Pro Consul ()

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Job Category

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Consular Roles)

Job Subcategory

Consular

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)  

Note: Due to COVID-19, you may experience some delay in the progress of this recruitment campaign. We are working hard to minimise any disruption. You may find more information in the Additional Information section below.

The British Embassy in Romania is part of a worldwide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas.

The Consular team at the British Embassy in Bucharest is looking to recruit a part time Pro Consul (A2) to join the team in August 2020 on a fixed term contract until 31 March 2021. The successful candidate will help the Consular team deliver effective and efficient consular assistance and services to British Nationals in Romania and contribute to the delivery of regional consular business plan and the country business plan.

As a part time Pro Consul, you will be based at the British Embassy Bucharest, working in a team of two with another Pro Consul, reporting to the Vice Consul working remotely at the British Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria. You will manage and deliver consular support to distressed British nationals throughout Romania. This means you will occasionally need to travel to visit British nationals in, for example, prisons and hospitals, across the country (sometimes at short notice) or organise calls remotely, but with some limitations due to COVID-19 restrictions or staff safety policies.

Bucharest is a post which has a fair share of notarial work, some complex mental health, child welfare and death cases and a steady stream of Emergency Travel Document applications (ETDs). The number of UK visitors in Romania has been increasing in the last few years, mainly city tourism in Bucharest and Cluj Napoca and there are a number of British residents in Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, Costanta, Brasov.

The Pro Consul, in close partnership with the other Pro Consul, is required to build relationships with key external stakeholders in local authorities (police, hospitals, prisons, court, social services) and the British community across the region to ensure we are in the best position to help British National visitors/residents in need of assistance when required. Both Pro Consuls are proactively planning, conducting and evaluating local outreach activities, in agreement with the Vice Consul, and participating in prevention campaigns related to music festivals and sporting events.

The candidate will be a resilient, quick-thinking individual and a self-starter, who can demonstrate empathy towards our most vulnerable customers, with good prioritisation skills and a strong sense of team work.

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 with the advice of Vice Consul in Sofia and the Consular network;
• Alerting the Vice Consul to any cases which may attract high level or media attention;
• Handle enquiries and correspondence from consular customers and referring to Vice Consul as necessary;
• Follow up enquiries and cases by phone, email or in person (including travelling to various locations in Romania, including out of hours/overnight in rare but necessary cases) and ensuring all engagement is properly recorded in line with the Data Protection Act, including unofficial translation work when required;
• Assist in the monitoring and updating of digital customer information such as travel advice, social media and websites;
• 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 Balkans and Eastern Adriatic 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 Vice Consul

Partnering & Lobbying

• Support Vice Consul in preparing and delivering projects;
• Assist with building relationships with local partners and helping in prevention campaigns to give advice to British Nationals travelling to and living in Romania;
• Make recommendations to Vice Consul for innovative ways to deliver professional and targeted consular service to residents and visitors in Romania.
• 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;
• Proactively work as part of the Romania 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 South Network regional work;
• Budget monitoring and cashier duties;
• A broad range of section administration, including filing/weeding, submission of returns to London responding to London requests for information and control of working stocks

Essential qualifications, skills and experience  

• 1- 2 years of relevant work experience in a customer facing role;
• Bachelor's degree;
• Experience in Customer Service;
• Excellent command of spoken and written English and Romanian;
• Proven experience in dealing with the general public and working in a team in a fast moving target-driven environment;
• Excellent customer focus using problem solving and judgement skills to deliver results within set deadlines;
• Strong service delivery awareness, adaptability, flexibility, patience and empathy;
• Self starter with strong time management skills - able to work to deadlines and targets, manage a sometimes heavy workload and prioritise accordingly;
• Superb attention to detail;
• Ability to develop, manage and maintain contacts with internal and external stakeholders;
• Positive, proactive attitude, ability to multitask and work in a team;
• Good communication and influencing skills;
• Excellent organisational and administrative skills;
• Excellent IT skills (MS Office - Outlook, PowerPoint, Word and Excel);
• Occasional travel and flexibility in working hours will be expected as on occasions out-of-hours assistance to British nationals may be required (overtime or time off in lieu is provided);
• Availability, on occasion, to travel at short notice to provide consular assistance in Romania;

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience  

• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work accurately under pressure.

Required competencies

Making Effective Decisions, Collaborating and Partnering, Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace

Application deadline

7 July 2020

Grade

A2 (L)

Type of Position

Part-Time, Temporary, Flexible working

Working hours per week

20

Region

Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia

Country/Territory

Romania

Location (City)

Bucharest

Type of Post

British Embassy

Number of vacancies

1

Starting monthly salary (RON)

RON 2937 (gross) + RON 587 (compensatory bonus) (Salary is not negotiable)

Start Date

10 August 2020

Other benefits and conditions of employment  

This is a part-time, fixed-term contract for 7 months and 3 weeks (20 hours net per week). The successful candidate will work on a shift schedule depending on availability and internal agreement:

Monday to Thursday: 09:00 – 13:00 – Morning Shift; 13:00 – 17:00 – Afternoon shift and  Friday: 09:00 – 13:00 – Morning Shift; 11:00 – 15:00 – Afternoon Shift

The annual leave entitlement is 25 days per year pro rata and the Embassy also enjoys a maximum of 14 Romanian / UK public holidays per year.

Monthly salary is 2937 + 587 (compensatory bonus) RON gross. In addition, staff are entitled to a 13th month salary pro rata and may receive a performance related bonus at year end. Staff also receive meal vouchers and a monthly subscription to a medical centre. An individual personal development plan will be agreed with the successful candidate, which may include training outside Romania.

For your information whilst the Emergency Ordinanceis in place the job holder will receive a gross monthly compensation bonus of RON 587.

The successful candidate will be subject to confirmation of a background check and security clearance, and satisfactory completion of a probationary period of up to 45 calendar days.

The job offers travel and personal development opportunities. An individual personal development plan will be agreed with the successful candidate, which may include training outside Romania. Bucharest is a regional L&D hub which provides opportunities to access training and develop new skills.

Visa/Passport requirements: Candidates must currently hold the independent right to live and work in Romania and be prepared to ensure that right remains throughout the scope of the contract. Additional requirements may become necessary after 31st December 2020.

Additional information  

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 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.

FCO does not pay for travel related expense incurred in interviews (including Security Check) or accept any financial risk, including cancelation or reschedule costs. The FCO will not meet 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.

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