Curriculum Vitae

JUNE ****

Karen Machin

CONFIDENTIAL

PERSONAL DETAILS

First Names Karen Christine

Last Name Machin

Date of Birth 16 July 1970

ID Number 700**********

Sex Female

Marital Status Single

Nationality South African with British passport

Languages English, Afrikaans and Swahili

Address 78 La Provence, Suikerbossie Street, Sharonlea, Johannesburg, South Africa 2195

Telephone 083-***-****

Email ad14n1@r.postjobfree.com

PROFILE Personal Assistant with experience in Accounting, Finance and Administrative management

TERTIARY Psychology I (BA Occ) at University of Port Elizabeth EDUCATION 1 year part-time study : Distinction

Microsoft Office: Intermediate & Advanced

New Horizons Computer Training Centre

Sales & Marketing at PE Technikon

Part-time 8 week course

Pastel Accounting at Damelin

Evening classes – part time study

SECONDARY Collegiate High School, Port Elizabeth

EDUCATION 1988 – Matric Exemption

I have:

Previous PA and Office Management experience

• Microsoft Office suite expertise including Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

• Excellent interpersonal skills – both written and verbal communication

• Ability to research, digest, analyse and present material clearly and concisely.

• Plate spinning brilliance - flexibility and adaptability to juggle a range of different tasks and meet deadlines.

I am:

Proactive, confident, resilient and used to liaising with a wide range of people

• Confidential and discrete

• Friendly and approachable

• Self-starter with passion & ambition

• Solution orientated and ‘can do’ attitude

• Display curiosity

• Willingness to take ownership and demonstrate leadership within areas of responsibility.

• Positive attitude and work ethic

• Possess a high level of emotional intelligence.

• Constantly seek to articulate issues and opportunities to save time. CAREER HISTORY (order of most recent)

December 2020 to present American Shutters

Office Manager: Johannesburg branch

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Aftersales service management - all repairs and

warranty claims

• Sales consultant oversight and client liaison

• Stock control

• Oversight and management of installation

planning.

• Management reports.

• Installation Teams - staff management

• Shipping and couriers

• Office admin, including HR responsibilities, Petty Cash, servicing of vehicles, team building and

events etc

• Drive process improvement and efficiency

August 2016 – February 2020 National Pharmacy Agency

(sales & merchandising for 50+vendors in DisChem)

Manager : Business Information Department &

Finance Assistant

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Calculation of national commissions for all

principals

• Monthly sales analysis monitoring efficacy of our FMCG customer’s marketing spend.

• Weekly monitoring of “days stock cover” in stores nationally

• Preparation and presentation of monthly

sales figures including year-on-year and

moving monthly analyses.

• Supervision of in-store audits

• Overseeing distribution of all POS material to

stores nationally.

• Preparation of Sales presentations, working with MD, for Annual reviews or new business.

• For approximately a year, I also prepared the ‘blue collar’ merchandisers payroll (approx. 200 staff)

July 2012 – December 2014 Professional Graphics

Manager : Design Department & Customer Service

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Quotations for print jobs.

• Sales, customer service and product advice.

• Attendance of weekly management meeting.

• Preparation and presentation of monthly

sales figures

• Supervision of designers

• Overseeing all final pre-press proofing, sign-off by clients and production (press) instructions.

• After sales follow-up with clients.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Effective implementation of new job tracking,

workflow and time management system for

Pre-press, Sales and Customer service

departments.

May 2011 – June 2012 Webb Plumbing

Financial Manager

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Books up to trial balance and monthly general

ledger recons

• Invoicing and debtor (credit) control

• EMP501 and IRP5 bi-annual submissions

• Cash flow management

• Payments – creditors, salaries & wages

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Setting up Company on Accounting system – Pastel

• Setting up HR and Payroll on Pastel

• Registration of staff with UIF and SARS

• Registration of company for eFiling, uFiling and Easy File

• Implementation of Company Health and Safety

Plan & Black Economic Empowerment Rating

• Development and implementation of workflow

and costing system.

May 2005 – April 2011 Professional Graphics

Financial & Administrative Manager

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Books up to trial balance and monthly general

ledger recons

• Invoicing and debtor (credit) control

• Credit agreements: Credit checks, checking of

references, setting and managing credit limits.

DEBTORS – approx. 1.5 Mil / CREDITORS – 750,000 to 1 Mil

• Cash flow management

• Monthly compilation of statistical data on cost

of sales, profit ratio etc.

