View Vacancy - Vice Consul

The British Embassy in Muscat is looking for a dynamic team player to take up the position of Vice Consul, job grade Executive Officer (EO).

Main Purpose of the Job:

Our purpose is to support British people living, travelling and working in our region: by providing high quality, accessible consular services, focused on those most in need; responding rapidly to all crises, leading cross-government action; reducing preventable incidents affecting British people through collaboration with partners and governments.

Currently Oman is the home of choice to around 5000 British People and has approximately 100,000 visitors per year. The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring British nationals in Oman receive a professional service that is effective, timely, consistent and in line with Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office guidance. This will include providing direct advice and support to distressed British nationals and leading on high-level and sensitive assistance cases. Cases and issues can attract significant media and Ministerial interest so an eye for and an understanding of the wider political picture is important.

The jobholder will be responsible for the local delivery of the Consular Network Business Plan and global consular initiatives, as well as the consular elements of the Country Business Plan. Reporting to the Regional Consular manager based in Dubai, they will be required to lead, motivate, and encourage the Pro Consul to participate in global and regional consular activities and proactively deliver consular prevention and outreach work.  As part of the MENASA Network, communicating to the wider region and seeing the bigger picture is key to improving the work locally.

The jobholder will need to be a self-starter and highly motivated, with excellent interpersonal skills. They must be able to work independently with minimal supervision and make operational judgements in consultation with senior management locally and in London. In response to a local or regional crisis, the jobholder will also play a key role in managerial responsibility for the Consular team’s response and deployment.

Consular work can sometimes be emotionally challenging, distressing and of a sensitive nature. The jobholder will therefore be expected to demonstrate high levels of personal resilience and maintain absolute consular confidentiality and impartiality. November and December sees Qatar hosting the first World Cup in the Middle East, which is also the first World Cup in the winter and hosted in one city, Doha. The World Cup will be a significant event for both Qatar and the Gulf. Fans are expected to be based in neighbouring countries including Oman; it will therefore mean an exceptionally busy period to ensure all visiting and resident fans are fully aware of local laws and customs and have a safe and trouble-free experience in Oman.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

Leadership and Resources

• Provide effective leadership to the Consular team with direct line management of one Pro Consul; set objectives in line with FCDO strategic priorities and the Consular Network Business Plan; ensure robust Performance Development Plans are in place and regular appraisals are conducted.
• Manage day-to-day consular operations; ensure updates to consular guidance and policies are understood and implemented; ownership of formal response to public correspondence.
• Promote a learning culture within the team; ensure all mandatory learning is completed; identify training and development opportunities.
• Represent the Consular Section internally and externally; participate in relevant committees and working groups; help formulate management policies; coordinate with key stakeholders in the British community; promote cross-mission working to achieve objectives; prepare written briefings and reports for seniors, up to and including ministerial level.
• Coordinate absences to ensure sufficient service coverage; manage working stocks of accountable assets such as Emergency Travel Documents and cash reserves; oversee the consular appointment system and reconcile consular fee payments promptly and accurately.
• Ensure the wellbeing of the team is kept in mind and provide opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Work with other Consular teams in the region and be a part of the Vice Consul Working Group for the Gulf to learn from each other and promote best practice.

Consular Assistance

• Manage the team’s provision of consular assistance to British nationals and their families, including providing guidance and support in difficult cases such as: arrests/detention, hospitalisations, dealing with bereaved families, mental health, child custody issues, debt and employment issues and other sensitive cases such as rape & sexual assualt and forced marriage.
• Identifying areas of potential high level interest and briefing seniors and others accordingly. Preparing written briefing and updates on cases and issues.
• Ensure assistance provided is best practice and case notes are well written and concise; monitor caseloads to ensure effective service delivery and quality assurance.
• Support British nationals with assistance when required, be confident in dealing with difficult conversations and possess the skills to learn from these difficult conversations.
• Manage Emergency Travel Document processes and oversee the provision of various notarial and documentary services.
• To be prepared to work out of hours, as required. Occasionally this will be anti-social hours.

