Organisation: Victoria Police
Job Title: Office Manager
Location: Melbourne
What has attracted you to apply for this position?
This position attracted me due to its regulated and procedural environment, an environment I excel in. Working as a Director’s Assistant for television is also a role which requires procedure and process to be complied with and often in a very short space of time. The Office Manager position strikes me as an opportunity to bring my office management skills along with my time management and communication skills to assist in the achievement of Victoria Police’s goals.
In addition, having worked for numerous years within media and communications, my understanding of this industry is significant, of which the Victoria Police could benefit. Often, the police and media work together in a harmonious relationship and my understanding of this will ensure understanding across both realms. I enjoy the role of being the ‘go to’ person within an organisation, can manage multiple priorities at the one time and look forward to working as a team to achieve results. Another strength I bring to the role is my ability to work and think strategically, ensuring I have an understanding of others’ roles and how my work will affect the overall team.
Why are you the most suitable applicant for this position?
Through my work in media and communications, I can bring to the position and excellent knowledge and understanding of this industry. Combined with my office management skills, I have a unique skillset which aligns well with the requirements of this role. My ability to foster and maintain stakeholder relationships, whether they be internal or external is the key to working in a high pressure environment. I have experience in filtering complaints, in problem solving and solution finding and in meeting challenging and extremely short timelines.
Outside of my direct skills, I have a willingness to work for an organisation which supports the community and provides respect across a diverse range of people within our country. My media and communications role requires an understanding of all parties, understanding of other peoples’ needs and requirements, and the ability to influence each area to gain the desired program outcome and objectives.
I am the most suitable applicant for this position because of my experience in media and communications, my support to the Director, my communication and relationship building skills and my ability to negotiate and deliver solutions to problems.
What did you enjoy most in your previous role?
My favourite part of my previous role is the team environment and being part of a focused and skilled team. There are many parallels between a Director’s Assistant role and an Office Manager role, including a similar structure and focused approach, working within a network, working within teams to achieve outcomes and taking responsibility for a consistent body of work which contributes to the organisation effectively.
As a Director’s Assistant, my job required me to work at the beginning process of the creative brief through to the end product. I am responsible for conveying the program’s vision, aim and requirements to team members and crews. I communicate and negotiate with outside sources in relation to interviews, interviewees, filming space and location logistics and loved this logistical part of my role.
Displays Personal Drive and Integrity: Please tell the panel about a time when you have maintained effective performance levels in stressful or high pressure situations?
Working on Live to air news and current affairs National Television requires certain personal qualities which match these selection criteria. I have an excellent ability to work in and lead a very highly disciplined team. I thrive in a busy environment and enjoy being committed and dedicated to a cause and objectives to achieve the desired outcome. My performance levels were often tested within stressful situations whilst working in the television control room. In a live to air situation, my main role was to lead the entire team through the news bulletin. This role requires a high level of initiative and accountability under pressure and the ability to take responsibility. It requires incredible drive and commitment in an extremely busy environment with the ability to be able prioritise tasks and manage conflicting objectives.
During the overseas Boxing Day tsunami, there was only a skeleton crew in the news room, given the time of year and we needed everyone to assist in getting the breaking news out through the media. We had scattered information coming through from a range of sources and in a range of formats as well as live updates from people caught in the tragedy. In this situation, I demonstrated my ability to work under duress through being part of that skeleton crew, compiling and putting to air the unfolding catastrophe and working with my team to pull the news bulletins together on this day. I was working with sometimes sensitive information and footage and needed to adhere to protocols, even though we were stretched for time and resources.
With the Tsunami and a myriad other breaking news items close to the 7pm news bulletin time on any given day. I was consistently able to manage, coordinate and lead the team through the pressure of these tight deadlines by making sound on the spot decisions and communicating quickly and effectively, calmly and clearly, the required tasks that had to be achieved. It was common to have the News presenter reading the first link to a news story while the story was still not loaded to go to air. With as little as 20 seconds to load, I was the voice of the control room guiding and leading crew of many through the News Bulletin, clearly demonstrating my ability to perform under pressure.
This position not only requires steal like focus, it requires detailed attention focus, high level commitment, the ability to evaluate information under pressure and be able to make sound firm decision making with the program objectives and outcomes at forefront.
Achieves Results: Please tell the panel about a time when attention to detail is important to complete a task. How did you maintain focus and ensure work was accurate?
