BDO Wave - Agile Personal Assistant (Port Elizabeth) at BDO South Africa

Description

• We are recruiting an Agile Personal Assistant based in our Business Support Hub (BSH), which is part of our wider National Business Support (NBS) stream. The Business Support Hub provides administrative assistance across BDO nationally, supporting our external facing teams as well as our Practice Management Departments (PMDs).  The BSH and Agile PA team perform various tasks on behalf of these teams, allowing our external facing teams to focus on delivering exceptional client service.
• The National Business Support Stream is a collaborative community of c330 business support professionals across the firm, working in our 17 Hubs and infrastructure departments.  Made up of PAs, Senior PAs, Executive Assistants, Operations Managers, Receptionists, and Administrators, we offer access to career development, learning opportunities, coaching and mentoring.  Our aim is to ‘work smarter and creatively’ driving consistencies and ‘working better together’ by sharing best practice and knowledge. 

Requirements
The Agile PA (Grade 130) role will be challenging and rewarding. You will work as part of a team of Agile PAs to offer dedicated and ad hoc PA cover, which will vary according to the area of the business.  Core responsibilities will include:

• High quality PA cover to key stakeholders (partners and directors) and act as a trusted point of contact and support, capable of building relationships and making independent decisions within limits of authority. ​ 
• Diary and inbox management - Monitor e-mails/meeting invitations of Partner(s)/Director(s) and reply on their behalf when needed
• Co-ordinate events including liaising with delegates, booking meeting rooms and arranging refreshments/equipment as necessary
• Co-ordinate business travel via our internal Travel Team
• Liaison with meeting attendees regarding presentations and reports
• Document production
• Liaising with senior stakeholders, both internally and externally
• Completion of expense reports
• Provide an exceptional client experience
• Be responsive and help to create a positive impression of the business support function
• Deal with routine enquiries and taking appropriate messages
• General administrative assistance
• Taking on small ad-hoc projects
• Minute taking

Technical Knowledge

• To have previous experience working in a PA role
• Intermediate to advanced level of MS office skills
• Fast accurate typing skills
• Excellent communication skills
• Basic project and event management experience
• To either have previous experience in, or ability to learn the following systems:
• Workday
• CMS
• Microsoft Office products such as SharePoint, Teams, Yammer etc.
• Professional practice experience or similar is an advantage

Person Specification

• Forward thinking and creative
• Ability to manage / prioritise tasks
• Has a flexible and adaptable attitude, able to adjust quickly when priorities change
• Ability to readily understand the Firm’s environment, structure and culture
• Works on own initiative, is discreet and highly organised
• Proactively identifies and evaluates problems and demonstrates the ability to approach and tackle problems effectively
• A strong communicator at all levels within the Firm – can produce detailed handover notes
• Work on own initiative and be self-motivated
• Ability to pay attention to detail
• Awareness of BDO Brand, layout of documents etc
• Ability to adhere to strict deadlines
• Proactive in driving things forward
• Ability to see things through from start to finish and staying on top of do to lists

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in professional services, financial services, or other regulated industries will be a strong advantage.
• MS Office

Experience

• A minimum of 2 years’ experience as a Personal Assistant