The purpose of this role is to be the first point of contact for people visiting the Institute or contacting us by phone or email. It is an important role, involving dealing with visitors and others in a professional and friendly manner and representing the Institute effectively and positively.

The role includes managing the director’s diary, as well as meetings and meeting rooms, keeping the office tidy and being the first point of contact for facilities issues as the arise. The role is full-time and is based in our offices in central London.

Reception

• Telephone answering, taking and delivering messages;

• Dealing with some telephone enquiries, where appropriate;

• Greeting visitors and dealing with deliveries;

• Handling incoming and outgoing post;

• Dealing with email enquiries to the Institute’s generic email addresses, either in person or by forwarding to the appropriate person;

• Dealing with jobs email account and forwarding where appropriate. 

Diary, visitors and meetings

• Managing appointments in the IFS director’s diary;

• Keeping track of visitors and collaborators, contacting them before they visit, booking desks for them, issuing them with door access cards and giving them key information about the office;

• Accommodation and travel bookings for staff, visitors and event speakers;

• Administering the online room-booking system;

• Administering events and seminars calendars in outlook calendars;

• Ordering food for meetings and seminars as required;

• Preparing refreshments for meetings and seminars.

Office administration and facilities

• Monitoring office supplier services and expenditure;

• Maintaining a clean and tidy appearance of meeting rooms and communal spaces;

• First point of contact for reporting issues with the office space;

• Act as chief fire marshal;

• Other administrative tasks where required, such as photocopying;

• Assisting with the operational running of the building by liaising with the landlord, cleaners and contractors;

• Checking stock, ordering office and catering supplies, logging invoices and dealing with general office queries;

• Fixing or arranging with the landlord or external contractors to fix any office day-to-day issues, e.g. photocopier not working, light bulbs need replacing;

• Keep track of smart cards for entry system and liaise with alarm company when needed;

• Update information about visitors and staff on the website.

Person specification

Essential

• Be educated to A-level standard or equivalent;

• Be able to write clearly and accurately, for example in emails to colleagues and external stakeholders;

• Have experience using Microsoft packages and email packages;

• Have a professional, calm, confident manner in person and on the phone;

• Approach their work methodically and be well organised.

Desirable

• Previous reception, office administration, or customer service experience;

• Experience of updating websites using an online interface;

• Some experience of diary or meeting management.

Selection process

The deadline for applications is midnight on Monday 5 August. We will interview shortlisted candidates in person at our offices in central London on Monday 12 and Wednesday 14 August. The successful candidate will ideally start work as soon as possible after a job offer is accepted.