Working in media production, one of my key roles is taking a creative brief, translating it into a written script, breaking the script into various formats and styles for each multimedia area to clearly understand the requirements and objectives. The attention to detail within this task is immense and each and every area needs to have a clear understanding from the written material. In the news room my job is to make sure script links, content, graphics and supers are in the right formats for each designated area. Each area requires a different format; the final cut story is then rolled out on the same format. It takes a good eye and attention to detail at each check-point to be successful in this role and it is my job to oversee those check-points.
Whilst working on an entertainment program the target audience was the younger generation and the program objective was to expand and reach out to a wider age range audience. I was part of the creative brief and script writing team, developing and refining at each stage, assessing script and program content and informing the executive producer of possible gaps or solutions to reach the wider audience. On one occasion whilst working on a 3 hour live entertainment program, an international band was running late. It was imperative that this band be still in the running program and go live to air due to promotional commitments and agreements with stakeholders.
During the same program, we had a second international live act performing which could not be bumped out of the program and I was in charge of the overall running program for this production. I undertook to re-shuffle the program to ensure all segments were accounted for and still fit into the exact 3 hour timeslot given. This re-shuffle involved more than 50 people affected all parts of the studio as well as external stakeholders, promoters and organisers. Given there was no movement in the overall timing, I timed all packages and live segments and was in control of the forward and back timing of the program plan whilst timing other segments, rolling other segments from a computer, cuing cameras and floor managers and counting in and out of segments. This mammoth task involved accurate decision making, clear focus and ensuring the process was correct to then notify each area of what the changes would be and how it would be orchestrated. In addition, I delegated to each of production staff so that I could continue with my job at hand. Suffice to say the schedule re-shuffle worked and both bands made it to air, promoters and executive producer where very happy with the effort and result.
Whether it is an interview being moved to another time slot or a band being moved to another day, these logistical changes are a major undertaking within the role and can have a major effect on a huge amount of people. My approach was to diplomatically make reference to possible gaps and help come up with solutions to allow the logistics to take place. This approach was successful on all occasions where changes were made and timing was crucial.
Builds productive working relationships: Please provide an example of a time when you’ve had to be responsive to the changing needs of clients?
Keeping all parties happy and their needs met with a clear understanding of the desired outcome and objectives is part of the job of a Director’s Assistant. Each area has their own job to do and part of my job was to make sure each areas needs are met. During this time, if an interviewee wasn’t happy with a particular question set out to be asked by the journalist, it was me who would often field the concerns delicately and diplomatically. I was essentially the go between person, keeping the interviewee calm and happy and the journalist on task.
My role was to find solutions to resolve stakeholder issues keeping the objectives in mind and others on task. Issues that arose of this nature ranged from concerns of questions being asked by the journalist to interviewees not happy with their hair or a venue not ready for filming. Some days it was about simply making stakeholders feel comfortable in the environment and other days it was about major issues needing immediate resolve.
On numerous occasions, the needs of interviewees changed from the previous agreement and my role was to be responsive to these changes. At one point we were interviewing a high profile personality and, although the questions were given to the interviewee prior, they decided on the day they weren’t happy with one of the presenter questions. As the presenter was still organising their side of things as the interviewee was being audio miked up and I was on location assisting the presenter, I was across the program brief and also across the presenter questions. I knew that the question the interviewee wasn’t happy with was part of the program brief and it had been cross check with both parties. Understanding that it is not always the question that is the real problem, I spoke with the interviewee prior to the interview and found out that they hadn’t receive the cab vouchers they were promised and were upset about this. Once I rectified this situation, they were more than happy to answer all of the questions asked and the interview went ahead as planned. In fact, because the interviewee was now at ease, it made for a better interview overall.
Within the Director’s Assistant role, I dealt with internal customers and project managed all areas of media in production, in house staff and outside stakeholders. I worked with a broad range of staff as well as the broader community, politicians, musicians, sportsmen and business men, along with other event organisers, talent management and multi-media, just to name a few. Part of my internal customer team were the team in the news room who were reliant on me to communicate quickly, clearly and effectively the necessary information and any last minute changes that came about. It is my ability to calmly convey and communicate information that allowed the team to operate smoothly for the necessary outcome. As a result I have been consistently commended by team members over the years for my ability to calmly handle and communicate effectively in such high pressure situation to produce positive outcomes.
