Women Political Leaders (WPL) is the global network of women politicians. Its mission is to increase the number and influence of women political leaders to achieve men-women parity. WPL is an independent, post-partisan, not-for-profit foundation based in Iceland, the world champion of gender equality. The Brussels secretariat is very international and regularly works with women Parliamentarians and decision-makers around the world.
WPL is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups, and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
WPL does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo reference and background checks.
Personal Assistant to the President
Women Political Leaders is looking for a Personal Assistant for an engagement of 6 months (potentially extended), to provide a high standard of executive and personal support to the President of WPL in a well-organized and timely manner, .
The Personal Assistant to the President will provide full administrative and secretarial support at a senior level to the President to ensure the smooth management of her day to day affairs, and most effective use of her time.
The ideal candidate will incorporate management and leadership principles towards building a progressive, pioneering WPL fit to achieve its mission. As a member of the Leadership team, the successful candidate is flexible and can adapt to a growing organisation like WPL, also benefiting from her/his management and operations expertise in the nonprofit sector. The successful candidate also must maintain the highest level of confidentiality and diplomacy regarding all organisation matters.
Responsibilities
- Organise and manage a busy and constantly changing calendar with a complex schedule of appointments, meetings, conference calls and social engagements, assessing priority of appointments and reallocation as necessary.
- Process President’s correspondence and invitations, ensuring that incoming correspondence is dealt with by the President or on her behalf, or by other staff as appropriate.
- Ensure that all the events/meetings/commitments/missions are fully integrated in the calendar along with all the documents required.
- Prepare correspondence and assemble documents for these meetings/missions in electronic format (briefings, background documents, agenda/programme, speeches, presentations, talking points accordingly.
- Provide a bridge for smooth communication between the President, the management and internal teams.
- Coordinate detailed travel arrangements (including flights, visa, and hotel accommodations).
- Arrange and facilitate cross-organisational coordination of travel plans and logistics, including itineraries, agendas, schedules, local transportation, meeting accommodations, and guidance regarding protocols for the President’s visits.
- Provide organizational support for virtual events, meetings, seminars, and video recordings, including logistic arrangements: pre-registration, connection link, technical tests prior the events, liaising with technicians.
- Ensure the President’s biography and profile are kept updated on the website and on other different platforms.
- Complete a broad variety of administrative tasks for the President’s office including: manage and submit expense reports for the President; coordinate logistics and restaurant reservations; updating contacts; composing and preparing correspondence that may be confidential; order and maintain an effective filing system.
- Any other duties and projects assigned by the President.
Skills
- Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills.
- Capacity to deal efficiently and tactfully with different partners/institutions and other stakeholders at all levels in a multicultural environment.
- Excellent attention to detail, with the ability to maintain a high level of accuracy.
- Ability to deal with complex situations, to anticipate needs and solve problems autonomously (and sometimes creatively).
- Self-motivated and able to work independently with a sense of urgency.
- Ability to work and thrive under pressure in a fast-paced environment.
- A flexible, proactive approach to work including the ability to prioritise and re-prioritise, set priorities and to organize work autonomously.
- Ability to deal with sensitive information with discretion and to maintain confidentiality.
- Ability to utilize or quickly learn technical tools such as video conferencing (Zoom), project management (Teamwork), and messaging tools.
- Proficiency with Google’s productivity suite (calendar, email, drive, docs, sheets).
- Excellent IT skills, including a working knowledge of presentation software packages, preferably Microsoft Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Education and Experience Requirements
- Educated to degree level or equivalent
- At least 10 years of professional experience assisting a senior level Executive or high-level officials
- Fluent in English, working knowledge in German and French is required
- Experience with protocols in a diplomatic environment is a plus.
Applicants must reside in Belgium.
Successful candidates are not WPL employees, they have an independent status.
How to Apply
Candidates should send an email entitled “Personal Assistant to the President Application” to recruitment@wpleaders.org with a CV and letter of motivation (each no more than one page of A4). Please indicate your earliest availability to start.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Personal data processing
The personal information entered on the application forms is recorded in a computerised file. WPL will only process or use your data to the extent necessary for our recruitment.
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