Operations assistant

Full time, permanent – office-based role in Gillingham, Dorset SP8

THE ROLE

We’re looking for an organised and enthusiastic operations assistant to join our busy team. This is a rare opportunity to join the small and close-knit team who run some of the world’s most respected food and drink competitions: Great Taste and World Cheese Awards.

A fantastic opportunity that might suit someone wanting to build their administrative and operational skills and work across an exciting array of annual activities that support the independent food and drink industry. You’ll gain first-hand experience of the logistics, administration and communications behind the world’s most trusted food and drink accreditation scheme and the world’s largest cheese only awards scheme – from dealing with entrants, to helping producers with their results, updating our databases and checking details with producers by phone.

On a day-to-day basis you’ll be working with our operations team from our Gillingham office, but you’ll be a key member of our operations and communications team, who are based across our two offices in Dorset and London. In the majority this is a desk- and computer-based role, but there will be some logistics tasks including, for example, supporting with deliveries and judging process for Great Taste.

You will be joining the Guild at an exciting time, as we develop and grow our wide range of activities that support the independent food and drink sector. Specifically, you will have involvement in:

  • Supporting the operations team with administrative tasks, including (but not limited to) answering email and phone communication from customers, updating our databases, filing delivery information and preparing for events
  • Working on logistics tasks such as accepting deliveries and liaising with couriers
  • Checking entry details with producers by phone and email
  • Supporting the team during event and judging days

YOUR BACKGROUND

We’re a small and growing business with a brilliant team (meet them here!) who work across a broad range of activities. We’re looking for a self-motivated team player who is organised, with great admin skills and an eye for detail, who doesn’t mind getting stuck in on a variety of computer, phone and warehouse-based tasks.  Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office is required and previous experience of learning new software is helpful.  This is a great opportunity to gain a variety of experience and build on your operational, administrative and communications skills.

If you have some of the following skills and experience – or have the ability and willingness to learn – we’d love to hear from you:

Useful experience

Ideally you’ve got some basic administrative and office experience and are keen to learn more.  Useful experience might include:

  • Customer service experience, including answering customer enquiries by phone and email
  • Looking after multiple inboxes, triaging enquiries by project and for other team members
  • Updating databases with new leads or amends to current records
  • Working as a team and to a deadline
  • Managing multiple projects at once
  • Hospitality and/or customer service experience will help you when speaking to your entrants and judges
  • An understanding of the food and drink industry – particularly the independent sector

Please note, none of this experience is a requirement for applying for this role, but we want to give a good idea of the type of experience that will put you in a strong position and to give you more of an idea of what the position will entail if you join us.

Skills

  • Excellent use of the English language and strong writing skills
  • Strong attention to detail
  • Confident on the phone and greeting visitors face-to-face
  • Excellent digital competency – particularly with key software (Excel, Word, Outlook)
  • Able to work on multiple projects at once, take direction and forward plan
  • A team player with a ‘can do’ attitude, able to work with variety of different team members and on a variety of tasks
  • An ability to understand a tone of voice and house style
  • Languages, especially Italian and Spanish, an advantage – but not essential, please don’t let that put you off applying
  • A love of and interest in good food & drink is definitely a bonus – you will be exposed to a lot!

HOW TO APPLY

If you’re keen to join our team and have interest in independent food & drink, please apply to Christabel Cairns: [email protected].

Closing date:  31 October 2024 (please note we may start interviewing before the closing date and if a suitable candidate is found then the position may close early – so please get in touch with us as soon as possible if this position is of interest to you).