Lynne C.

Experience

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  AngloPac CC

  May 2004 - Apr 2005

  Administrator / Telesales

  • Maintained a high level of customer service, dealing with walk in clients and taking a high volume of orders over the phone• Invoiced over 200 orders a day on Pastel (South African Accountancy Software)• Thoroughly checked all invoices against orders before dispatch• Designed and populated stock spreadsheets in MS Excel• Researched restaurants in the local areas and cold called them to try and gain new business• Liaised with consultants telephonically and processed orders on behalf of their clients• Collected stock from the warehouse for walk-in customers• Ensured the front office was clean and tidy at all times• Booked and managed national business travel for executive level staff Show less

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  Prime Time Recruitment

  Aug 2005 - Mar 2007

  Branch Administrator

  • Worked to tight deadlines and ensured all timesheets were submitted on time for over 300 temporary staff• Ensured all temporary worker files were captured into the in-house database and kept up to date• Managed petty cash and ensured that all office sundry bills were settled timeously• Managed absence and attendance records for the staff in the branch• Liaised with Head Office over payroll queries for temporary staff• Compiled weekly sales figure reports for the Regional Director, consisting of data obtained from all of the North West Branch Managers• Typed letters and formatted CVs for consultants• Booked and managed all regional and national business travel for Management level staff Show less

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  Travis Hughes Ltd t/a STAFF

  Mar 2007 - Jun 2008

  Recruitment Consultant

  • Managed over 100 temporary staff across 15 client contracts • Interviewed candidates and matched them to various jobs within the Office and Industrial sectors• Attended client visits and ensured high service levels were met • Designed and updated availability spread sheets in Excel • Ensured all temporary staff attendance records were kept up to date• Designed and issued memos, warnings or other general letters to temporary staff• Submitted detailed weekly reporting to the Managing Director• Managed the office out-of-hours weekly with a busy on-call• Worked as part of a team and assisted colleagues with their own large contracts when required• Dealt with large numbers of staff bookings at short notice and worked to very tight deadlines Show less

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  Elliot Marsh

  Jul 2008 - Dec 2009

  Office Manager / PA

  • Answered and directed all incoming calls appropriately as well as dealt with incoming and outgoing post• Ensured all kitchen, stationary bathroom and general office supplies were stocked up and that all office equipment was in working order• Formatted and retyped CV’s to ensure they were within company standards and complied with the look and feel of the company• Input new candidate and client details into the database and ensured it was updated at all times• Responsible for all advertising, placing up to an average of 20 adverts a week across 6 different websites• Responsible for paying all bills and ensuring all supplier records are up to date using Sage Line 50, as well as invoicing clients and chasing payments. Entrusted with a company credit card and listed as an authorised signatory on company cash cheques.• Carried out HR duties by ensuring that staff attendance and holiday records were monitored and kept up to date and that staff salaries were paid on time, along with setting up new starters.• Assisted the Director with monitoring monthly targets and consultant KPI’s• Took control of procurement duties and sourced ways to help the company save money by looking for cheaper cell phone contracts, gas and electricity, water suppliers, stationary products, health care and insurance• Implemented procedures to provide better customer services to clients and candidates• Performed general PA duties for the Director such as personal errands, proof reading his external letters and emails, completing monthly PowerPoint presentations, organising staff nights out, booking travel and hotel accommodation, etc Show less

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  LearningAge Solutions Ltd

  Jul 2010 - Jan 2017

  Freelance PA / Admin / Quality Assurance / Production Lead

  • Working together with Lead Designers, Graphic Designers and Developers to ensure desired functionality, quality and overall usability are as needed from initial concept to full completion on E-Learning modules.• Formatting MS PowerPoint and MS Word Documents to high standards, incorporating advanced designs and layout. • Carrying out Quality Assurance on E-Learning modules before client and user testing. Requesting amendments and ensuring they have been carried out. • Generating image lists for Graphic Designers on Google Drive Spreadsheets from documents containing E-Learning scripts• Carrying out transcription work from dictation or audio clips• Booking flights, trains or hotel accommodation when required• Updating dairies with any travel arrangements made• Putting together MS Word Documents from online presentations• Proofreading E-Learning scripts Show less

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  The Mortgage Works (Part of Nationwide Building Society)

  Aug 2010 - Sept 2010

  Operations Administrator

  • Worked as part of the Data Capture Team ensuring that all mortgage application information was accurately captured onto the in- house system• Prepared applications for internal scanning once they had been approved and captured• Took valuation payments for applications using a PDQ machine• Ensured that all applications were accurately filed for the Underwriters once they had been captured

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  CHI informatics PLC

  Mar 2011 - Apr 2012

  Freelance Operations Co-Ordinator

  • Managing, updating and training employees on the online database• Compiling Excel spreadsheets to manage monthly reconciliations, staff and client contacts, general data collaboration…etc• Creating ‘Procedure’ and ‘How To’ documents on MS Word to document and record instructions on every day processes• Attending conference calls and typing up meeting minutes• Setting up new accounts and contract information for new employees• Ensuring all Developers record their hours correctly and checking to make sure their invoices match what is on our system Show less

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  Mind Click Ltd.

