Application Pack

Executive Assistant

London

London Living Wage

Introduction from CEOSo . . .you’ve decided you’d like to work for a charity. The problem is that you are not quite sure what route to take. This could be the perfect opportunity for you.

We’ve created a new internship opportunity to serve as an Executive Assistant to our CEO and Management Team. In this role you’ll get to see all aspects of how a charity works at a senior level including fundraising, communications, finances, governance and service delivery. That might be particularly appealing if you are still, like me, exploring exactly what you want to do and where you want to be when you grow up!

Because we’re relatively small, with just 22 employees, you’ll get a lot of responsibility and the chance to make a significant impact on the organisation. In this ship everyone counts.

There will be plenty of variety, from taking minutes at our board meetings to helping at events with young people, from helping with an office move to reviewing research documents. You’ll get to learn about fundraising from business and foundations, supporting research, undertaking projects to strengthen our data base, and developing our case for support.

We are looking for someone with a can-do attitude who is willing to get stuck in and learn.

Our specialism is in helping young people learn by doing, and we extend that to our in-terns. We currently have eight of them delivering our programme in schools. We have a well-developed process of coaching and support and are committed to ensuring that you get as much out of an internship as we do.

Jennie Butterworth

Chief Executive, Envision

A little bit about usWhat?

We believe schools should be more than exam factories. We develop young people who are self-starters, can come up with good ideas and get others on board to make them hap-pen. We believe that there needs to be a GCSE in the art of getting s**t done. In the meantime, we’ve come up with next best thing and it’s a whole lot more fun!

We bring schools, business and community organisations together to offer young people project-based learning experiences which enable them to develop the personal skills and attributes they need to thrive in work and life.

We focus our work on those from more disadvantaged backgrounds and our programme helps to level the playing-field by helping them to build their social capital and links to work experience and employment opportunities.

How?We enable young people to develop the competencies that matter most to employers by empowering them to tackle the issues that most affect them and their communities.

Loosely based on the popular TV series The Apprentice, our interschool competition Community-Apprentice requires young people to work in teams in order to develop, and crucially demonstrate, personal qualities whilst managing their own projects to tackle problems. In this case, however, they compete to make the biggest difference in their communities, rather than the most money.

The structured, extra-curricular programme combines interschool challenges, periodic business mentoring, and weekly coaching and group work. Working in teams over ten months, young people set up and run their own projects to tackle issues they feel passionate about, from knife crime to childhood obesity.

Evidence it worksAn independent randomised control trial provides “compelling and robust evidence that young people who take part develop some of the most criti-cal skills for employment and adulthood.” Participants showed a statistically significant improvement across a range of competencies, for example an 11% increase in empathy, an 11% increase in co-operation, a 7% increase in grit and resilience and a 6% increase in problem solving. They also showed an 11% improvement in educational attitudes.

Based upon these results we have recently been backed by the DfE, through the Careers and Enterprise Company’s Enterprise Fund, as an effective model of employer engagement in schools and a project that needs support to scale. We have attracted an impressive range of corporate partners such as Tideway, John Laing and Airbus.

Job Specification

This role supports organisational management through the development and management of effective planning, reporting and administrative systems. It has a leading role in enabling the organisation to function efficiently across all regions.

It also works on adhoc projects for the management team and at least one ongoing project to be agreed depending upon the specific interests of the candidate.

ResponsibilitiesORGANISATIONAL MANAGEMENT • Workwiththemanagementteamtodevelopreportingframeworkstomonitorprogressinthe implementation of organisational plans.• Produceaccurateandtimelyprogressreportsforthemanagementteamandboardoftrustees.• WorkwiththeCEOtoorganisemonthlymanagementteammeetingsandweeklycheck-ins, produce minutes and chase follow-up actions.• Developcommonadministrativesystemsandshareddigitalfilingtoenhanceefficiencyand productivity across the organisation.

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

• Co-ordinatetheproductionofhighqualitydonorreporting,ensuringthatpeopleareclearon what is needed when and that all reports are produced on time to a high-quality standard.• Producehigh-qualitysupportforallschoolpartners.• Workaspartofaprojectteamtodevelopeffectiveuseofanationalstakeholderdatabase.

HR

• Nationallyco-ordinateourannualrecruitmentprogrammefornewcoaches.• Leadonorganisingthesummertrainingprogrammefornewstaff• Provideadministrativesupportforoccasionalrecruitment.• Organisetheendofyearstaffcelebration

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Producestrategicreportstoanalyseperformanceidentifyingwhatworksandareasfor improvement.• Undertakestakeholderresearchprojectsforthemanagementteam,toincludemapping prospective business partners and schools.• Modelanswersforbidsanddemonstrationofneed.

OTHER

• ProvidePAservicesfortheCEO–managingdiaryandtravelbookings.• Attendboardmeetingsanddraftminutes

SPECIAL PROJECTS

The role offers the opportunity to take on one or two specific projects within key areas of interest, for example: design services; event management; social media; programme evaluation and trust fundraising.

Person SpecificationThis person specification sets out the experience and qualities we are seeking for the role.

ESSENTIAL

• Educatedtodegreelevel• Commitmenttocharitysectordemonstratedthroughsomelevelofvolunteering,fundraisingor social action.• Excellentwrittenskills,grammarandattentiontodetail• Can-doattitude,takesinitiative,organised,creativethinkerandproblemsolver.

DESIRABLE

• Useofdatabases,particularlySalesforce• Funderresearch

There is capacity to take on a specific communications project and any of the following skills would be very useful, but not essential:

o Strong social media skillso Adobe InDesign skillso Film or photography

How to apply

The position is a full-time, fixed-term 6 month contract for which normal working hours are 35 per week (excluding lunch breaks). Staff are, however, generally expected to work such additional hours as are reasonably necessary to meet the needs of the organisation or as are necessary to perform the duties of the role. In addition to public holidays, staff are entitled to 25 days leave per annum pro rata.

If you would like to apply for this role please submit your CV, a covering letter of no more than one page setting out how you meet the Person Specification, an Equal Opportunities Form and a Declaration of Criminal Convictions Form to: recruitment@envision.org.uk

The deadline for applications is midnight on 3rd December 2017. Interviews will take place early December.