Reporting to: The Principal

Working with: Principal, Vice Principal (Academic Affairs) and Vice Principal (External Affairs) and liaising with Managing Director/Director of Admissions  

Introduction:

Founded in 2003, ICON College of Technology and Management is a private Higher and Education institution (HE!) with over 1,500 students adducent to City of London .  The College seeks to improve its student offering year-on-year and develop a student-centred learning experience based on current teaching and learning pedagogies and systems of assessment.  The College also seeks to satisfy the ever-increasing demands on Higher Education made by the Office for Students (OfS) and the Department for Education (DfE) in terms of widening HEI access and participation.

In the past twelve months the College has established a partnership with Falmouth University enabling it to offer, in addition to Higher National Diploma (HND) courses organized by Pearson, a range of undergraduate degree-level programmes.  (Please see the Icon College website www.iconcollege.ac.uk for details of the full range of programmes and subjects available.)

The new role of EXECUTIVE SECRETARY /PA has been created to ensure that senior staff have strong, high quality administrative support in fulfilling their demanding management and communication roles as the College enters upon an exciting but demanding phase of development. 

JOB DESCRIPTION

The EXECUTIVE SECRETARY / PA will:

• Be responsible for the smooth running of the Principal’s and Vice Principals’ offices, establishing and improving office systems to maximize efficiency, anticipating the Principal’s and Vice Principals’ administrative needs, and ensuring that all work is produced to a high standard and to deadlines.
• Provide comprehensive secretarial support including daily management of all correspondence (electronic and paper) and an extensive diary including arranging appointments, visits, interviews and other events.
• Support the College Principal’s Office in preparing and coordinating academic review processes and internal operational management across the College, including scheduling meetings for a wide range of committees, both internally and externally.
• Prepare papers and correspondence on behalf of the Principal, subject to his approval, and provide similar support (if required) to the two Vice-Principals.
• Compile accurate qualitative and quantitative data (with commentary) for internal and external committee meetings as required.
• Act as Minute-taker at College meetings when the College Secretary is unable to do so.
• Liaise on a daily basis with senior members of the College’s academic teaching staff and with other college staff internally and externally, working closely with the College Secretary
• Undertake by arrangement, such other duties as may be assigned from time to time by the Principal and two Vice-Principals; also liaise with the College’s Managing Director / Director of Admissions.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential requirements

• A first degree or its equivalent (preferably in Business Administration).
• A minimum of 2 years’ experience in a senior administrative/secretarial role working with an institution’s Director/ Principal/senior staff in a Further or Higher Educational setting, or possibly with a professional body.
• Experience of working with internal and external people/organizations.
• Good interpersonal skills: a team player with a flexible approach to work patterns. 
• An excellent command of written and spoken English.
• High-level secretarial/administrative management skills, including drafting papers and correspondence and complex diary-keeping combined with experience of servicing committees.
• Experience of confidential data management and storage in compliance with Data Protection legislation.
• Experience in using modern IT systems including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. (Knowledge of Cloud storage e.g. OneDrive etc. would be an advantage).
• The ability to manipulate spreadsheets, handle databases, and search information online.
• Good online and telephone communication skills at senior executive level.
• The ability to self-manage, priorities workload, and meet deadlines.
• A readiness to respond quickly and positively in a dynamic educational environment where development opportunities may affect priorities, workload and workflow.

Desirable requirements:

• Familiarity with the Independent Further/ Higher Education sector in the UK.
• The ability and confidence to make suggestions for improvements to systems and procedures will be an advantage

Benefits

The College will offer a competitive and negotiable salary up to £30K, depending on qualifications and prior experience.  In addition, there will be 20 days’ holiday per annum, a range of work-life balance opportunities and family-friendly negotiated working arrangements.

Application process

Applicants must be able to demonstrate their eligibility to work in the United Kingdom in accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act, 2006.  Where required, this may include entry clearance or continued ‘leave to remain’ under the Points Based Immigration Scheme.

To apply for this post, please submit to the College your CV, together with a letter of application (no more than the equivalent of three sides of A4 paper) briefly explaining how you satisfy the job description/person specification requirements. In addition, please provide the names, job titles and contact details (including email and telephone numbers) of two referees who the College may contact prior to interview should you be short-listed. If you do not wish the College to contact your named referees prior to interview, please indicate this in your letter of application.  NB.  Should you be offered the post, your named referees will be required to provide a satisfactory reference prior to any formal offer of appointment being made.

Your CV and application letter should (preferably) be sent to: matt@iconcollege.ac.uk  or you may post your application materials to: The Principal, ICON College of Technology and Management, Units 21-22, 1-13 Adler Street, London E1 1EG.   All the information you provide will be treated in strict confidence in accordance with data protection rules.

The closing date for the receipt of applications is: July 29 2021

If you have not heard from the College within four weeks of the closing date for the receipt of applications, please assume that, on this occasion, your application has not been successful.

Thank you, in advance, for considering working with ICON College.