View Vacancy - Vice Consul (POL21.108)

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

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.

The British Embassy in Poland is part of a world-wide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas and is now looking to recruit a Vice Consul to manage and inspire the Consular team to deliver first class customer service, consular assistance and support to resident and visiting British Nationals. The successful jobholder will ensure an effective Consular response to any major incident or crisis; build and maintain relationships with external stakeholders in local authorities and the resident British community; and be a fully engaged and proactive member of Warsaw Consular team and Europe Asia Network, ensuring implementation of Consular strategy and regional business plan.

Main responsibilities will include:

Assistance

  • Lead on consular assistance to distressed  British Nationals including visiting detainees and cases of hospitalisations, dealing with bereaved families, child custody issues, mental health, emergency travel documents, victims of crime and sexual violence, financial assistance and welfare in accordance with Consular guidance and, when required, with the advice of the wider Consular network;
  • Alerting the Regional CROM (Consular Regional Operations Manager) and Embassy senior management to any cases which may attract high level or media attention;
  • Handle enquiries and correspondence from consular customers;
  • Follow up enquiries and cases by phone, email or in person and ensuring all engagement is properly recorded in line with the Data Protection Act and General Data Protection Regulations, including unofficial translation work when required;
  • Assist in the monitoring and updating of digital customer information such as travel advice, social media and websites in support of other Embassy colleagues;
  • Monitoring changes in local procedures and practices and ensuring that our information and guidance for British nationals reflects any changes and is up to date;
  • Provide resilience and support with case handling to colleagues in the Euro Asia Consular region; cover remotely for other posts on a daily basis to cover absences, and possibly deploying to provide physical services if agreed with the Consular Regional Operations Manager.

Partnering & Lobbying

  • Lead in preparing and delivering projects;
  • Lead in the building of relationships with local partners and helping in prevention campaigns to give advice to British Nationals travelling to and living in Poland;
  • Make recommendations to senior colleagues for innovative ways to deliver professional and targeted consular service to residents and visitors in Poland.

Notarial work

  • Prepare paperwork for fee-bearing services.

Crisis

  • Prepare self and post for any possible large scale event affecting British Nationals;
  • Take part in Embassy crisis preparedness activity and local liaison, working with the Regional Crisis Adviser and CROM  as needed;
  • Proactively work as part of the Warsaw consular team in any crisis situation and update the consular elements of the Crisis Management Plan.

Management

  • Submission of accurate Management Information data;
  • Contribute to Europe Asia Network regional work;
  • Budget monitoring and cashier duties;
  • Abroad range of section administration, including filing/weeding, submission of returns to London responding to London requests for information and control of working stocks.


  • Fluency in Polish and English (both oral and written, minimum C1 level*);
  • Good knowledge of Microsoft Office applications;
  • Excellent communicator, strong outreach and networking skills;
  • Excellent time management and organisational skills; the ability to work without close supervision;
  • Willingness and ability to travel occasionally within the wider Euro Asia consular regional network and to work out of hours at short notice if required;
  • Previous experience in a customer facing role and ability to respond to a wide range of customer needs;
  • Resilience and resistance to trauma; ability to cope with the challenging nature of consular work.
  • Professional background in social work and/ or providing support to others would be an advantage;
  • Good general knowledge of the Polish administrative system, including the justice system, laws and regulations, and social services;
  • Managing the teams budget;
  • Experience of developing communications campaigns;
  • Line management experience.
25 April 2021
Executive Officer (EO)
Full-time, Fixed term, with possibility of renewal
37.5 net
Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia
Poland
Warsaw
British Embassy
1
PLN
8,462 gross
1 June 2021

is a full-time fixed-term position of 5 days (37.5 net per week) for 2 years with the possibility of renewal by mutual agreement.

The gross salary for this position is PLN 8,462 gross per month. Working hours are flexible and staff are entitled to time-off-in-lieu for agreed extra hours worked. The annual leave entitlement is 20 or 26 days per year pro rata and the Embassy also enjoys a maximum of 14 Polish / UK public holidays per year.

Please note that staff members are responsible for paying any income tax required by the local law.

The successful candidate will be subject to the Polish references check and satisfactory completion of a probationary period of three months.

Candidates must have pre-existing right to live and work in Poland for the duration of the job offer in order to apply. The British Embassy does not sponsor work permits.

Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy in Warsaw are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to Polish employment law.

Visa / Passport requirements:

Candidates must currently hold the independent right to live and work in Poland 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.

Working patterns

BE Warsaw has a strong commitment to work/life balance. Office hours are 8:30 – 16:30, staff are encouraged to leave on time. Flexi-hours are also possible within the Embassy building’s opening hours (0800-1800).

We have mobile technology and most staff in the team work from home one day a week in normal circumstances.


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.

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 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 note Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment  indicates Level C2 as Mastery or proficiency Level which comprehends that a person can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; can summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; can express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations. For more information please click on the following link CEFR. Please bear in mind in case you are invited for an interview your languages skills are going to be assessed.

Additional 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 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.