View Vacancy - SIN - Consular Assistant, Emergency Travel Document Centre Singapore, A1(L)

The British High Commission Singapore is part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) worldwide network of 270 Posts, representing British political, military, economic, and consular interests overseas.

Providing consular assistance is an FCO priority and issuing Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs) is a large part of the assistance offered to British nationals working or travelling overseas.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a new, growing and busy team. Open since March 2019, the Emergency Travel Document Centres are re-defining the way in which British Nationals receive assistance around the world, if and when they require urgent travel without a full validity passport. Where British Nationals were previously assisted in-country depending on local working hours, they are now assisted by the Centres across three global locations (Singapore, Madrid and Ottawa), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our principal focus is on helping British Nationals travel urgently wherever they are. We leverage our structure, location and scale to prioritise assistance for those who need it most.

Your role as a Consular Assistant will primarily involve processing applications and producing ETDs for British Nationals whose passports have expired, been damaged, lost, stolen or are unavailable, who have an urgent need to travel. The vast majority of these will be online applicants in many different countries around the world. You will need to be comfortable working at pace according to set daily targets and be able to prioritise tasks with a strong eye for detail. You will need to communicate concisely and effectively with customers both verbally and in writing, some of whom will be in challenging or stressful situations. Your ability to work successfully with others in a team will also be vital, especially when under pressure. You’ll also need to be comfortable and efficient in the use of a wide range of IT software on a daily basis.

Alongside performing a vital service for British Nationals, this is a great opportunity to contribute to the development and improvement of our Centre and processes as we expand our service around the world. We are looking for people who generate ideas, constantly seek to improve and collaborate with colleagues to achieve shared goals.

Using Consular and Her Majesty’s Passport Office systems to:

• Check applications and supporting documentation;
• Request additional supporting documentation information;
• Check applicant eligibility;
• Process payments;
• Enter supplementary information for the ETDs;
• Issue ETDs within Consular agreed service levels.
• Liaison with customers throughout the ETD process, where it is relevant;
• Liaison with posts and couriers;
• Preparation of ETDs for courier delivery / customer collection;
• General office duties including ETD stock management.

• Excellent communication skills both verbally and in written English
• Strong IT Literacy
• Attention to detail
• Previous experience of working in a team effectively
• Good organisational skills to deliver within required timescales
• Customer service skills with at least 3 years of customer service experience