Laffont Competition Administrative Assistant
Department: Artistic
Available: October 2021
Position Summary
The Met seeks a detail-oriented Administrative Assistant who will be directly responsible for providing support to the Laffont Competition through a variety of administrative duties. This position reports to the Executive Director with supervision by the Associate Director. The Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition (previously the National Council Auditions) began in 1954 and some of today’s greatest singers got their start in the auditions, including Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Stephanie Blythe, Eric Owens, Lawrence Brownlee, Lisette Oropesa, Jamie Barton, Michael Fabiano, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ryan Speedo Green, and Nadine Sierra. The competition is designed to discover promising young opera singers, assist in the development of their careers, and award hundreds of thousands of dollars to singers annually. The ideal candidate for this position will have the ability to work with many personality types including donors, volunteers, Met staff and artists while maintaining good humor, poise, and professionalism in a fast paced work environment.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Administrative tasks such as filing, data entry, email and memo writing, calendar appointments and mass communications.
- Enter and manage graphic design projects with the Met’s in-house project management system and some independent creation of graphics and videos including social media content.
- Create and implement engaging and informative social media strategies to promote the Competition and its alumni.
- Input and track payroll and finance data for award winners, process reimbursements, and update budget and credit card statements.
- Help produce virtual auditions using Kiswe Studio, including onboarding singers and judges with remote audio and video setups.
- Assist in coordinating with various departments of the Met and outside vendors to produce the National Rounds of the Competition.
- Other administrative tasks, as assigned by the Associate Director and/or Executive Director.
Qualifications & Skill Requirements:
- 1-2 years prior administrative experience with demonstrated ability to prioritize and self-direct projects.
- Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication for all aspects of the Competition in a professional and discreet manner.
- Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office, Google suite, website and database management, and willingness to learn new software applications as needed. Experience with Adobe Creative Suite, and social media fluency including Canva is strongly recommended
- Great attention to detail, taking pride in task completion with consistent accuracy.
- Knowledge of the opera industry strongly recommended.
- Fluency or working knowledge of foreign languages is preferred, especially Italian, German, French, and Russian.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills and proficiency with math, accounting, and spreadsheets.
- Ability to work with many personality types including donors, volunteers, Met staff and artists and maintain good humor, poise, and professionalism in a fast paced work environment
- Flexibility to work extended hours including nights and weekends, on occasion
- Must be able to work in a virtual office environment as necessary
Physical Demands:
- The Metropolitan Opera is a performance venue that requires employees working in the building to be fully vaccinated. Due to the nature of this role, you must be fully vaccinated at the time your employment is scheduled to start.
- Regularly required to sit, talk, and hear
- Frequently required to use repetitive hand motion and to stand, walk, reach, bend
- Occasionally required to lift up to 20 pounds.
To Apply:
Please follow this link to submit your application materials: https://form.jotform.com/200134406236139
Internal candidates should please contact the Human Resources department directly to apply.
The Metropolitan Opera believes that diversity is critical to our success and growth as a leading performing arts institution and we seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the communities we serve.
The Metropolitan Opera is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and existing employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), national origin, citizenship status, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information (including characteristics and testing), military and veteran status, or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.