Receptionist

Shoosmiths - UK Law Firm of the Year Winner at the Legal Week British Legal Awards 2015.

A leading UK law firm with a network of offices from the South Coast to Scotland, working together as one national team. An innovative practice and the first top 100 law firm to achieve “Gold Standard” Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm. The lack of barriers between departments, a real lack of hierarchy, zero tolerance for arrogance and pomposity makes Shoosmiths a fantastic place to work.

Estates Management is the integration of processes within an organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities. This encompasses multi-disciplinary activities within the built environment and the management of their impact upon people and the workplace. Effective estates management, combining resources and activities, is vital to the success of any organisation. At a corporate level, it contributes to the delivery of strategic and operational objectives. On a day-to day level, effective estates management provides a safe and efficient working environment, which is essential to the performance of any business – whatever its size and scope.

Our Manchester office is growing and will soon be relocating to the brand new XYZ Building. As part of this growth, we require an additional Receptionist.

The main purpose of this role is to foster good working relationships within the office and to provide a first class level of service to all external and internal clients, showing professionalism and displaying a friendly disposition at all times.

• Provide professional, friendly and courteous welcome to all clients and visitors to the office, ensuring people are signed in and out of the office in line with office protocol
• Daily checks to ensure the Reception area, meeting rooms and client kitchen are kept clean, neat and tidy at all times and are fully stocked
• Answering the telephone on Reception in line with expected service levels
• Deal with the incoming emails for the day to day working of Reception, checking on a regular basis and ensuring requests are dealt with in a timely manner
• Setting up meetings and working alongside the PA’s and LA’s to support their requirements (e.g., attendees, internal, external, catering, refreshments, duration, meeting room set-up)
• Ensuring the Reception calendars (meeting rooms, hot desks and car parking) are kept up-to-date with full details of any booking requests
• Ensuring all meeting rooms are prepared in advance and kept tidy at all times
• Providing out of hours support from time to time with events and seminars (hours of work to be agreed)
• Management and set up of the office laptops and projector equipment ensuring in good working order at all times
• Organising taxis, couriers and catering as requested and in line with protocol, maintaining a record of all bookings and orders for invoice purposes
• Organising the legal connect telephone conferencing for recorded calls and court meetings.
• Processing Reception invoices for HR & Estates Manager approval as requested
• Maintain stationary store, ensuring weekly stock check is taken and stationary store is kept neat and tidy, placing orders as appropriate and in line with budget
• Liaising with contractors, suppliers and building management as appropriate and in line with requests from the Estates Manager
• Dealing with general enquires from clients, visitors and staff.
• Produce holiday handover holiday notes to ensure continuity of service

• Ability to provide a high quality customer service at all times
• Positive, can do, calm and confident attitude
• Well presented at all times
• Previous experience of working in a busy legal office would be an advantage but is not a requirement.
• Good IT skills with experience of using Microsoft Office, Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Attention to detail with a neat and tidy approach to working practices
• A friendly and helpful approach to dealing with any problems that may arise
• Confident in dealing with suppliers and contractors
• Organised and pay close attention to detail
• To work well alone and within the team
• Have the ability to work well under pressure and meet deadlines, while still maintaining accuracy at all times
• Adaptable with a flexible approach to work

Shoosmiths is a committed Equal Opportunities employer promoting equality of opportunity. This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.