About me
- Strong 15 year experience in the audio-visual industry
- Network and cabling skills
- Video camera, production and streaming, video conferencing (polycom), control systems (AMX)
- Competent user of IT software (MS Office)
- Good customer facing skills and excellent communicator at all levels
- Budgeting and marketing skills
- Flexible approach to work, able to work independently or as part of a team
- Quick and enthusiastic learner
My 15 year experience within a world leading pharmaceutical company as well my good communication, organisational and technical skills make me a good candidate for this position. During my working time in the Wellcome Trust, I have managed all technical aspects of the conferencing and media department ensuring all events run smoothly and providing a first class service to both internal and external clients. The Wellcome Trust conference centre is part of the Genome Campus, a world leading research centre, hosting scientific as well as general external commercial events. The conference centre hosts more than 100 events a year, often accommodating in excess of 300 delegates and making a substantial contribution to the Trust's income.
All positions I have held have been in the service industry and therefore have enhanced my customer service skills and made me sensitive and responsive to the needs of the client. Being practical and with a hands on attitude have enabled me to quickly assess a range of technical requirements and come up with the appropriate solution. As an example, I installed a multiple switcher to address the issue of the clients using more than one PC sources in order to simplify and ease the process of switching among different equipment.
I often had to prioritise my workload and juggle my daily tasks in order to accommodate deadlines within the various event and client requirements. A firm believer in team work and flexibility, having to regularly set up new priorities and ensuring that the most important and urgent aspects of my workload were completed in a timely manner without compromising in accuracy.
Good communication is an attribute which I believe is of great importance when working in a customer facing environment. A very important aspect of my job was to communicate effectively with both internal staff and external clients in a variety of roles and aspects:
- Communicating with external clients in person, on the telephone and by e-mail (good customer service skills, quick turnaround of client enquiries)
- Liaising with internal departments such as the event co-ordinator's office and ascertaining the client requirements (e.g. equipment, time, room set up)
- Employing a friendly and professional attitude as well as using tact and diplomacy during unexpected and problematic situations.
In my role as A-V Co-ordinator at the Wellcome Trust, I have management responsibility, gaining experience and the following skills
- Ensuring A-V technician assistant and freelance staff are provided with adequate training, support and resources in order to fulfil their duties
- Participating at recruitment and regular staff appraisal cycles
- Handling a 30K departmental budget, including sourcing equipment and consumables, providing appropriate documentation to the accounts department and regular reports to senior management.
I possess excellent A-V and IT skills, running one of the most technically advanced auditoriums in Cambridge. Some of the skills I have acquired and used on a daily basis are:
- Ensuring IT hardware and software as well as networking systems are available and configured according to clients' needs and requirements.
- Troubleshooting and fault finding on analogue and digital equipment.
- Overseeing the visual aspects of internal publications, including photography, podcasts, promotional videos.
- Configuring communication hardware and software, ensuring a smooth and seamless contact between clients around the world.
- Using the MS Office software competently: Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint.
Yours faithfully
John Suckling