Donna King

In my current dual-role capacity, I serve as both Operations Manager of the Skills Academy—a distinct function separate from the core business; in addition to performing role of Training Manager for the main civil engineering business.

As Operations Manager of the Skills Academy, my key responsibilities include:

• Operational Oversight: Managing day-to-day functions of the Academy to ensure seamless workflows, high efficiency, and consistently high operational standards.
• Resource Management: Overseeing personnel, training facilities, equipment, and materials to optimise productivity and support profitability.
• Process Improvement: Designing, implementing, and evaluating operational processes to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve overall quality.
• Financial Performance & Budget Management: Preparing and managing budgets, maximising revenue streams, analysing financial data, and identifying opportunities to reduce expenditure while improving the financial health of the Academy. This includes absorbing all training-related costs for the wider business workforce.
• Team Leadership & Development: Building and leading a newly established team, with a focus on staff development, mentoring, and performance management.
• Strategic Planning: Developing and executing strategic initiatives to meet organisational goals and performance targets.
• Quality Assurance: Ensuring full compliance with all relevant legislation, safety standards, and quality requirements set by our training awarding bodies.

As Training manager, my key responsibilities include:

• Strategic Planning: Designing and implementing a dynamic digital training matrix to map employee qualifications against organisational requirements, to enable real-time identification of skills gaps and inform a targeted, future-focused Training Strategy aligned with business goals and client requirements
• Administrative Functions: Maintain and regularly update the training matrix to ensure accurate, real-time records of staff qualifications. Collaborate with site teams to coordinate training activities, ensuring timely renewal of certifications across the site workforce.
• Training Budget Management: Proactively identify and leverage local and national funding opportunities to support training initiatives, with the objective of keeping training activity cost-neutral. I.e. CITB, Governmental Adult Education Budget etc.

In October 2016, I was promoted to Training Centre Manager after serving for two years as Administrative Manager at the same branch of Total Training. In addition to my existing administrative management responsibilities, the new role expanded to include core operational management and driving branch growth. Key responsibilities included recruitment and resource management, setting and monitoring performance targets, evaluating outcomes, and developing strategies to improve overall performance and efficiency.

I was initially recruited to help establish a brand-new branch of a national training organisation in the North East, with a primary focus on developing administrative policies, procedures, and systems from the ground up. My objective was to design and implement scalable administrative frameworks aligned with the organisation’s national growth strategy.

Key responsibilities included:

• Policy and Procedure Development: Designed and implemented office policies and procedures tailored to support a multi-site national training organisation.
• Team Recruitment and Management: Built and led a high-performing administrative team, including recruiting, training, assigning responsibilities, supervising daily activities, and evaluating performance to ensure operational efficiency.
• Office Operations Management: Oversaw the day-to-day running of administrative functions, ensuring the smooth operation of systems, processes, and general office workflows.
• Document Management: Developed robust electronic filing systems to enhance company-wide document management, accessibility, and compliance.
• Budget Management: Managed administrative budgets with a focus on maximising efficiency and contributing to the organisation’s overall profitability.
• Client Relations: Handled customer complaints professionally and efficiently, leading to a notable increase in client satisfaction and retention.

As the organisation was relatively small, my role extended beyond traditional administrative duties to include full operational oversight of both the financial and administrative functions and their respective teams.

Key areas of responsibility included:

• Team Leadership: Managing and supporting teams across both administrative and financial departments to ensure high performance and collaboration.
• Operational Development and Oversight: Designing, implementing, and managing all administrative and financial systems, processes, and policies to support efficient and scalable operations.
• Financial Record Management: Overseeing the maintenance of accurate, detailed, and compliant financial records.
• Financial Reporting and Budgeting: Supervising the preparation of financial reports and the budgeting process to ensure informed decision-making.
• Cash Flow and Budget Control: Managing the organisation’s overall budget and cash flow to ensure financial stability and support strategic growth.

In this role, I was responsible for overseeing the effective delivery of both administrative and financial support functions for the organisation in-house Training Centre. Additionally, I managed training records, qualifications, and certifications for the company’s workforce of approximately 320 employees.

Key responsibilities included:

• Administrative Support: Provided core administrative support to the Training Centre, including scheduling training sessions with internal trainers, liaising with awarding bodies to register training events, and managing all correspondence (postal, telephone, and in-person enquiries).
• Documentation and Record Keeping: Responsible for maintaining accurate records, preparing documentation, data entry, and supplying financial records to assist the Accounting Team.
• Training Records Management: Maintained a centralised electronic system to track training course expiry dates, managed a paper-based filing system for staff qualifications, and coordinated external training bookings when required services were not available in-house.

I worked as a Senior Administrator for two years at Hartlepool Borough Council, leading a team of three administrators. Our team provided essential administrative support to the Commercial Services Department, specifically assisting the Construction Training Team in the delivery of training to both in-house staff and commercially to external organisations.

Prior to this role, I completed a three-year Modern Apprenticeship within the Council’s Property Services Department, where I gained comprehensive experience in a wide range of administrative and clerical functions, forming a strong foundation for my future roles.