Salary £14,500 - £17,000 p.a. commensurate with experience

An opportunity has arisen to join a small and specialist Chartered Surveyors Practice who have recently progressed to corporate status located in our Preston City Centre offices.

This is a high pace and challenging role, juggling a variety of tasks in a very busy office environment and would suit an individual who is a good problem solver, adaptable to change and thrives on a challenge with an aptitude for IT.

Job Description:

The role will play a vital part in the administration and smooth-running of the office providing both clerical and administrative support. Typical work activities will include word processing and audio typing, composing correspondence, dealing with telephone and e-mail enquiries, maintaining filing systems, keeping diaries and arranging meetings/appointments.

Working closely with the Practice Manager you will be involved with the co-ordination and implementation of office systems and procedures and take responsibility for specific projects and tasks such as stationery/stock control: mail in & out and small scale ancillary databases. There is potential career progression opportunity.

Duties:

Initially the bulk of duties will comprise audio typing and therefore prior experience is desirable or alternatively the relevant skill or qualification such as RSA Audio Transcription/Word Processing.

• provision of confidential administrative and secretarial duties

• answering and directing telephone calls - assisting with queries

• liaising with team and external contacts providing support where required

• using audio tapes or copy-typing to produce letters, correspondence and documents

• using a variety of software packages such as Microsoft Access, Excel, Word, Powerpoint and Outlook etc to produce correspondence, documents and presentations

• maintaining, updating and querying internal database (currently in Access)

• procurement of stationery and other general office supplies

• organising meetings and appointments as necessary – diary management

• organising and storing paperwork, documents and computer based information

• using document management system to scan and organise incoming correspondence and track/assign tasks and follow up.

• downloading and printing - saving/organising surveyors digital photographs

• performing online research and searches for comparables

• assist in marketing activities i.e. mail shots and presentation material

Essential Skills:

The successful candidate will have very strong organisational and interpersonal skills and be enthusiastic for change. They will be customer focused, taking responsibility for, and delivering, a high quality service to the practice and its different customers and clients. In addition they should have an enthusiastic and flexible approach to work. They will be a positive team player with effective oral and written communication skills and a “can do attitude”.

The job holder should be able to demonstrate the ability to manage and retrieve information, work unsupervised using their own initiative managing and prioritising their own workload. They will also be required to produce and present information to high standards, whilst demonstrating attention to detail when dealing with a wide range of information.

Qualifications:

Candidate should be able to demonstrate relevant experience in an administrative role, ideally of working in busy office environment with a working knowledge of Microsoft Access, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other databases.

• Excellent IT skills required

• Database knowledge an advantage

• Typing ability/skill – RSA, OCR or equivalent qualification would be preferred

• Polite and courteous telephone manner - business etiquette

Applications

Please send CV addressed to Miss B M Highton, Practice Manager, Ken Batty Chartered Surveyors, 3 Fishergate Court, Preston, PR1 8QF or beth@kenbatty.co.uk with a brief cover letter/statement as to why you have applied for the position, outlining what you would bring in terms of soft and technical skills giving examples of how you have applied these competencies in previous roles.

Closing date for applications: Friday 26th February 2010 STRICTLY NO AGENCIES