• Payroll

• All third-party payments – creditors, salaries

& wages

• Customer liaison and quotations

• PA to directors

• Company’s insurance cover portfolio

• Commission structures and administration of

agents.

June 2004 – April 2005 Catchword Marketing

Operations Manager

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Management of suppliers and service

providers - quotes, briefing and quality control.

• Cost-analyses, profit assessment and

risk management on project-by-project

basis.

• Project management through each stage

of production and delivery.

• Maintaining two-way communication

between operations and client.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Design and development of custom-made

corporate gifts.

Catchword Marketing specialized in the writing and publication of quarterly in-house newsletters for large Corporates ( Sasol, PPC, Anchor Yeast and PFG Building Glass). This afforded privileged insight into the running of these companies: their goals and priorities, as well as the day-to-day stumbling blocks they encounter, both in the marketplace and internally. Feb 2004 – May 2004 Elephants in Main Street

(a Team building, Promotions and Events company)

Personal Assistant to CEO

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Management and co-ordination of booking

schedule for Operations (events) and Sales teams

• Secretarial and administrative duties for CEO and family.

• Co-ordination of diary & travel arrangements for CEO and consultants.

• Insurance policies & claims (business & personal)

• Power-point presentations and minute-taking

for board meetings

• Sales statistics

• Back-up of all computer systems

• Switchboard duties

• Ordering & control of all company stationery

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Drafting and initiating of new company policies

(HR/Job descriptions, Financial, Insurance,

Record-keeping etc.)

• Compilation of database of business

contacts, customers & past course

delegates.

2002 – 2004 Kelly Temps – Port Elizabeth

Cocoa Cola SABCO (Pty) Ltd

• Created a Production Costs Analysis database

(Microsoft Excel) for plants in Southern African

countries – information for implementation of

procurement controls and cost reduction

measures.

• All transport, insurance and duties & excise costs in various currencies converted to Dollar value for cost-value comparisons.

Faurecia Autoplastics (Automotive industry)

• Create and capture an integrated “real-time”

Employee database, incorporating salary/wage

information, medical details, leave, shift

information and all other personal details.

• Re-organize and update Attendance/

Absenteeism control procedure – liaising with

the Production managers of each sector.

• Streamlining and re-organizing of IOD and

accident investigation reporting systems and

record keeping for the factory.

• Preparation for the company’s annual Health

and Safety audit.

Aberdaire Telecom (Fibre Optic Cabling)

• Used Microsoft Access, to develop a database

for tenders and information on the resultant

orders – the collation of this information was

urgently required by both their Tenders and

Marketing departments.

Metate Construction

• Girl Friday for 3 weeks while their admin person was on leave.

• Factory wages, Health and Safety, IOD’s,

Switchboard, Debtors, Creditors, Banking,

etc.

May 1996 – June 2001 Volpes Linens (Head Office – Port Elizabeth) Personal Assistant to MD

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Stock control & procurement

• Costing of product lines

• Advertising-cost analysis & Sales statistics

• Completion of annual reports for Skills

Development and Equity Plan

• Minute-taking in disciplinary hearings

• Secretarial and administrative duties for CEO

and family – personal & business.

• Co-ordination of diary & travel arrangements for CEO and other directors.

• Power-point presentations and minute-taking

for board meetings

Catering arrangements for on-site business

/ working lunches.

• Held managerial position in retail outlet:

• Balancing the tills daily,

• Preparing the banking and liaising with the Fidelity Guards,

• Attending to customer complaints.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Establishment of Quotations department; hiring & training staff.

• Establishment of company Skills Development

committee

1990 – 1996: ABSA Bank

Teller & Investments Clerk

After leaving school in 1988, I worked and traveled overseas (UK and Europe) for a year. During this time, I worked for 3 months in a hotel in the Lake District, as a waitress in their silver-service restaurant, as a chambermaid, helping out behind the bar and washing pots in the kitchen.

I also temped for a nanny agency in London, picked fruit, worked at MacDonalds, and did various other jobs to fund my travels.

REFERENCES PLEASE see attached letter of recommendation. Also,

Duncan Snyman

Ex Managing director – American Shutters

(left in 2022)

Mobile: 082-***-****

Email: ad14n1@r.postjobfree.com

Michelle Flynn

American Shutters Finance manager

Mobile: 071-***-****

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