A day in the life of Kate Gap
Account Manager, 5 years service
I have worked with Top Temps since 2005 and I currently work at one of their key accounts in Hertfordshire. I have been the account manager here for some time so I have my routine pretty sorted, but you never know exactly what going to happen on a day to day basis.
Apart from tasks that are a daily routine such as ad response and booking candidates for interviews every day is different and can involve a variety of different challenges. Most of all my job involves day-to-day client interaction and most importantly I look after our work force.
Generally I get up at about 0500 hrs and I am at my desk before 0700 hrs, I am an early starter and like getting in first thing which allows me to get as many of the admin tasks out of the way as possible. I review the days To Do list, prioritise key tasks, check emails, deal with any issues raised, check attendance and start the daily reporting. Hopefully there are not too many issues as we have a really steady crew of workers on my account.
By about 0900 (on Mondays) I have finished weekly payroll and I can forward it to HQ.
Then I can move onto generating all the information regarding last week’s performance and have the report ready for Planning’s weekly meeting that I attend to discuss any issues previous week and the way to move forward.
I try to finish all reports and admin by 12 noon because between 1200 and 1400 my time is reserved for our staff. Lunchtime each day (apart from those I leave the site to do Interviews) I go around the canteen tables to see how my workers are. This is the time I have for one-to-one’s, deal with holiday requests, payroll queries, do staff reviews, discuss any possible issues they may have and to ensure that my workers receive the appropriate level of care and support. I have to ensure that the on site care team are delivering the appropriate service to both client and workers. I always have time to help our workers to solve their personal problems to keep attendance at highest possible level.
At 1400 I attend daily Team Brief with all colleagues and client’s Managers. After the team brief I stay on warehouse floor for quite a while to speak to Managers, solve any issues and get daily update, to gather all required information about functioning of the warehouse. On those briefings team managers announce all important information for warehouse staff. Any issues stopping us from achieving imposed targets are closely investigated by me and Team Managers.
When I come back to my desk I sort any admin work, holiday requests, payroll queries, etc. that arose after speaking to my team.
On a daily basis I track and report workers hours and expenses, generate all information regarding team’s performance, communicate with our Head Office, my demanding boss (!) and the Planning department. I also deal with a huge amount of phone calls from applicants trying to pick best workers for oncoming interview. This phone screening interview gives also a bit of information to our applicants, what kind of job they are applying for.
Two days a week at midday we leave site to do recruitment interviews for the upcoming roles that we have. This usually lasts about 2-3 hours. This is one of the parts of the job I really enjoy, as it is meeting new people all the time.
Once a week we invite selected applicants to visit site and attend Assessment interview with the Client. Although I am confident my candidates will arrive I always ring them just to double check.
All new starters are assisted by me and trainers closely from the very beginning, to help them to familiarise with working conditions, environment and workers society. Assessment allows me to find best workers for our client. During interview and assessment I try to give new starters as much information as possible, to help them achieve and keep gold standard level in the future.
After successful Assessment I spend couple of hours doing Drug & Alcohol tests in order to get those who have been selected for the role ready as per the Clients requirement.
On Fridays I attend new starters Induction and coach them through their breaks, offer support within new environment and assist Client’s personnel if required.
By Friday I assure all legal documents are completed and signed, all personnel files are updated, reference requests sent off, report spreadsheets updated and ready for new week, all important information needed for monthly meetings gathered and recorded, all phone calls are made, Client is updated with all holidays booked, all post is sent, and all emails replied to. I assure all new starters are issued with new rotas and ready for start the next week.
I tend to leave site anywhere between 1600 and 2200 depending on when my colleague arrives for handover or if there are any late meetings I need to attend with our workers or simply I need to speak to night shift managers.
Finally I get home, have a well deserved glass of wine, something to eat, a little relaxing and then to bed, for tomorrow it starts all over again!