Operations Director
Core Savills
Total years of experience :20 years, 1 Months
Core Savills is one of the largest property services firms in the UAE covering various sectors including residential, commercial, international, investment sales, project sales and marketing, corporate services & property management.
Key Responsibilities
• Management of all operational functions (HR, IT, administration & office management) across 4 UAE branches through setting of operational KPI's and benchmarking to increase business efficiencies, reduce costs, impact performance and drive profitability
• Managing and mentoring all the operations teams to ensure the creation and implementation of best in class work practices
• Introduction of new processes, products and technology across the organization
• Hiring and training of new staff along with the development of existing staff and submissions for promotions and salary increases
• Ensuring business compliance with legislation for all governing bodies, for example RERA, immigration and labour
• Ensuring the consistency of the operations function across all branches
• Health and Safety due diligence across all offices
• Continual review of the business look & feel along with the customer and employee experience and implementing changes as required
• Procurement process implementation and management
• Regular reporting to the board on operations development and planning
• Working closely with the finance team to monitor and review expenditure
Achievements
• Recruitment and training of new administration team
• Implementation of processes to increase call handling efficiency resulting in 30% reduction in the number of missed calls
• End to end management of 2 office fit-outs (Dubai (JLT) and Abu Dhabi) within tight deadlines and challenging circumstances. Approx. budget AED 1million.
• Investigation of previous HR team through which the business had incurred thousands in unexplained expenditure and in turn the replacement of the team and new expenditure tracking processes put in place
• Introduction and management of new procurement process ensuring robust justifications for all expenditure over a certain level with 3 quotations for each item
• Expenditure tracking process put into place in order to monitor office and divisional spending and any patterns arising enabling cost reduction planning
• Saved the company AED 100, 000 in fines from RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) through effective resolutions from receipt of violations
Key Responsibilities
• Company PRO dealing with the whole spectrum of visa applications and issues from standard employee residence visa’s to dependents visa’s ensuring a stress free process for our staff members with continual updates. This includes online submissions, tracking and chasing up of all documentation (entry permits, medical packs (medical forms and Emirates ID forms) and visa stamping -being aware of any issues arising and doing what is required and possible to resolve these and keeping detailed records of the complete process
• Visa expenditure tracking and reporting to our US head office
• Management of the full on-boarding service for new staff members, for anyone new to the UAE or current UAE residents, to ensure a smooth transition into our business. This includes full pre and post start support and advice both in and out of office hours
• New starter preparations- in addition to the visa requirements this includes contracts, seating and desk arrangements, inductions and anything else that may be required
• HR support - documentation such as NOC’s, finance letters, queries, advice and staff welfare
• KSA visa support
• Management of job site contracts and accounts
• IT and Telecoms - working with our IT team in London to provide a very “hands on” level of support to both the offices. This includes conducting general trouble shooting, working closely with them regarding serious issues and testing systems, IT equipment management and new equipment orders
• Facilities management including maintenance management and management of cleaning company and contracts
• CSR initiatives - set up and implementation of our company CSR initiatives which most recently included raising money for the Nepal earthquake victims, introduced a new recycling initiative in the offices and a team charity run for sufferers of spinal cord injuries
• Finance - management of placement forms, sending out invoices, invoice payment and tracking and working with external audit teams to ensure the business is compliant as required
• Terms of business - management of the terms of business sent out to clients and cross reference against invoices sent
• Management of administration teams within the shared services division within both businesses
Achievements
• Implemented new policies and procedures with both the visa and on-boarding process resulting in a 100% improvement in our management of these services for our employees
• Implemented a “Needs Analysis” questionnaire to fully understand the requirements of new staff members and as a result this was also rolled over to our Mobility division
• Meticulous record keeping has enabled us to put in a claim for the reimbursement of 30, 000 AED of additional visa related costs that were incurred due to the Tecom system change in Oct-Dec 2014
• Pre-planning in new employee on boarding encouraging visa transfers over cancelled visa’s for new staff has resulted in a cost saving of 40% over the last year
• Worked alongside our US and UK office to Implement a new telephone system into the business
• Managed the Cielo office renovation project, working with the contractors to ensure a successful renovation with little disruption as it was conducted in a working office environment
• Successful management and updates on the new online visa portal and updated all staff records online to ensure everything correct and up to date. This is integral for any visa or NOC related matter
• Set up of the company CSR initiative
• Implemented several HR policies and procedures and ensured efficient management of records and the revision and update of internal HR documents such as employee handbooks, induction materials, all HR Forms
• Introduced an office expenditure tracking system for both offices which has resulted in a saving of over 30% by allowing the businesses to monitor spending and adjust accordingly. This was for everything from office sundries to maintenance costs
GulfTalent.com is one of the largest jobsites in the Middle East with a focus on mid-level to senior professionals. The business has a database in excess of 1.8 million candidates and over 3, 000 clients across the region, in many different industries and sectors.
