View Vacancy - Consular Officer - Maternity Cover (ESP20.382)

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Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Consular Roles)
Consular

Due to COVID-19, you may experience some delay in the progress of this recruitment campaign. We are working hard to minimise any disruption. You may find more information in the Additional Information section below.

The British Consulate General in Barcelona is part of a world-wide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas and is now recruiting for a Consular Officer (Maternity Cover).

The jobholder will provide a high quality, professional and efficient consular service to visiting and resident British nationals in the Catalunya Consular district. To provide a high level of support to the consular team. To be a fully engaged and proactive member of the consular team, attending to members of public at the counter and remotely.

What will be your key responsibilities?

  • Deliver first class consular assistance and support to vulnerable British Nationals, with a high volume of often complex casework including hospitalisations, deaths, detentions and cases of rape or sexual assault. Examples of the support required may include:
        - Visiting patients and providing support to emotional families in cases of serious hospitalisation;
        - Providing advice and support to bereaved families, including in cases of murder, suicide or violent/accidental deaths, accompanying to the funeral director as required;
        - Providing advice to detainees, visiting prisoners or accompanying victims of sexual assault to court, police or hospital.
  • Assist in the preparation and response to a crisis situation involving large numbers of British nationals, such as forest fires, large scale accidents or natural disasters;
  • Liaise and attend meetings with local Spanish stakeholders, such as funeral directors, police, courts and social services, as well as local town halls and charities providing support and assistance to British nationals;
  • Support the completion of prevention and influencing objectives for Spain North East, helping to reduce preventable consular cases;
  • Provide some office support as required, including printing Emergency Travel Documents, some Information Management duties, including producing basic statistical reports and IT support.
  • Proficient in English and Spanish (both written and spoken, minimum of C1 level according to the CEFR framework*);
  • Proven experience in customer service handling;
  • Excellent communication and customer service skills, including an ability to support customers in traumatic or difficult circumstances;
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work collaboratively with colleagues in Spain, Wider Europe Network and the UK;
  • Attention to detail, strong analytical perspective and problem solving skills;
  • Ability to work at pace and prioritise, managing an often heavy workload; excellent organisational skills;
  • Good IT skills (use of Outlook, PowerPoint, Word and Excel essential);
  • Key qualities are flexibility, empathy and resilience;
  • Clean driving licence;
  • Knowledge of the way local authorities work in Spain.
  • Previous consular work experience;
  • An understanding of the issues that British nationals, tourists and residents in Spain, may face.
7 October 2020
Administrative Officer (AO)
Full-time, Temporary
37.5
Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia
Spain
Barcelona
British Consulate General
1
EUR
29,632.14
1 November 2020

This is a full-time fixed-term position for a duration of a maternity cover. The working hours are 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday; 8:00 – 16:00). Please note that in the event of a crisis there may be the need to work outside of normal working hours.

The successful candidate is subject to a confirmation of a background check, security clearance and the successful completion of a probationary period.

The successful candidate will be enrolled in the Spanish Social Security Scheme and will therefore not be entitled to any gratuity from the Embassy based on gross annual salary.

Regarding taxation, the Consulate General in Barcelona is part of the British Mission in Spain, and as such supervised by the British Embassy. The Embassy is a Diplomatic Mission with tax-exempt status and does not collect taxes for other States. Employees are fully responsible for payment of income tax at the legally required rate. Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy in Spain are subject to terms and conditions of service according to local Spanish employment law.

Visa/Passport requirements: Candidates must currently hold the independent right to live and work in Spain and be prepared to ensure that right remains throughout the scope of the contract. Additional requirements may become necessary after 31st December 2020.

It is important to note that the consular caseworker role is very demanding and will entail dealing with casework in situations that may involve death, detention, rape and sexual assault and prison visits. You will be required to deal face to face with highly distressed customers who may be in shock, grieving and in a crisis situation. Candidates should therefore have a high level of resilience to trauma.

Information due to COVID-19:

  • You may experience some delay in the progress of this recruitment campaign and we are working hard to minimise any disruption;
  • Interviews will be done remotely if the existing situation determines this to be the right course of action;
  • Starting date may be delayed depending on circumstances at the time and it will be agreed with the selected candidate.

Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”. We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application, since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered.

Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.

Please be advised that the British Consulate General will not be able to meet the travel costs incurred when travelling to the interview, nor the costs connected with relocation if offered a job.

*Please note Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment indicates Level C1 as Mastery or proficiency Level which comprehends that a person can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning; can express fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions; can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes; can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices. For more information please click on the following link CEFR. Please bear in mind in case you are invited for an interview your language skill is going to be assessed.

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

This opportunity is closed to applications.