Account Executive

Job purpose

To contribute to project success by supporting the account management team with tasks such as monitoring and reporting on news and events relating to your project, manging the weekly status sheet, note-taking, proof reading, and organising meetings.

Experience and Qualifications and Core Skills

• Excellent oral and written communications skills (English).
• Proficient in all components of Microsoft Office (Outlook, word-processing, power point and spreadsheets).

Additional Qualities

• Excellent communication skills to enable him/her to engage with key stakeholders internally and externally.
• Sense of responsibility towards the organisation’s reputation.
• Ability to work independently.

Specific Responsibilities

The Work:

• Have a point of view and share it with the team at the right time. That may well be after the review itself but it’s important to have a point of view and make it known. We hired you because we think you’re smart – we want to hear from you.
• Always think of ways to make the work better. Interesting ways we could present it, thoughts for what the stimulus might be, help creating mood boards/vox pops etc.
• Proactively find inspiration for wider team to help them develop campaigns and messaging.

The Agency:

• Get to know the process, inside and out: mastering the craft of strategic communications and getting to grips with how things work is one of the key areas of focus for an Account Executive – you should throw yourself in and really get to know the nuts and bolts of the agency process.
• Understand how we make money and the finance process works: POs, invoices, estimates
• Always ask if you don’t know the answer – there is never a better time in your career than now
• You are the lifeblood – make your mark by proactively suggesting and helping to organise agency events and initiatives e.g. Valentine’s Day, Thursday pub nights and charity events or something we haven’t even thought of yet. Get stuck in!

Relationships:

• Get to know and build strong relationships with everyone in the building – IT, reception, other group agencies, building services, catering, despatch, senior management, production etc.
• Start cultivating client relationships with the more junior contacts – they will grow in their careers with you so forming relationships with them early is key
• Put your hand up for things – people love people who are enthusiastic and hungry to learn. [You’ll quickly find that you’ll be working on much more interesting projects!]

Strategy:

• Take an active interest in the strategy – ask your line manager to go through it with you and make sure that you understand it. If you don’t, you won’t be able to properly understand the business problems we are trying to solve
• Offer your point of view at an appropriate time, even if it’s just one-to-one with your line manager/ strategist. Don’t be afraid to speak up but always in the right way, at the right time. The skill is knowing when to pick your moment
• Look for ways to support your strategist – that could be working with Intelligence to gather audience or industry insights, gathering vox pops from the public to support our hypothesis or preparing stimulus for research groups

Business Impact:

• Inspire: Demonstrate your passion and interest in the industry by sharing your thoughts on latest campaigns, innovations and thinking
• Proactively and regularly carry out competitor reviews and share with your team
• Obsess about how we present ourselves: Ensure meeting rooms are set up well in advance of the meeting in the M&C Saatchi World Services way
• Take ownership and pride in the fiddly bits that take time but are critical:

Formatting – make sure it’s right. Check, re-check and check again. We have a house style. Use it

Timing plans – make sure you understand them and become the owners of them

Setting up internal meetings - make sure they’re in everyone’s diaries and round people up before the meeting

Status reports – work with the team to make sure they’re up-to-date, typo free and go out on time

Printing and binding – be a perfectionist. Ensure that everything leaves the building to the highest standard

Contact reports – practice, practice, practice and work with your team to perfect them.

To apply, send your CV and cover letter to WSrecruitment@mcsaatchi.com.