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EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT & EVENTS ORGANISER – OXFORD – £40,000 – £45,000 plus benefits
Job title: Executive Assistant and Events Organiser
Hours of work: This is a fulltime role with the core working hours being 9am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday. Work in the evenings and occasionally at weekends may, on occasion, be required and will be compensated with time-off in lieu or flexible hours in return.
Leave Entitlement: 30 days plus bank holidays.
Summary of the post
The EA will need to be a confident and resilient person, with highly developed interpersonal and communication skills and able to exercise discretion and preserve confidentiality. The post is a demanding one and role holder must have the ability to manage a high-volume workload, meet tight deadlines and be flexible enough to cope with last minute changes to schedules and events, previous experience of a similar role is essential. The role will involve efficient and personable handling of relationships with multiple stakeholders.
Duties –The EA will be responsible for:
• Keeping the diary up to date in both electronic and hard copy. Long horizon diary planning and predicting what demands will be many months in advance.
• Managing the Household
• Line manager for the Household staff, managing leave requests, sickness and arranging necessary cover for the household staff
• Liaising with maintenance, staff, gardeners etc. to ensure the smooth running of the Household.
• Working with the staff on all events to ensure they have all the relevant information they need for each event.
• Fully running multiple events each week from beginning to end, including arranging staffing, catering, attendance and dietary, plus all arrangements for overnight guests etc.
• Liaising with accountants to ensure all relevant paperwork for personal accounts and expenses are dealt with effectively.
• Reviewing the upcoming programme of activities both for work and personal and keeping the diary up to date.
• Booking personal appointments, including medical checks, prescriptions, vet appointments and anything else which may be required.
• Keeping people informed on diary changes
• Responding to incoming mail (by post or electronically) including generating responses to correspondence on behalf of in a timely and efficient manner.
• Submitting expense claims in a timely fashion.
• Taking dictation and typing up voice memos. This is usually when the office administrator is on leave but occasionally required during very busy periods.
• Researching and preparing briefing papers. Preparing and managing correspondence, reports and documents.
Events
The EA will, in collaboration, be responsible for planning social, academic and other events, ensuring that they are entered into the diary and systems in good time and that the staffing and support are in place to ensure the success of events. This may involve the engagement of agency staff and contract caterers as necessary, plus liaising with catering, food services and the serving staff to ensure the correct table plans, wine selections, menu cards, etc are all in place before the event
Such events include, but are not limited to: lunches, meetings and dinners with major donors and distinguished visitors, academic seminars and lectures, entertaining junior members. There are usually a minimum of 4-8 events per week.
The Household
The post holder will hold daily briefings with the housekeeping staff and the Catering & Events Supervisor, go through the diary and give instructions relating to the requirements for the day.
Person Specification – Essential (E) or Desirable (D)
Personal attributes based on the duties of the post
First degree or equivalent professional training *E*
Qualifications and experience
Personal Assistant role *E*
Experience/Knowledge of UK higher education system *D*
Skills
RSA level 2 (minimum) word processing or equivalent *D*
Excellent administrative skills, including information handling, time management and systems development *E*
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (oral and written) *E*
Excellent IT literacy, including word processing, databases, spreadsheets, email and use of internet for research *E*
Working to deadlines *E*
High level of attention to detail *E*
Ability to work without supervision and under pressure *E*
Ability to handle sensitive and confidential matters with discretion and initiative *E*