Poncho Rivera-Pavón

Key responsibilities:

• Organising budgets, overseeing P&Ls to achieve margin targets consistently to stay on track with growth plans.
• Evaluating business requirements, leveraging information to forecast future trends in online application behaviors for our clients.
• Discussing SEO needs to optimise strategies for short- and long-term campaigns.
• Managing the NxtStep team to generate original content and increase the brand visibility of our clients.

Achievements

• Developed value-added solutions and approaches by leveraging international trends in the graduate market.
• Delivered business strategy and developed systems and procedures to improve operational quality and team efficiency.
• Planned and instituted social media marketing plans for our clients.
• Revamped our website and increased traffic by 27% (approximately 250K people)

Key responsibilities:

• Responsible for the graduate programme.
• Responsible for legal staff, including performance tracking and management, coaching, and pastoral care.
• Accountable for several budgets.
• Liaising between multiple business divisions to improve communications across the firm.

Achievements:

• Increased the number of acceptances from 52% to 80% over the course of three years.
• Successfully reduced attrition rates by making strategic changes to the graduate programme.
• Redesigned our employer brand to position the firm as an employer of choice.
• Offered friendly and efficient service to all internal customers, handled challenging situations with ease.
• Created and implemented forward-thinking initiatives to improve employee engagement.

Key responsibilities:

• 7 direct reports nationally.
• Managing the organisation and implementation of the hospitality training programme “ProStart” in Tauranga and Hamilton in conjunction with the Ministry of Social Development.
• Overseeing Professional Development courses and other educational opportunities nationally.

Achievements

• Successfully implemented ProStart in Tauranga and Hamilton.
• Reduced training budget by optimising operations.
• Drove departmental performance and achievement of service levels through focused team operational reviews, structured coaching and managing targets.

Key responsibilities:.

• Full HR responsibility.
• Coordinating the first hospitality e-learning course with a third party developer.
• Special focus on creation, development and delivery of in-house training programmes.
• Coaching managers on appropriate HR practices in the industry.

Achievements:

• Standardised the HR practices in the company decreasing the risk of personal grievances.
• Established guidelines and templates for hiring, training and disciplinary procedures.
• Reviewed and finalised the e-learning course, which decreased staff costs by 50% during the orientation period.
• Developed and implemented variety of innovative policies and strategies to promote self-sufficiency. across middle-management

Key responsibilities:

• Creating policies and guidelines for the HR department.
• Budgeting for new venue recruitment and training.
• Full recruitment cycle for new venues across New Zealand.
• Instructional design for induction and training across the group.

Achievements:

• Creation of the HR department in conjunction with the HR Manager.
• Implemented the entire recruitment cycle along with policies and procedures.
• Successfully recruited, hired and trained the Front of House staff.
• Reduced recruitment budget by 18% with the establishment of Mexfactor.
• Implemented Sales and Customer Service training programmes for all venues, which increased revenue by 16% and Mystery Shopper results of 85/100 nps.
• Advised, coached, and counseled managers and staff to support human resources policies and procedures