In-House Functions Organiser 12 Month Fixed Term Contract in London

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Office Location: London

Department: Office Services

Office Services is one of the firm's support departments and is responsible for the delivery of operational facilities services and the operation and maintenance of real estate assets for the London office.

Working Hours: 40-hour week, Monday to Friday, with a one-hour daily meal break. Flexibility of hours required, dependent upon events and functions.

Role Overview: The post holder acts as coordinator for all functions held in the London Office, whether organised by the Events Management Team, other staff, or directly by the In-House Functions Organiser. A key aspect of the role is to assist in maintaining Hogan Lovells' reputation for delivering an understated excellence of service for all functions. The In-House Functions Organiser is also required to work closely with the Client Host team as one of the System Administrators for the firm's room booking system (currently ServiceNow) and ensure that the system is utilised effectively as the main database and communication tool for organising functions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide a highly visible and accessible presence for the co-ordination of all elements concerned with function management, within the firm's London office and ensure that all staff are aware of the central point of contact for the planning of functions and any issues ensuing from them.
• Act as the first point of contact for any third party functions being arranged, meeting with hosts as required and ensuring all information necessary to plan and coordinate the event effectively is gathered and disseminated to the relevant teams.
• Establish good working relationships with internal staff and Clients regularly involved in the organisation and management of functions, to ensure a fully integrated and professional service is delivered at all times.
• Liaise effectively with all individuals and teams to ensure that all function requirements (including catering, audio-visual equipment, room set-ups and flowers) are authorised and delivered as specified by/agreed with the host or organiser.
• Liaise with the Health and Safety manager to ensure any potential Health and Safety risks for each function are identified and managed appropriately by the function organiser.
• Be present at and oversee or assist with functions as required.
• Ensure consistency of approach.
• Regularly review the overall approach to the organisation and management of functions, make recommendations for change and implement as agreed.
• Assist with the costing and invoicing of functions as required and assist with developing a robust reporting system to reflect monthly and annual spend.
• In conjunction with the Catering Manager, monitor food wastage and report thereon.
• Organise and chair the monthly function planning and review meetings.
• Attend the weekly front of house meetings and any other meetings as required.

Person Specification:

Skill and Experience:

• Management skills appropriate to the level of responsibility.
• Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues, clients and other visitors.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to contribute to a seamless, integrated team approach to service delivery.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral.
• Ability to relate to people at all levels and from different cultures.
• Anticipate client requirements and in a proactive manner ensure that the clients feel welcome and that their needs are important.
• Ability to deal with difficult situations and stay calm when under pressure.
• Good planning and organisational skills.
• Consistently deliver on agreed objectives and commitments. Prioritise and plan activities taking into account all relevant issues and factors.
• Experience in a high quality, demanding, customer focused/service environment, such as a 5* hotel, premium class cabin crew or in a similar corporate role.
• A basic understanding of Health and Safety issues as they pertain to function management.

Desired:

• In addition to fluent English, a second language may be useful.
• General Computer skills, ipublish, comms, zoom webinar, however, training will be given in the Lovells systems.
• Previous experience of a room booking system would be an advantage, however full training will be given in the Lovells' system.

General Attributes:

• A courteous and polite disposition, with an understanding of the manner in which to deal with colleagues, clients and other visitors.
• A “self-starter” with a “can-do” attitude, having a flexible, cheerful and enthusiastic approach to the role.
• A resilient character, able to take the rough with the smooth.
• A willingness to use initiative.
• Adaptable and enthusiastic.

Equal Opportunities Employment & Agile Working Statement: It is the policy of Hogan Lovells to provide equal opportunities for all employees in relation to recruitment, training and promotion. Decisions in these areas will be made only by reference to the requirements of the job and shall not be influenced by any consideration of racial or ethnic origin, religion, sex, gender and gender identity, age, sexual orientation, marital and civil partnership status, pregnancy or disability. Our goal is to embed flexibility across our business by giving everyone the opportunity to work in an agile way, whether as a regular pattern or on an ad hoc basis, and we will be happy to discuss this further.