View Vacancy - Consular Officer (PRT18.531)

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 Lisbon is part of a world-wide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas and is now looking to recruit a Consular Officer to provide high quality, professional and efficient consular services to visiting and resident British and Commonwealth nationals in Portugal.   

Main Duties and Responsibilities: 

  • To provide support to British and unrepresented Commonwealth nationals and their families in Portugal in a range of situations, including hospitalisation, death, rape, assault, detention, financial hardship and in the event of a major incident;

  • To advise the Portugal consular network on matters relating to the structure and operation of Social Services in Portugal, including access to social welfare benefits and support for people in need;
  • To attend to customers at the counter and over the telephone, dealing with ad hoc enquiries and processing applications for emergency travel documents.  Preparing residual notarial documents and taking customer declarations, as necessary;

  • To undertake administrative tasks as required, such as implementing fee changes, dealing with weekly and monthly account reconciliation, updating consular information leaflets, assisting with the weeding of files/electronic folders in accordance with data protection. Assisting with data production and statistical analysis.

  • Proven customer service experience and a strong sense of customer service delivery, including an ability to support customers in difficult or traumatic situations;
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, an ability to work collaboratively with immediate and remote colleagues, quick to learn, empathetic, flexible and resilient;
  • Good communication skills;
  • Robust problem solving skills;
  • Fluency in English and Portuguese, both written and spoken;
  • Good IT skills (use of Outlook, Word and Excel essential);
  • Available to work out of hours when required.
  • Experience in assisting British nationals overseas;
  • An understanding of the issues that British nationals may face in Portugal, both residents and tourists;
  • Experience in dealing with Portuguese authorities in a professional capacity;
  • An adept user of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc;
  • Knowledge of the structure and operation of Social Services in Portugal/UK, including having contacts with potential stakeholders;
  • Willingness to do administrative tasks and follow bureaucratic procedures.



17 September 2018
Administrative Officer (AO)
Full-time, Flexible working, Permanent
35
Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia
Portugal
Lisbon
British Embassy
1
EUR
1,527.12 gross
1 October 2018

This is a permanent full-time contract (35 hours net per week). It is subject to successful security clearance and 6 months probationary period. Flexibility will be expected due to the unpredictability of the work, but some flexible working, including working from home, may be possible depending on operational pressures.

The embassy offers opportunities for learning and development.

The British Embassy in Lisbon aims to offer an attractive working environment and remuneration package for this role of 21,379.68 € per year gross annual salary paid in fourteen instalments, provided that the individual in question is subject to individual income tax (IRS) in Portugal on the employment income in question or, alternatively, is subject to income tax on such income in the UK; plus a monthly meal allowance of 134.00 Euros.

All consular staff have to undergo job-specific training in London.  This is a 4-day course with a short test and role play at the end of the week.  In addition, there will be mandatory online training in subjects such as unconscious bias, diversity, data protection, safeguarding children and online tutorials on the use of consular databases and tools which have to be completed within the first week of employment.

All staff recruited locally by the British Embassy in Portugal are subject to local Portuguese employment law as well as internal regulations in force at any given time. The successful candidate will be subject to a professional background and security clearance and must have pre-existing work authorisation for Portugal in order to apply. All applicants should have the right to live and work in Portugal. The British Embassy does not sponsor work permits. The Embassy will not consider applications from existing staff who have not successfully completed their probationary period or, in the case of staff on temporary contract who have not yet completed two thirds of their contract.

Visa/passport requirements: Must currently hold the independent right to live and work in Portugal and be prepared to ensure that right remains throughout the scope of the contract.

Please be advised that Consular positions at the FCO 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 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 Embassy will not be able to meet the travel costs incurred when travelling to the interview, nor 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.