Executive Assistant to Chief Operating Officer
HSBC Bank Oman
Total years of experience :25 years, 4 Months
My job involved providing a complex range of support and administrative services to the COO on a one-to-one basis for the timely, effective and smooth functioning of the Executive Management Office.
My responsibilities included:
Scheduling
• Arranging and prioritising meetings, organising mail and efficiently managing an ever changing and complex calendar schedule to ensure effective time management.
• Anticipating needs and planning for contingencies of COO’s office.
• Informing COO of commitments and responsibilities and following up appropriately.
• Ensuring COO was prepared for scheduled appointments by collating required information prior to the meetings.
• Organising travel arrangements.
Communication
• Serving as the first point of contact between the COO’s office and internal / external customers.
• Directly liaising on behalf of the COO with senior management offices internationally.
• Screening calls and correctly directing enquiries.
• Pro-actively coordinating with stakeholders for timely completion of assigned tasks.
• Providing requested information to different departments as appropriate.
Information Management
• Assisting COO on special projects and correspondence requiring a high level of research and confidentiality.
• Attending to office correspondence and mail, thereby ensuring effective utilisation of COO’s time.
• Researching, prioritizing and following up on incoming issues and concerns addressed to the COO.
• Preparing agendas, transcribing and distributing minutes of meetings attended.
• Preparing and analysing reports and presentations.
• Proof read and vet documents prepared for COO’s signoff and review.
• Preparing monthly, quarterly and yearly returns.
• Assisting the COO with departmental cost reviews and analysis.
• Reconciling the cost centre on a monthly basis.
• Assisting with budget preparation.
Others
• Ensuring smooth operations, growth and effectiveness of the office processes.
• Maintaining historical reference through organised paper and electronic filing.
• Maintaining office confidentiality.
• Responsible for Office Announcements.
• Organising off-sites and Town halls.
• Maintaining and managing Office Inventory.
• Managing processing of department invoices.
• Promoting successful inter-departmental relationships.
• Nominated as the Fire Marshall for the Executive Floor.
Previously I assisted Senior Manager Operations with:
• Follow up and control of audit recommendations, submission of returns etc.
• Preparation of manuals / business cases / business proposals.
• Ensuring deadlines for various projects / correspondence were adhered to.
• Coordination / implementation of projects.
• Ensuring deadlines for various projects / correspondence were adhered to.
• Coordination / implementation of projects.
As Head of Project Administration and IT Coordination section, I reported to Manager Services. My KRA was to ensure implementation and coordination of projects (IT and non-IT) and to ensure implementation of HSBC Group IT policies and procedures in Oman in close coordination with Group offices in Hong Kong, UK and Dubai. My other responsibilities included:
• Implementation and coordination of projects (IT / non-IT) which included feasibility studies, review of cost implications, reports to top management seeking approvals, interaction with internal / external agencies and project delivery.
• Interaction with external agencies / internal customers to plan the project deliverables.
• Identifying areas of automation and implementing automation.
• Development and maintenance of local Intranet site.
• Ensuring adherence to cost and time schedules.
• Administration / Maintenance of the Local Area Network including support to remote users (on Novell Netware 4.11, NT and OS/2 platform).
• Ensuring Group Audit compliance.
• Identifying hardware / software requirement of the Bank.
• Identifying vendors and placing orders for hardware and software.
• Ensuring adequate equipment insurance cover.
• Ensuring appropriate AMC cover.
• Assisting in drawing up Annual Operating Plans.
• Documenting operational procedures.
• Training staff on HSBC Group software, MS Office products, Lotus Notes and other third party software.
• Ensuring appropriate contingency planning and testing.
Programmer
• Marketing and demonstrating software products to clients.
• Developing tailor-made systems for clients under a team led by the Systems Manager.
Trainer
• Maintaining the Computer Center.
• Providing training on computer concepts and packages.
Major clients handled were BP, HSBC, Indian School, Al Hashar.
My responsibilities included:
• Providing administrative support to the Doctors.
• Heading and managing the secretarial and clerical team in the department (7 staff).
• Coordinating with the High Commission nominated panel of doctors for various requirements of the Medical section.
• Organising the Doctors’ schedule and assisting them with medical records.
• Ensuring smooth functioning of the Medical section.
• Managing the in-house IT Training Center.
• Imparting IT training to staff.
• Imparting training to school children on basic computer concepts.
• Assisted in creating training material / documentation
• Setting up the Training Center.
• Imparting training to clients.
A 3 year Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics from Delhi University, India.