, and/or office administration.*Certification (e.g., IAAP Certified Administrative Professional) or associate's degree in office administration, secretarial science, administrative assistance, paralegal, business technology, or office technology substitutes for two years of experience.

**Note: Appointment may be made at a traineeship level at the discretion of the agency and based on the qualifications of the candidate. Two-year traineeship (Administrative Assistant Trainee 1, NS=Grade 8 starting salary $42,209 & Administrative Assistant Trainee 2, NS=Grade 10 starting salary $47,110) leading to Administrative Assistant 1, Grade 11 ($49,841). 

Competitive Qualifications:

• Reachable on the appropriate Civil Service list.
• Reassignment & Transfer Opportunities: Current New York State employee with permanent or contingent permanent status as an Administrative Assistant 1, Grade 11, OR: Current New York State employee with one or more years of permanent, contingent-permanent, or 55b/c service in a position allocated to Grade 6 or above, and eligible for transfer under Section 70.1 of the Civil Service Law to Administrative Assistant Trainee or Administrative Assistant 1.

Additional Information:

Initial review of applications will begin 2 weeks after posting.

SUNY Polytechnic Institute offers exceptional benefits such as healthcare, dental, vision, pension plans, competitive pay, generous paid time off, tuition assistance, life insurance and long-term disability insurance.

As an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer, SUNY Polytechnic Institute will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant's race, creed, religion, color, citizenship, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, predisposing genetic characteristics, gender identification or expression, genetic information, familial status, marital status, pregnancy, status as a domestic violence victim, criminal conviction, disability, military status, disabled veteran, recently separated veteran, Armed Forces Service Medal veteran, active duty or wartime campaign badge veteran, or other characteristic as protected by law. Please feel free to review your equal employment opportunities protections and laws pertaining to these protections at https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/discrimination

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or Clery Act, mandates that all Title IV institutions, without exception, prepare, publish and distribute an Annual Security Report. This report consists of two basic parts: disclosure of the College's crime statistics for the past three years; and disclosures regarding the College's current campus security policies. The SUNY Polytechnic Institute Annual Security Report is available in portable document format [PDF] by clicking this link:

https://sunypoly.edu/sites/default/files/Clery Report 2024 - Uticaw covers.pdf

Inquiries regarding the application of Title IX and other laws, regulations and policies prohibiting discrimination may be directed to the Title IX Coordinator TitleIX@sunypoly.edu at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Inquiries may also be directed to the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, 32 Old Slip 26th Floor, New York, NY 10005-2500; Tel. (646) 428-3800; Email OCR.NewYork@ed.gov.

Pursuant to Executive Order 161, no State entity, as defined by the Executive Order, is permitted to ask, or mandate, in any form, that an applicant for employment provide his or her current compensation, or any prior compensation history, until such time as the applicant is extended a conditional offer of employment with compensation.  If such information has been requested from you before such time, please contact the Governor's Office of Employee Relations at (518) 474-6988 or via email at info@oer.ny.gov.

Application Instructions:

Applicants must address in their applications their abilities to work with a culturally diverse population.  This position is contingent on the satisfactory completion of a background check; this position may require annual checks.

Persons interested in the above position must submit a resume, cover letter, 3 professional references and the SUNY Poly application.  In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), if you have a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a position, please email us at HR@sunypoly.edu