  Sept 2011 - Sept 2014

  Freelance Project Administrator

  • Generating image lists for Graphic Designers on Google Document Spreadsheets from documents containing e-learning scripts• Putting together MS Word Documents from online presentations• Proofreading e-learning scripts• Carrying out transcription work from dictation or audio clips

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  Office Wings

  Apr 2012 - May 2016

  Founder

  • Managing and working alongside a team of freelance professionals, ensuring jobs are completed on time and to complete client satisfaction in the Administration and Wed Design categories• Sourcing cost effective freelance workers to carry out jobs to client budgets• Ensuring all accounting requirements for the business are taken care of, such as running payroll, paying suppliers, credit control…etc. Keeping organised financial records• Carrying out HR duties such as advertising for new staff, screening new staff, briefing staff on company policies and procedures…etc• Training staff on different client tasks and projects, managing their workflow and ensuring high productivity standards are being met • Managing all social media and marketing Show less

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  Prodigy Finance

  Aug 2012 - Jan 2017

  Virtual Assistant / Researcher

  • Carrying out and assisting with various research and data entry tasks• Assisting with travel research and bookings• Assisting with email marketing campaigns. Tracking messages sent and received, sending out initial contacts and follow up emails, capturing responses...etc • Assisting with other ad-hoc duties as and when required

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  Divine Meetings / Studio Presence

  Feb 2013 - Mar 2015

  Virtual PA / Project Manager

  • Assisting with travel, transport and accommodation research• Managing projects, liaising with contractors, co-ordinating necessary tasks to see projects through to completion, updating and maintaining the PMS (Project Management System)...etc• Monitoring social networking sites as well as assisting with event management and PR related tasks.• General administration and other ad-hoc duties as and when required

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  Tsebo Facilities Solutions

  Sept 2014 - Dec 2015

  Project Administrator

  • Working as part of the Barclays Africa team, responsible for managing all travel into Africa. Inclusive of responsibility for required medications, vaccinations, visas and travel insurance • Sourcing hotels in new countries and negotiating long-stay and short-stay rate deals to fit within budget• Reporting on internal costs, as well as client costs for our projects and regularly analysing financial status vs. budget• Assisting with client survey reporting regarding Fire, Life, Health & Safety, as well as Engineering & Resilience on client site buildings • Updating weekly client reporting figures and commentary on building remediations carried out across 52 client sites in 10 different countries• Assisting with, tracking, monitoring, and paying out expense claims for travellers in our department • Researching and collating facts and figures for documentation to assist with work orders, presentations, and proposals for the finance department Show less

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  Broll Property Group (Pty) Ltd

  Feb 2016 - May 2016

  Personal Assistant (National Operations – Property Management)

  • Working as a PA to the National Operations Executive. Carrying out all basic functions of a typical PA role such as minute taking, filing, editing documents, diary management, travel arrangements and personal errands• Assisting with costing and business reporting by collating facts and figures• Coordinating and project managing necessary training in relation to the OHS Act on a national scale• Reconciling and monitoring all buildings (circa. 600+) listed under Operations Managers across every portfolio in the Property Management sector. Ensuring all buildings have been accounted for from both a Management and a Financial perspective• Monitoring progress and assisting where necessary on priority tasks for Ops Managers and Portfolio Executives, such as OHS compliance, Asset Registers and Building Audits…etc• Vetting Supplier/Contractor applications and assisting with standardising the national Procurement Procedure Show less

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  Tsebo Solutions Group

  May 2016 - May 2018

  IT Administrator

  • Working in the internal IT department for a group of companies consisting of over 37,000 employees (6000+ of which are IT hardware users)• Responsible for all hardware and software procurement, supplier management and carrying out the logistics of shipping hardware equipment throughout Africa• Compiling payment requisitions/reconciliations of creditors for financial processing, as well as keeping track of intercompany IT spend and charge-outs across the group. Providing detailed reporting when required• Proactively and diligently striving for department cost savings • Monitoring leave entitlements and submitting monthly variations to HR for the IT team• Creating Capex forms for sign-off on large spend and issuing purchase orders • Booking required travel for members of the IT team and assisting with expense claims Show less

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  UNEP-WCMC

  Jun 2018 - Sept 2018

  Programme Administrator

  • Member of the IT Steering Committee. Advising and guiding the business with decisions about upgrading the network, changing the telephone systems from analogue to VOIP…. etc• Carrying out quarterly, monthly and ad-hoc financial reporting at a project level. Analysing where necessary and investigating discrepancies • Typing up contracts for sub-contracted personnel and reviewing client contracts received• Creating new opportunities on Deltek (PMS) and seeing them through the project lifecycle• Working closely with Project Leaders and assisting with Project Planning where necessary• Organising meetings and events, ensuring catering and location were sufficient for the requirements• Tracking staff timesheets and positing to payroll after approval Show less

