[LIBJOBS] Job Posting / UK Virtual Researcher

Position: UK Virtual Researcher

Reports to: Senior Director, Competitive Intelligence & Market Research

Overview: The Virtual Researcher will provide professional research support to LAC Group clients to meet their information and knowledge needs.

Responsibilities 

• Answer a range of business and / or legal research requests, from quick requests for cases, legislation and basic company information to more in depth analysis of legal developments, sector analysis and competitive intelligence to support pitch documents or other marketing activities. 
• Organize, summaries, analyses and compile reports to support client’s research requests
• Ensure that complex or strategic research is presented in a professional manner.
• Create current awareness news alerts
• Curate news alerts as they are received and deliver to clients on their schedule
• Monitor and track the use of current awareness and news alerts to assess their impact on the clients and to understand whether it is meeting the needs of clients.
• Obtain copyright permissions/licenses and perform other rights management tasks
• Provide advice on self-service solutions for simpler enquiries, calling on the resources available via the LAC portal.
• Provide remote training using web and video conferencing on topics such as library and research induction, research training for trainees and research techniques.
• Coordinate vendor delivered training for the client.
• Capture knowledge from requests for future use.
• Track and collate key metrics on KPIs such as turnaround time, quality, efficiency, volumes, utilization, etc.
• Ensure subscription database usage is tracked and reviewed
• Put forward regular recommendations for improvements and service developments.
• Other research-related duties as needed

Personal success characteristics

• Remote working - ability to work effectively and efficiently in a remote/virtual situation
• Communication - excellent verbal and written and listening skills and the ability to articulate positions/opinions clearly, effectively and objectively.
• Problem solving – anticipate and resolve client research problems before they arise.
• Interpersonal skills – ability to develop and maintain effective professional relationships internally and externally.
• Flexibility – ability to adapt to changed responsibilities and new situations.
• Client focus – dedication to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external clients.
• Creativity – demonstrate creative and unique solutions to problems and encourage the creative initiative of others.

Previous Experience

• A minimum of 3-4 years’ experience in Information Services or a related discipline is essential, preferably in a legal or business environment.
• Extensive and previous experience in the areas of competitive intelligence, business and finance research, intellectual property, legal, expert witness or other forms of research 
• Extensive knowledge of key business research databases and an excellent ability to search across publicly available sources.
• The ability to use and review core internal data sources.
• Experience with Manzama or other current awareness systems preferred
• Experience of various legal and business data sources is preferable. Legal databases may contain cases and articles (e.g. via Westlaw and Lexis Nexis), statutes and regulations and identifying recent EU legislation. Business databases may include Factiva, Dialog, Hoovers, Merger Markets and Perfect Information for example.

Professional/ Educational Qualification

• A degree or post-graduate qualification in Information and Library Management, Information Science or a related subject is essential.
• Excellent IT skills with the ability to fully exploit existing resources.
• Must be proficient in Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Outlook and Instant Messenger.

Location

• This role will be based remotely from your home
• You will require access to a computer during working hours and will require a reliable broadband connection.

Hours of work

• You will be required to work up to 20 hours per week.
• Your working pattern will be determined between you and your line manager to meet client needs and may vary from time to time.
• You will be required to submit a weekly timesheet for payroll.

For immediate consideration, please visit http://goo.gl/bBzvpj to apply.

LAC Group is Equal Opportunity Employer and values diversity in the workforce.