Oliver Wyman - Executive Assistant - Johannesburg

Company: Oliver Wyman

Oliver Wyman is a global leader in management consulting. With offices in 70 cities across 30 countries, Oliver Wyman combines deep industry knowledge with specialized expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, and organization transformation. The firm has more than 7,000 professionals around the world who work with clients to optimize their business, improve their operations and risk profile, and accelerate their organizational performance to seize the most attractive opportunities. Oliver Wyman’s thought leadership is evident in our agenda-setting books, white papers, research reports, and articles in the business press. Our clients are the CEOs and executive teams of the top Global 1000 companies.

Oliver Wyman is now looking for an Executive Assistant to join our Johannesburg office and be part of our IMEA team.

Job specification

Job title: Executive Assistant

Department: Executive and Administrative Services

Office/region: Johannesburg, South Africa/ IMEA

Reports to: EA Regional Manager, IMEA

Job Overview: The provision of an executive level administrative support to 1-3 Principal/Partner level consultants in the Johannesburg office.

Hours: 09:00 – 18:00 with additional hours as needed

Key Responsibilities:

Business Development

1. Build relationships with clients and client EAs
2. Understand the business goals and objectives of each supported Partner and help to push them forward proactively
3. Lead the administrative support of RFPs/tender responses
4. Maintain and update current list of contacts and business activities in CRM database
5. Track and maintain sales activity/pipeline with each Partner in Salesforce
6. Proactively spot clients that haven’t been called upon and/or who need follow up
7. Execute requested follow-up calls for client mailings
8. Assist the Marketing Department with the co-ordination of customized mailings
9. Prepare letters, proposals and other documents using Oliver Wyman formatting styles

Calendaring

1. Maintain diaries for Partners, scheduling internal and external meetings, communicating with clients and infrastructure staff as appropriate
2. Proactively spot opportunities to add internal and external meetings; interviews, staff meetings, follow up
3. Assist with scheduling for complex projects as requested by the Partner and/or project team

Travel Arrangement

1. Coordinate travel and accommodation, book cars, rail tickets, etc.
2. Coordinate with mobility and HC to obtain relevant business visas/work permits
3. Develop understanding of Partner scheduling and travel preferences
4. Coordinate travel efficiently by grouping client meetings where possible

Daily administration

1. Manage documents and project deliverables when requested
2. Notify staffing and Practice EAs of extensions/re-negotiations
3. Manage storage or disposal of confidential client information
4. Act as central point of contact for all assigned Partner administrative needs, liaise with other support departments as necessary

Timesheet and Expense Reporting

1. Prepare monthly timesheets for each assigned Partners
2. Prepare all expense reports and/or delegate to a team assistant when necessary
3. Request Purchase Orders (POs) as needed for relevant project teams

Team Support

1. Provide coverage for EAs who are out of the office to ensure seamless support to Principals/Partners
2. Provide short-term coverage for Principals/Partners who may be in the midst of an EA assignment transition or who are new to the Firm
3. Provide training and support to new EAs
4. Participate in team meetings and projects with an eye to improving processes and the overall performance of the EA team

Experience Required:

1. At least three years’ experience at working in a similar role.
2. Experience in financial services, management consultancy and/or a professional services environment is a plus
3. Technical Skills: Advanced Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook skills, comfortable Excel skills
4. Creative problem solving
5. Knowledge of Salesforce, CRM systems (Microsoft Dynamics), Google Drive and SharePoint, a plus but not necessary
6. English – required

Skills and Attributes:

1. Positive and proactive while still being collaborative
2. Highly organized and detail-oriented, yet operates well within a team, as well as independently
3. Professional, tactful and able to engage with colleagues at all levels in the firm
4. Problem solver – able to work with other teams and staff members effectively to reach a viable solution and goal
5. Strong service focus – dedicated to meeting the expectations of all staff through securing effective relationships with clients and executing deliverables to the highest standards.
6. Excellent communicator and negotiator – able to deal effectively with people at all levels across a multicultural environment
7. Maturity, poise and judgment
8. Ability to maintain and respect confidentiality
9. Ability to think strategically and contribute to development of departmental model
10. One who takes constructive feedback in stride and incorporates feedback quickly
11. Ability to manage a heavy work volume and meet deadlines in an extremely fast paced environment
12. Ability to undertake projects and produce quality and timely results
13. Self-starter, strong initiative, confidence and ability to work with little guidance
14. Collaborative team player
15. Positive attitude, sense of fun: is collegial and friendly
16. Ability to juggle several tasks at once, to prioritize and manage own time
17. Methodical, organized and excellent attention to detail
18. Flexible attitude; embraces change, hard-working, cost conscious and results driven
19. Finally, we are looking for someone who will be committed to the company and add to the life and culture of Oliver Wyman

Why join us at Oliver Wyman?

At Oliver Wyman, we lead with heart - we love what we do and have fun while we do it! We also strive for breakthroughs by questioning, seeking diverse perspectives, and finding powerful and sustainable solutions.

We’re individuals who are self-starting, motivated, energetic, entrepreneurial about what we do.

We have the common aspiration to have an impact, leave a legacy and change the world. We have no interest in running a steady-state business. We want to build, grow and shape the environment around us.

We value an environment where every member of Oliver Wyman is encouraged and expected to voice his or her opinion.

We believe that to create a true meritocracy we need to remove artificial barriers to opportunity.

We value people whose lives balance work and non-work activities because we believe they are both more interesting colleagues and are able to make better contributions to the Firm.

We push ourselves hard to deliver excellence, but we also work to extract the maximum benefit from the flexibility of a project-based business. We provide the ability to take career breaks for personal or family reasons. We fundamentally value each other’s time and are sensitive to how it is used. We are an output not input-based culture, have respect for people’s personal decisions, and believe that one's workload must be sustainable. We seek balance for ourselves and our colleagues.

Oliver Wyman is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies [NYSE: MMC]. For more information, visit www.oliverwyman.com. Follow Oliver Wyman on Twitter @OliverWyman.