• 

  Fin Tech Software Development Company

  Oct 2018 - Jan 2022

  • Working closely with the Development teams, ensuring priorities are clear and risks were highlighted to relevant stakeholders • Managing, tracking, and reporting on major release schedules across an array of feature development• Monitoring CI/CD pipelines, ensuring failures or blockers were addressed timeously and that regression and automation testing were in line with new feature development• Responsible for the line management of an Engineering Operations Coordinator• Working closely with Manual QA Engineers to roll out department wide bug hunts and refine the technical debt backlog by validating aged defects• Creating and rolling out internal and external process documents to better streamline Delivery, BAU and Engineering collaborations• Controlling and administrating JetBrains YouTrack (like Jira) Show less • Working closely with the Release Management team, assisting with each phase of the SDLC • Using Gantt charts to monitor and report on relevant metrics throughout each release cycle• Tracking and communicating planned cycle times and key dates • Coordinating internal / external meetings and organising larger scale department events. Capturing meeting minutes and tracking actions• Chairing and documenting high priority incident retrospectives (post-mortems)• Creating and maintaining the department SharePoint site, enabling the business to access essential or important information with ease• Ensuring essential software licences were tracked and renewed timeously, carrying out cost analysis to manage budget planning Show less

  • Release Manager

    Oct 2020 - Jan 2022

  • Junior Release Manager

    Jan 2020 - Oct 2020

  • Engineering Coordinator

    Oct 2018 - Jan 2020
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  Fin Tech Software Development Company

  Jan 2022 - Nov 2022

  Senior Operations Manager

  • Managing a portfolio of work to deliver on major and minor software releases• Responsible for incident management, and unplanned disruptions. Regularly juggling business, department, and customer priorities• Working closely with Product Operations and other departments to ensure alignment and collaboration• Creating and delivering efficient processes with supporting framework • Managing a team of Coordinators • Carrying out risk analysis on all work in flight, reporting on progress and concerns • Coaching Software Development and Technical Communications team leads on effective backlog management and sprint planning• Guiding and training the business towards a more Agile software development approach• Ensuring tooling (JetBrains YouTrack) is optimised to capture key metrics and effective for operational ways of working• Monitoring third-party components to ensure EOL timelines matched up with our own Product lifecycle Show less

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  The Big Surprise Travel

  Jan 2023 - now

  Founder

  Fully ABTA and ATOL bonded Travel Agent and Tour Operator. Able to organise and manage a variety of leisure, personal and professional business travel.Regularly spending my days researching and booking honeymoons, family package holidays, adult only city breaks and small business travel for the most part. Providing clients with guidance and inspiration when they are not sure or can't agree on where to go. Ensuring timings are coordinated where business meetings are involved. Liaising with hotels and resorts to add little personal touches...etc. There isn't anything I can't organise and put together. If you can dream it, I can do it. My only limitations are your imagination. Private last minute jet to the Maldives? No problem! Key Speciality Areas:• Bespoke and Highly Tailored Surprise and Mystery Destination Package Holidays• Honeymoons and Luxury Travel• Destination Weddings• LGBTQ+ Travel• Cruise• Adults Only Travel• Africa (jncl. Mauritius)• Au Natural Travel• Sporting and Event Travel Show less

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  The Holiday Artist

  Jul 2023 - now

  Honeymoon and Destination Wedding Planner

  As a luxury travel expert specialising in destination weddings and honeymoons, I create unforgettable, tailor-made experiences for couples seeking unique celebrations and romantic escapes. My expertise lies in transforming dream destinations—particularly the breathtaking island of Mauritius—into seamless and magical realities.𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬:🧡Custom Wedding & Honeymoon Planning: Collaborating with couples to design bespoke itineraries, combining their visions with my in-depth destination knowledge and professional network.🧡Luxury Travel Coordination: Managing every detail, from flights and accommodations to excursions and special requests, ensuring a stress-free experience.🧡Mauritius Specialist: Offering insider expertise on Mauritius, including venues, local traditions, hidden gems, and premium services for a truly distinctive celebration.🧡Vendor Liaison: Partnering with world-class suppliers, from boutique hotels to wedding planners and florists, ensuring seamless execution.🧡Ongoing Support: Providing clients with 24/7 support throughout the planning process and travel journey, ensuring peace of mind at every step.𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐀𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬:⭐Consistently delivering 5-star client satisfaction through highly personalised service, creativity, and meticulous attention to detail.⭐Developing innovative itineraries that combine cultural immersion, relaxation, and luxury.⭐Recognised as a top performer within the travel industry for exemplary client experience and industry partnerships.𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐀𝐝𝐝 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞I bring more than just logistical expertise—I offer peace of mind, saving couples time, reducing stress, and curating exceptional memories. By understanding my clients’ needs, dreams, and lifestyles, I craft journeys that are as unique as their love stories. My commitment to quality, creativity, and an eye for detail ensures every trip or wedding surpasses expectations. Show less