Office Manager

Want to make a difference?

We're looking for an experienced Office Manager to support the day to day running of all our operations, together with some ancillary involvement with other small commercial enterprises operating from the same premises.

You already have broad commercial experience; this is essential. You have worked previously for several years in an administrative/ customer service environment and are flexible enough to be comfortable with managing rapidly changing priorities.

Who We Are

Focus Awards Ltd is an Ofqual-regulated Awarding Organisation (AO). We create, develop, and provide qualifications to trainers and training providers for sale and delivery to their learners.

This is important because most of our qualifications are nationally recognised on the Regulated Qualification Framework (RQF), which is the backbone of post-16 education. Indeed, they are a core part of career development in many sectors and industries. Delivery must also be fair, transparent, and meet equality and diversity criteria.

Our office, situated in a prime business district location, has been designed to provide a contemporary yet comfortable working environment aimed at supporting the wellbeing of staff. We have a strong desire to maintain a stable and happy workforce with high levels of staff retention.

Who You Are

You are a 'people person', able to get on with anyone and everyone (internal and external) while remaining objective and fair in all your dealings with them. You don't turn a drama into a crisis

We want to recruit somebody who is warm, friendly, and sociable, yet confident, capable, and competent. You can think critically and independently, are keen to adopt new technologies and approaches, and not afraid to make your mark.

Discretion and confidentiality, combined with the ability and desire to "muck in" and engage with the existing team are vital attributes, as are management and supervisory experience. You must also have the capability and mental agility to deal with difficult people and challenging situations occasionally.

Your technical skills (reading, writing, and maths) must be of high quality, and you must be a capable communicator. You should be adept at solving routine problems in the office environment.

You must be able to engage with office informalities whilst maintaining a high standard of integrity, professionalism, and objectivity. You will want to develop and improve your skills and competencies, contributing to your own career progression, and will be both encouraged and supported to make a positive contribution to our small, dedicated, close-knit team.

You will also manage and liaise with several independent remote contractors, including designers, programmers, and developers (for our several bespoke software packages), professional Quality Assurers who visit our Approved Centres, and others. Depending on what is 'in the pipeline' at any one point in time, remote staff numbers can exceed in-house people.

Workload can fluctuate between the mundane, routine, office and admin operations, and intense, fast-paced development programmes for marketing campaigns, generation of new materials, and periodic audit visits from the Regulator.

Our office, situated in a prime business district location, has been designed to provide a contemporary yet comfortable working environment aimed at supporting the wellbeing of staff. We have a strong desire to maintain a stable and happy workforce with high levels of staff retention.

Additional Responsibilities

You're often the first point of contact with people from both inside and outside the CEO's several business interests, including those outside the education sector. Tasks include liaising with tenants, estate agents, and independent contractors to help manage his property portfolio, as well as communicating with the government's Regulator (Ofqual) and stakeholders for Focus Awards.

Some legal and contract knowledge is desirable, and simple bookkeeping and accounting skills an advantage, but you'll also take care of 'routine' office activities such as dealing with customer service enquires and complaints, recording minutes of business meetings and external audits, and such. Knowledge of the regulated education sector would be of great benefit.

General Duties

• Devising/maintaining office systems, including data management and filing
• Arranging travel and accommodation, and occasionally travelling with the CEO to take notes or dictation at meetings or to provide general assistance during presentations
• Screening phone calls, enquiries, and requests, and handling them when appropriate
• Meeting and greeting visitors at all levels of seniority
• Organising and maintaining diaries and making appointments
• Dealing with incoming email, faxes, and post, often corresponding on behalf of the CEO, or drafting appropriate Communications for approval
• Producing documents, briefing papers, reports, and presentations
• Organising and attending meetings and ensuring the CEO is well prepared for meetings
• Liaising with clients, suppliers, and other staff

Working hours

You'll generally work from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and will be primarily office-based, but you may occasionally need to be flexible to meet the needs of the business.

All applicants must show evidence of the following:

• Good written and oral communication skills
• IT skills, including knowledge of a range of software packages
• Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines
• Good organisational and time management skills
• Ability to research, digest, analyse and present material clearly and concisely
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Ability to work on own initiative
• Honesty and reliability
• Attention to detail
• Flexibility and adaptability to juggle a range of different tasks and be prepared to work extra hours to meet deadlines
• Discretion and an understanding of confidentiality issues