View Vacancy - Consular Officer (GRC22.592)

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Consular Roles)
Consular

The British Embassy in Athens is part of a world-wide network, representing a wide range of British interests overseas from political, through Economic, consular and Law Enforcement. The Embassy is now looking for a Consular Officer to help provide support to vulnerable British Nationals in Greece. We need dynamic, well-organised people with a passion for customer service to offer clear guidance and assistance to British nationals.

The role will involve in person and remote support, liaising and building relationships with the Hellenic police, social services and other Greek authorities – drawing from expertise in our UK team and across the Embassy to deliver. 

Candidates will need to adapt to shifting priorities and operational objectives in order to best serve those British Nationals most in need, including out of office hours, and the job will entail some element of travel both on the Greek mainland and to some of the closer Greek Islands.

 

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Providing consular support (including occasionally out of hours) to vulnerable British Nationals, including
  1.  vulnerable elderly
  2.  those with mental health issues
  3.  victims of crime, including rape and sexual assault victims
  4.  those arrested or detained
  5.  those in hospital
  • Providing notarial services for British Nationals
  • Providing Emergency Travel Documents;
  • Ability to travel within Greece to offer face to face support to British Nationals and to provide resilience to other consular teams;
  • Taking part in proactive projects to prevent or mitigate situations in which British Nationals become vulnerable
  • Building and maintain a good working network of operational stakeholders.
  • Fluent in English and Greek (both written and spoken) C1 Level*;
  • Proven customer service experience of at least three years and a strong sense of customer service delivery, including an ability to support customers in difficult or traumatic situations;
  • Excellent communication and customer service skills;
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work collaboratively with colleagues throughout Europe 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;
  • IT skills (Outlook, PowerPoint, Word and Excel, MS Teams);
  • Valid passport and permission to live and work in the EU.
  • Experience of assisting British nationals overseas;
  • Experience of influencing and engaging key stakeholders and local authorities;
  • An understanding of the issues that British nationals (tourists and residents) may face;
  • Driving licence;
  • Available to work out of hours and to travel abroad when required;
  • Knowledge of the various local administrative systems.
Delivering at Pace, Making Effective Decisions, Working Together
27 November 2022
Administrative Officer (AO)
Full-time, Permanent
37.5
Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia
Greece
Athens
British Embassy
2
EUR
€1,711.48
monthly
19 December 2022

This is a permanent contract, where you will be expected to work a maximum of 37.5 hours per week.

 

The British Embassy offers a competitive remuneration package, 24 days annual leave entitlement (given pro-rata to staff on fixed-term contracts and/or staff working part-time), a training package and flexible working opportunities. Monthly salary for this position is EUR €1,711.48 (Gross) currently payable 14 times a year (as per Greek labour law). An individual personal development plan will be agreed with the successful candidate.

 

Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy is subject to terms and conditions service according to Greek employment law. The British Embassy does not sponsor work permits.

 

Visa/work permit requirements: Candidates must currently hold the independent right to live and work in Greece and be prepared to ensure that right remains throughout the scope of the contract.

Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure you meet the legal requirements to live and work in this country.

*Please note for more information on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment  levels  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 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 advised that Consular positions at the FCDO entail dealing with casework in situations that may involve death, detention, rape, assault, post-mortems, prison visits and highly distressed customers. Candidates should therefore have a high level of resilience to trauma.

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

FCDO does not pay for travel related expense incurred in interviews (including Security Check) or accept any financial risk, including cancelation or reschedule costs. The FCDO will not meet the costs connected with relocation if offered a position.

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.