View Vacancy - Consular Assistant (Seasonal Staff) (PRT18.097)
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 Assistant (Seasonal Staff) to be fully engaged in providing a high level of pro-active support to the consular team in Portugal (Portimão and Lisbon) while attending to members of the public.
The successful candidate will be responsible for processing Emergency Travel Documents for British nationals whose passports have been lost or stolen, preparing documentation for notarial services and providing support in back office work, including administrative tasks, taking telephone calls, and answering written enquiries. There will be a requirement to attend 5 days training at the Foreign Office in London, and the successful candidate will also be required to travel occasionally to the British Embassy in Lisbon to directly support consular colleagues there for several days at a time.
Main Duties and Responsibilities:
- Deliver first class customer service to British nationals approaching the consulate for assistance, dealing effectively with the counter, email and telephone enquiries;
- Process Emergency Travel Document applications ensuring production is accurate and timely;
- Prepare documentation for notarial services by Skype;
- Provide back office support to the consular team such as electronic filing, dealing with the post, running the appointments calendar, receipt and filing of official forms, updating and stock control of public leaflets, lists and forms, stock control of internal stationery and premises supplies;
- Assisting with the maintenance of office equipment, including IT troubleshooting with FCO helpdesk;
- Providing occasional resilience at the British Consulate in Lisbon (expenses met);
- May also be required to assist in the preparation of and response to crisis situations involving British nationals.
- Proven experience in communication and direct customer service, including an ability to support customers in difficult or traumatic situations;
- Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work collaboratively with immediate and remote colleagues;
- Patience, attention to detail and robust problem solving skills;
- Ability to work at pace and prioritise effectively with excellent organisational skills;
- Fluency in English and a good level of spoken and written Portuguese;
- Good IT skills (use of Outlook, Word and Excel essential);
- Key qualities are empathy, teamwork, flexibility and resilience.
- 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.
This is a 5 month fixed term full-time contract (35 hours net per week). It is subject to successful security clearance and a 30 days probation period.
The embassy offers flexible working patterns and opportunities for learning and development.
The British Embassy in Lisbon aims to offer an attractive working environment and remuneration package for this role of € 1,112.48 gross salary per month, 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.
Some in-country travel to Lisbon, and possible regional travel to Spain.
Role-specific training will be offered, either at regional training centre or in London.
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 probation period or, in the case of staff on temporary contract who have not yet completed two thirds of their 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.
This opportunity is closed to applications.