Prevention and Partnerships

• Working with colleagues assist in the delivery of the Oman prevention strategy, use the Consular Performance Platform to identify trends and case types for prevention objectives; develop and deliver prevention and outreach projects aimed at local partners or the British community; and agreed methods of evaluation are in place; use a variety of channels and work closely with partners internally and externally to increase impact and reach of prevention materials.
• Build and develop relationships with key strategic and operational partners, including local authorities and other diplomatic missions; work strategically with partners to tackle issues and improve access to services; ensure cross-mission cooperation and sharing of contacts to solve problems.
• Deliver sustained engagement with British community; effective networking and use of contacts in key sectors such as business and education; monitor the local environment and react to any changes which may affect British nationals living in or visiting Oman; contribute to the formulation of Travel Advice and ensure updates are cleared and acted on in a timely manner.
• Build and maintain relationships with key internal partners, including frontline Call Centres, Emergency Travel Document Hub, Consular Directorate, Political/Press, Immigration Enforcement International, Corporate Services teams and Senior Management Team.

Crisis Planning

• Take an active role in Post’s Crisis Committee, participating in drills, tests and exercises related to crisis and contingency planning; ensure Field Deployment Officers are aware of roles and responsibilities in a crisis.
• Regularly maintain and update the consular elements of Post’s Crisis Management Plan; ensure consular staff have access to and are familiar with the Crisis Hub.
• Work with lead on the provision of consular skills training to non-consular staff within the Embassy to improve Post’s capability to respond to any crises in Oman.
• Maintain a readiness to respond to a declared crisis, based on named roles within the Crisis Management Plan; provide regional resilience support where required.

The above list is not exhaustive and the jobholder will be required to be flexible and take on other ad hoc tasks as required.

Key Behaviours:

The candidate will need to demonstrate the following behaviours and the values of who we are during the interview:

• Making Effective Decisions: Effectiveness in this area is about being objective; using sound judgment, evidence and knowledge to provide accurate, expert and professional advice. It means showing clarity of thought, setting priorities, analysing and using evidence to evaluate options before arriving at well-reasoned justifiable decisions.
• Communicating and Influencing: Effectiveness in this area is about communicating purpose and direction with clarity, integrity and enthusiasm. It’s about respecting the needs, responses and opinions of others.
• Managing a Quality Service: Effectiveness in this area is about being organised to deliver service objectives and striving to improve the quality of service, taking account of diverse customer needs and requirements. People who are effective plan, organise and manage their time and activities to deliver a high quality and efficient service, applying programme and project management approaches to support service delivery. 
• Seeing the Big Picture: Seeing the big picture is about having an in-depth understanding and knowledge of how your role fits with and supports organisational objectives. It’s about recognising wider Civil Service priorities and ensuring work is in the national interest.
• Changing and Improving: People who are effective in this area are responsive, innovative and seek out opportunities to create effective change. It’s about being open to change, suggesting ideas for improvements to the way things are done, and working in ‘smarter’, more focused ways.
• Working Together: People skilled in this area create and maintain positive, professional and trusting working relationships with a wide range of people within and outside the Civil Service to help get business done. It requires working effectively, sharing information and building supportive, responsive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders, whilst having the confidence to challenge assumptions.​

Our Values:

Wherever we work in the world, we share a set of values that guides our decision-making, sets standards for our behaviour and helps us deliver the UK's national interest internationally.

These values are underpinned by the UK Civil Service values (Integrity, Honesty, Objectivity, Impartiality) and complemented by values all One HMG colleagues bring from their own department, service or administration.

• Excellent customer service skills, with a key focus on communication (both written and oral) in English, with a keen eye for detail and accuracy. Able to express ideas and messages clearly and concisely, and someone who treats everyone with fairness and respect.
• Experience of leading and motivating a team.
• A team player who is capable of working on their initiative and who is adaptable to changing priorities, must be able to work and act without close supervision.
• Excellent interpersonal and active listening skills, with the ability to cultivate and maintain a range of contacts at all levels, critical to consular work.
• Experience of working strategically and of project development and management.
• Exceptional organisational skills with the ability to easily prioritise tasks.
• Excellent customer care skills and the ability to respond to a range of customer needs.
• Sound judgement and an analytical approach in decision making.
• Ability to drive excellent service standards.
• Ability to bring flexible and creative approach to your work.
• Ability to talk to large groups of people as part of our prevention and communication work.
• Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams).