Executive Assistant

Company Profile:

My client is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities and investment management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 43 countries.

As a market leader, the talent and passion of our people is critical to our success. Together, we share a common set of values rooted in integrity, excellence and strong team ethic. Can provide a superior foundation for building a professional career - a place for people to learn, to achieve and grow. A philosophy that balances personal lifestyle, perspectives and needs is an important part of our culture.

Reporting Line:

This role reports to the Office Manager for Technology in EMEA.

Primary Responsibilities:

An experienced Assistant is required to provide a fast and efficient service to four MDs in the Technology division. Working alongside a team of Assistants, this individual will be required to develop trusting relationships and promote the value of teamwork throughout the organisation. Key responsibilities include:

• Managing very busy schedules in Outlook, ensuring there are no clashes and using initiative to find resolutions and workarounds.
• Arranging all internal and external meetings (including booking conference calls, meeting rooms, and AV).
• Quickly understanding Managers’ key stakeholders and priorities to enable proactive response and ability to pre-empt requirements.
• Intercepting and resolving queries and issues wherever feasible to minimise impact on Managers.
• Devising and maintaining processes to facilitate a highly organised environment, ensuring Managers can be as efficient as possible.
• Tracking outstanding actions and information requests on behalf of Managers, chasing responses and updates when required.
• Collating agendas for key meetings.
• Preparing, printing and collating all meeting documentation, as required.
• Attending meetings to take minutes and capture actions, as required.
• Co-ordinating and booking all travel, including flights, hotels, currency, taxis etc. within the Firmwide Expense Policy.
• Ensuring itineraries are organised in advance of business trips, along with any visas and country specific information/policies, as relevant.
• Processing expenses in a timely manner within Firmwide policy.
• Providing administrative support for any ad hoc projects, including offsites, onsites, social events, etc.
• Extensive verbal and written interaction with internal colleagues and external parties.
• Developing good working relationships with other Assistants across regions and divisions.
• Implementing/maintaining filing systems, as relevant.
• Working with buddy to ensure consistent Assistant coverage during holidays and sickness.
• Ensuring handover notes are kept up to date for ease of coverage and to enable a seamless transition each week between job share partners.
• Managing space/desk moves for the team.
• Working with hiring managers to onboard new hires.

Candidate Specification:

• Proven track record in a similar role.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality on all aspects of workload.
• Confident and friendly personality required - someone who is approachable and able to liaise with people at all levels to achieve work goals.
• Ability to remain calm under pressure and deal with last minute changes to schedules effectively and efficiently.
• Pro-active, ‘can do’ approach – able to extract information from busy managers.
• Ability to use own initiative and judgment.
• Highly organised and capable of multi-tasking to meet deadlines.
• Large amount of flexibility.
• Articulate; an effective communicator with clear and concise written and verbal communication skills.
• Discreet, professional manner.
• Attention to detail.
• Good organisational skills and able to follow up outstanding items, as necessary.
• Strong team player.
• Excellent time/priority management skills.
• Strong working knowledge of all Microsoft applications, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills.
• Graduate preferred though not essential.