View Vacancy - Private Office Assistant for HMA/DHM

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Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Policy & Political roles)
Private Office

Main purpose of job:


The role is to provide first-class support to Her Majesty’s Ambassador (70%) and the Deputy Head of Mission (30%), and effective organisation and management of the day-to-day running of the Private office. The PA/HMA will be expected to act as a key liaison with Heads of Section, filter and respond to correspondence and requests, coordinate preparation of briefings and speeches, oversee HMA’s entertainment and travel budgets, maintain strict quality control over communications and letters, and ensure the smooth operation and prioritisation of HMA’s workload.


 


Additionally the officer will work as a Trip Officer for the Ambassador and DHM’s high profile visits, organising the visits accordingly. Responsibilities may include internal communications, coordination of staff resources, coordination of briefing material, information management, event planning and logistics and programme order.


 


The role will also be expected to help identify efficiency opportunities in coordination with HMA and the DHM and process improvements when possible. Ability to link incoming requests and align them with Embassy strategic priorities is essential. The position holder will build and maintain relationships both within the Embassy and with external stakeholders.


 


Roles and responsibilities :


HMA/DHM Private Office management (50%)

Management of HMA background information for daily programme:

    -Review of HMA daily agenda making sure that briefing is timely provided for meetings and trips requesting briefing to other sections as and when required).

    -Liaise with other Embassy sections on background for meetings and visits, speeches, and other events as appropriate.

Serve as point of contact for requests to the Ambassador’s office, prioritising and bringing important issues to the ambassador’s attention and filtering requests to other team members where appropriate.

Review incoming correspondence and HMA & DHM’s in-box, taking action on urgent/important issues. Make recommendations and obtain background information for HMA.

Attend Heads of Section meeting and circulate information about HMA or DHM agenda.

Attend meetings with HMA and DHM as required and take record.

Coordinate recruitment processes for roles reporting to HMA and DHM.

Supervision of HMA and DHM’s travel and DEE budgets. Support on expenses for HMA and in Prism

Secretariat for Post Management Board.

Drafting and editing of: letters, minutes, miscellaneous documents for HMA and DHM. Quality control and formatting of drafts and other documents.

Support the appointments secretary who manages day-to-day administrative tasks, including answering phone calls, booking appointments, receiving visitors, and answering of correspondence where required and stand up for her during her absences.

 

Trips Officer (35%)

Organise trips, travel and visits for HMA. Liaise with Close Protection Team over travel itineraries, hotels, calls for visits outside Bogotá and Honorary Consuls as and when appropriate.

Organise trips, travel and visits for DHM.

Member of core planning team - liaison for HMA and DHM visit and outreach planning.

Creation and revision of VIP visit programmes, under direction of Visit lead.

Act as central point for logistical coordination.

Project planning– creating time lines, action logs, roles & responsibilities information as needed.

 

Other Duties (10%)

Ensure fluid coverage in Private office regardless of planned or unplanned absences.

Facilitate flow of information to Embassy staff all the times. This can include participation in different committees around the Embassy.

Organise Town Hall Meetings (monthly) and Staff Seminars or other Embassy events that the Ambassador or the DHM required.

 

Learning and Development (5%)

Manage own time and workload effectively to deliver the requirements of the job, learn lessons, respond appropriately to feedback and continually improving their performance.

Value achievement, provide feedback when necessary and build confidence and trust.

Provide input for internal training plan and attend to training and development activities required to further develop the skills.

Seek new and improved ways of doing things; look for opportunities to shadow/develop and take on increased responsibility.

Perform other activities required by the line manager

 

Deliverables: What are the key outcomes and what does the jobholder have to produce?

Updated and accurate Ambassador and DHM’s daily and long term programme, ensuring prioritisation of key issues;

Provide excellent customer service to internal and external stakeholders;

Maintenance of effective communication networks with a wide range of local government, business and non-government contacts and facilitate meetings and other contact for Embassy staff when required, ensure delivery of updated contacts database;

Effective accurate, clear, concise communications/ briefing delivered to appropriate staff and stakeholders ensuring all staff are clear of their roles and responsibilities.

 

Scope of Role: What decisions is the job /role responsible for?

 

Linking incoming requests to HMA and to DHM and embassy priorities; effective prioritisation

Monitor spend on HMA and DHM’s budgets

Ensure quality and feasibility of HMA and DHM’s programme

Ensure quality of attention to HMA/embassy contacts and stakeholders

Information Management and collaborative work with responsible of internal communications

All delegated tasks regarding the visit coordination, to include: event planning, logistics, accommodation, stakeholder management.

 

People Management:

 

Effective team member

Ensure excellent communication with internal and external stakeholders and embassy staff.

Understand the FCO Policies, Business plan, objectives, priorities and competencies to ensure that these are understood, complied with and met.


Essential on arrival:


  • Advanced command English and Spanish (experience in producing complex documents – English/Spanish) (All candidates must be able to conduct business in both English (C1 level – CEF) and Spanish (C1 level CEF)
  • Excellent IT skills, particularly Microsoft Office Suite
  • Excellent interpersonal, organisational, writing and communication skills

Desirable:


  • Experience in international organisations or diplomatic missions.
  • Bachelor’s degree
  • Administrative or secretarial experience
26 May 2019
Administrative Officer (AO)
Full-time
35
Latin America and Spanish speaking Caribbean
Colombia
Bogota
British Embassy
1
COP$3,952,994
8 July 2019

This position is a six month postion with possibility of becoming permanent.


Language:  All candidates must be able to conduct business in both English and Spanish


Level of language required: (C1 level – CEF) 


YOU MUST HAVE PRE-EXISTING LEGAL STATUS TO LIVE AND WORK IN COLOMBIA.


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.