View Vacancy - Consular and Community Liaison Officer A2 (04/19 LUA)
Main purpose of job:
The British Consulate provides consular advice and services to British citizens visiting Angola and São Tomé e Principe. The consular team is part of the wider Sub-Saharan Africa consular region. Our customers rightly expect high levels of service and we aim to deliver. Consular work is very rewarding – you have the chance to make a direct difference to someone’s life, often in very challenging situations. The successful candidate will be working often under pressure and sometimes dealing with extremely sensitive cases.
The main purpose of this role is to actively support the other members of consular team i.e. Vice Consul and Consul to provide modern and efficient consular assistance and fee-bearing services to British Nationals in Angola and San Tome e Principe. Predominantly customer-facing, this role may include dealing with people in hospital, victims of crime, distressed British nationals, and general administrative duties when required. Data collection and analysis as part of Prevention campaigns, social media communications, communicating with British and Angolan & San Tome e Principe authorities. Use of computer applications to produce Emergency Travel Documents, accuracy and compliance with guidance needed.
You will also work closely with Post Management in Luanda for the well-being of all staff at Post, with the primary function as advocate for and provision of support to UK-based and expatriate staff and families (of Government Departments) on family and community issues, principally in the areas of information gathering, welfare and communication
Roles and responsibilities:
1. Consular (50%)
Consular Assistance and Prevention
- Handling correspondence, telephone enquiries, and counter enquiries and services
- Accepting Emergency Travel Document (ETD) applications and producing the ETD
- Maintaining information packs e.g. Prisoner pack, Bereavement information
- Performing other administrative duties as required (e.g. processing lost/stolen/recovered passports and coroner’s requests)
- Collecting and analysing data for use in Prevention campaigns
- Creating and publishing messages on social media (for example in relation with prevention campaigns)
Administrative Support
- Opening, sifting and logging all incoming correspondence daily, and answering general enquiries by phone
- Updating/ maintaining lists of local providers such as lawyers, translators, hospitals, funeral directors and notary publics
- Performing other administrative duties as required (e.g. processing lost/stolen/recovered passports and UK driving licences; dealing with lost property; preparing Prisoner Packs; front desk documents and templates, filing and weeding- Consular archive)
- Back up for producing local management information through the collection of statistical data to strict deadlines
- Managing online appointments booking system
- Working as Counter Cashier, accepting fees initiating various types of Consular services.
Notarial work
- Notarising documents for UK nationals
- Taking fees for services and recording daily fee takings
Crisis management
- Taking part in Post crisis preparedness activity
- Assisting in Post preparation and response to large-scale events
- Responding to mass casualty incidents or crises if deployed
- Participate in local and regional crisis training and events, keeping awareness on crises up to date
- Regional Resilience Support in crisis (voluntarily)
2. Community Liaison (50%)
Networking and sharing information
- Proactively and reactively gather information for UK-based and expatriate officers and families on
- Spouse/partner employment in Angola, including at friendly diplomatic missions
- Children’s education and childcare
- Medical, dental, vet facilities
- Recreational and social matters
- Shops and restaurants;Sports and leisure
- Cars and taxis
- Banking and money changing
- Co-ordinate with other CLOs at other embassies in Luanda, and with community groups such as the Commonwealth Club (formerly Luanda British Women), particularly on joint events
- Chief link between Embassy and Diplomatic Services Families Association in London
Supporting UK staff and families
- Welcome new UK staff and families, before during and after arrival. Ensure as smooth an integration as possible into the life of the diplomatic community: following up to check the settling in process is working; being a source of referral and support where questions, problems and difficulties arise throughout the posting. Conduct orientation. Shopping trips
- Involve new families and residents in embassy crisis and resilience procedures
- Administer orders of diplomatic supplies from South Africa, alongside residence supplies
- Manage domestic equipment float(welcome kit)
- Prompt completion of periodic reports:
o Annual DSFA (Diplomatic Service Families Association) Spouse and Partner Employment Report;
o 6-monthly cost of living survey;
o Annual updates to Post Report and Fact Sheet;
o Annual to Post Induction Pack (owned by HR manager).
- Member of the Angola Board, and Post Housing Committee to represent UK staff and families
- Ensure fair and equitable use of embassy facilities: pool, gym, duty driver. Resolve amicably any disagreements between family members
- The jobholder will be required to attend Consular and Community Liaison training in London once they have passed probation
- Fluent English and Portuguese
- Excellent interpersonal skills
- Experience working in an international environment
- Experience in managing financial resources effectively
- Ability to complete work to a high standard, under pressure with a focus on attention to detail and customer service
- Good IT skills (MS Office, particularly Word & Excel)
Learning and development opportunities:
The Embassy encourages a culture of continuous learning. All employees have access to the Civil Service Learning platform which gives access to training to improve job specific skills. The member of staff will get the opportunity to learn basic operating procedures, and internal FCO systems during their induction
The role is based at The British Embassy Luanda. The Embassy is located in a purpose built compound which offers excellent offices and accommodation. The FCO is co-located with colleagues from the Department of International Trade (Foreign Commercial Service) and other departments visit from time to time. There are currently 4 members of UK staff with families living on compound, plus 2 expatriate staff unaccompanied by family. We expect additional staff and families to join in the coming year.
The job holder needs to work closely with different parts of the Corporate Services Team (e.g. Estates) as well as the Consular Regional Overseas Manager (CROM) and Regional Overseas Security Manager (ROSM) who is based in Pretoria.
Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment and security checks. Staff who are locally recruited by the British Embassy Luanda are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law.
No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position.
Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment checks.
This opportunity is closed to applications.