Recruitment - Organising client networking events and career exhibitions, focusing on the full compliment of candidates from local (for example, GCC nationals) to expatriate talent
Business development - Establishing partnerships with business schools in the region, informative calls to clients and the introduction and distribution of the GulfTalent.com Career Day Guide
Client relationship management - dealing with new enquiries, detailed discussions regarding recruitment requirements, conducting database demonstrations, product recommendation and post sales training and account management.
Research - Telephone research projects for the construction and telecoms / technology industries
Daily and weekly reporting to management on project success rates
Arranging business travel, hotels and visa's
Processing sales orders
Issuing invoices
Banking
Office sundries - maintenance of stock levels of office consumables
Achievements:
Client services - the highest revenue generated in new business compared to other members of the client services team each month bringing in $78, 000 within 4 months, achieving 156% of target
Successfully managed GulfTalent.com's participation (recommendation to post-event reporting) in 16 career events across the Middle East which saw the increase of the candidate database by 300, 000
Developed working partnerships with the major business schools in the region, including London Business School and Cass Business School (Dubai)
Brand awareness through the promotion of the Career Day Guide which was distributed at the major career events in the region
Identified client training needs through the informative calls project resulting in the implementation of a client training programme
Hilton Ventures Ltd is part of the Northern Lynx group of companies, specialising in short term property finance.
Pivotal in the re-launch of the business from scratch following a restructure in 2007
Responsible for the implementation of all administrative policies and procedures
Management of the office environment including, but not limited to, stock management, dealing with suppliers and cost control
HR duties including new staff inductions, preparing contracts, expenses and the company procedures manual
Full administrative support to directors and team members, minute taking and distribution, correspondence, diary management and presentations
Organising internal and external meetings, communicating dates/times/venue and preparing delegate material
Screening of calls, emails and faxes
Responsible for all marketing activity, including re-branding, offline and online advertising, literature (brochures, newsletters etc), email campaigns and events
Sole point of contact with creative, media and PR companies
IT and Telecoms management
Database management
Management of a comprehensive filing system
Relationship management with business partners and suppliers
Travel and accommodation - national and international, individual and group bookings
Management of 2 members of staff
Helped set up a new auction house as part of the group, Richmond Sears
Achievements:
Raised market awareness and strength of the Hilton Ventures brand through marketing activity which was central to the loan book of £1.5million in the first year
Compiled a database of good broker contacts specialising in bridging finance, working through initial databases containing approximately 30, 000 contacts resulting in a workable database of 1, 500 contacts
Devised the business register which is the sole point for updates communicated to all staff members, directors, Natwest Bank, business partners and shareholders
Organised the Hilton Ventures Golf Day, raising £6, 000 for charity
Urban Logic Ltd is part of the Northern Lynx group of companies, specialising in off-plan investment property sales.
Management of exchange to completion process of all off-plan property sales within strict deadlines
Strict administrative control over the whole process, ensuring all paperwork was completed for both developers and solicitors
Relationship management with clients, developers, solicitors and other business partners
Generation of referral fees from letting agents and property finishing companies
Responsible for an annual marketing budget of £78, 000
Ensured that all clients, developers and directors received timely update reports
Management and eventual sale of the property portfolio for Urban Logic Investments
Organised regular “Meet the Team” events for new and existing clients
Achievements:
Provided a first class level of customer service ensuring complete client satisfaction throughout. This was achieved through comprehensive and regular updates to all parties ensuring completions were within the set timescales
Generation of additional income through referral fees of around £1, 000 - £1, 500 per month. These were made up of letting agents fees of £100 per client and £150 for furniture packs
Smooth transition from recruitment to the off-plan property industry by taking the initiative to meet with solicitors and developers to gain a thorough understanding of the processes involved
Joined Xceli London as a start-up business, eventually moving to Head Office in Manchester
Full administrative and PA support to all four directors of the business including diary management, travel (national and international), reports for meetings, daily and weekly activity reporting and all other duties as required
Implementation and management of policies, procedures and administration
Full preparation for new consultants pre start date, support during their employment and their exit preparations
Database management and training
IT and telecoms responsibility
Complete recruitment support for directors and consultants including candidate sourcing (£15 - 100K salary levels), matching to jobs, taking detailed job specs, conducting telephone interviews, arranging internal and external interviews, correspondence and headhunting (London and Manchester), presentations, proposals, mailshots and research
Set up of Xceli: Executive and Matchbox Recruitment (Recruitment to Recruitment) as divisions within the business
Implementation and control of the advertising process including budget control, collating advertising response figures, reporting response figures and reviewing and introducing offline and online advertising tools and publications
Responsible for all marketing activity including Xceli re-brand, monthly divisional mailshots and the quarterly newsletter, marketing events and PR
Responsible for office facilities and expenditure