Executive Assistant / Studio Administrator

Based in Portland, OR. This is a Part-time position, with room for growth. 

We are a busy Professional Headshot Photography Studio located in Portland, Oregon.  We value customer service, attention to detail, making clients feel welcome and cared for. Our clients are local and international professional speakers, entrepreneurs, authors, performers, practitioners, CEOs, and business owners.

We are looking for an experienced Executive Assistant / Studio Administrator who can take minutia and detailed administrative tasks off the plate of our executive. Our ideal person for this job is creative, efficient, and task oriented. She/he is comfortable working independently, takes direction cheerfully, and exercises excellent taste and judgement. S/he is personable and a good communicator on the phone and in writing. 

Responsibilities

Provide professional administrative support to our executive and exceptional customer service to clients. Daily tasks will range in scope and priority. A successful candidate must have the attitude that no task is too big or too small for their attention and focused efforts. Tasks will include reviewing, answering, generating and sending email correspondence; generating, editing and maintaining documents using Microsoft Office; miscellaneous data entry and file maintenance; general clerical duties; and special projects as assigned.

Our ideal candidate loves getting things done, is highly organized, gets personal satisfaction from being helpful, and working as part of a team. Our ideal candidate has an efficient approach to tasks and is excellent at initiating and maintaining supportive and smart systems that will serve us well as our company grows. 

This person is, first and foremost, excellent at rolling up their sleeves and taking action, proactively taking things off our executive's plate. Demonstration of examples of roles in which you have freed up the time of someone you were assisting in the past will be required. 

This individual can transform a fire-hose of potentially conflicting 'must-dos' into a linear 'plan of action'. You have the ability to take disparate information and conflicting priorities and not only make order out of it, but 'make tracks' and 'get sh*t done'. 

This is a role with a lot of 'ownership' potential. We want to empower the individual in this role to 'take-charge' of their area and make a personal impact in the company. We want someone who would like to grow with the company. Hours will start at part-time 15-20 hrs a week, however there is potential for more hours over time. Schedule is somewhat flexible with a combination of core remote week day hours as well as in person shoot assistance that may be required outside of core hours ( evening or weekend.) We want someone with a sense of personal responsibility to progress on projects without supervision.

In this position you will: 

Follow up with client inquiries professionally, describing package offerings, communicating the differentials of our work to potential clients. 

Be "ground control" for our busy studio by maintaining and communicating schedule and scheduling additional supportive staff (stylists, photo-assistants) as needed for upcoming shoots.

Set appointments and manage studiomanage the studio calendar.

Be the point-person for all orders and client image files. You will follow up with receipts, and track progress of retouching files with retouchers and track final image delivery for clients.

Provide 'Traffic-Control' for all client jobs (i.e., deciding which project needs attention when, tracking the progress of projects, keeping track and giving reports as needed.) 

Provide client communication + care before shoots, during, and after by facilitating on-going relationships with clients.

Supervise + direct design contractors, or occasionally put together simple marketing and communication pieces yourself in Photoshop, InDesign or Canva.

Develop community and communication channels maintaining the smart, passionate, creative, caring 'voice' of our studio on social media (Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, Facebook).

Walk and drive to run errands in the local area as necessary. 

● 3-5 years experience working at the senior or executive level in an administrative or coordination role in an office or studio setting.

● Flexible - takes direction with ease

● Ability to effectively manage time, prioritize tasks and work within deadlines with little supervision

● Demonstrates initiative, is self-motivated and proactively takes on tasks

● The ability to think of creative solutions and keep abreast of technology + Apps (examples: Canva, Animoto) that can help us to a.) become more efficient and b.) work better as a team and c.) communicate with and serve our clients in fun and delightful ways, is highly valued. 

● Ability, interest, and experience in developing community and communication channels by maintaining the smart, passionate, creative, caring 'voice' of our studio on social media (Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, Facebook) is a plus. 

● Design sensibility and experience is a definite plus. Understanding of typography and white-space is not required but will definitely make you stand out.

● Ability with Photoshop (retouching) is a plus. But more importantly, the ability and 'eye' to perform quality control as you coordinate with contracted retouchers to ensure the high artistic standard of the work of the studio is maintained before sending final work to clients is a must.

● Advanced verbal and written interpersonal communication skills and personal discretion and 'good taste' required. 

● Extremely organized with strong multi-tasking and time management skills. Ability to juggle multiple projects with superb accuracy.  

● Excellent written and verbal communication skills. The ability to write, speak and interact clearly and professionally.

● Must be able to maintain a professional demeanor and a positive service attitude at all times.

● Detail oriented with good analytical skills.

Important Note: Please read before applying:

Yes, we are a photography studio, but we want to be clear: this position is not suitable for aspiring photographers.

This is an administrative, behind the scenes, support role.

Please do not apply if you don't have a strong track record and experience in an administrative support or *related role. (* i.e., Administrative assistant, Office Manager, etc.) Thank you.