Helen Watkins

Currently PA and School Coordinator within School of Education and Lifelong Learning at UEA. and manage team of four administrators. Between team look after t administrative demands of school including , events organisation e.g. applicant days, student interviews, induction, student field trips and research based events like seminar series and book launches; producing school marketing material and manage schools social media sites; finance activities such as purchasing and invoice payment; bookings for rooms, transport and catering; As line manager role is to monitor work flow of team, allocate work load as appropriate taking into consideration skills, knowledge and capacity of individuals and to conduct regular 1:1 and team meetings and carry out annual performance reviews. In addition, have responsibility for specific areas such as production and management of temporary contracts, space allocation, and health and safety. Am also school DSE and Manual Handling Assessor. and have recently completed NEBOSH Health and Safety at Work qualification. Within PA role support variety of areas such as recruitment, appraisal cycle and various HR matters e.g. absences, occupational health referrals, promotion. Responsible for organisation and minuting of main school meetings, managing Head of School's diary and producing correspondence on their behalf.

Managed team of 15 people, including receptionists, PA to Head, admissions, attendance, exam and finance officers and team of caretakers. Responsible for all administrative tasks required within school such as purchasing, marketing, parent communications and running of exams, admission events and parent evenings, along with building and grounds general maintenance. Managed school maintenance budget, general purchasing budget, which included books, stationary and other sundries, and supply teacher budget. Designated Local Authority pupil trip risk assessor and Health and Safety contact for school. Member of school senior leadership team and contributed towards strategy and planning activities.

In addition to activities carried out as sales negotiator, as senior negotiator also responsible for carrying out property valuations and persuading clients to list their properties with us. Organised several promotional events with aim of encouraging viewings of listed properties and to obtain sales , including open events, producing marketing material and organising communication roll outs to customers. As senior member of team, tasked by branch manager to mentor new members of staff and help them develop their customer relations and communication skills.

As sales negotiator responsible for generating income for branch through selling property , arranging mortgage appointments and referrals to Countywide solicitors. Maintained mailing list of potential clients and prided myself in developing positive relationships through effective communication to identify their needs. During time as negotiator won Negotiator of the Year on several occasions, which was national award across group based on income generated. Part of role also involved sales chasing to ensure property sales were completed which involved dealing with both sellers and buyers solicitors, surveyors and local authority, as well as on arranging on occasions for property cleaning, general maintenance and removals in order to ensure sale went through. Being customer facing role had to deal with complaints and upset customers regularly and developed strategies to diffuse situation and became adept at finding solutions , whether that be personally driving documents over to a solicitor or arranging for ponds to be cleaned , for example.

Managed busy town post office and card shop with 18 members of staff in total. Branch undertook all post office activities including running foreign exchange bureau, passport checks, issuing car tax licences distributing benefit payments along side standard postal services. Also provided banking facilities for several local businesses. Within card shop sold stationary, cards and gifts and in addition photocopying and fax facilities for the public . During my tenure doubled shop revenue and Post Office won a customer service award. Introduced several measure to try and reduce Post Office queue, including selling stamps at shop counter, having weighing machine positioned within shop so customers did not have to go to the post office counter and training shop staff on how to check that customers had the required documents and filled in the forms correctly for car tax and passports to prevent wasted queuing.

Worked as counter clerk in main post office branch where activities included; handling and processing mail; assisting customers with post office services such as benefit collection, car tax and passport renewals, obtaining fishing licences; processing deposits, withdrawals, and payments, as well as providing guidance on banking products;

promoting postal services and financial products to customers; operating postal machinery and ensuring it is functioning correctly.