British High Commission
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View Vacancy – NZW – Consular Officer, AO (Part-time)
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Consular Roles)
Consular
Main purpose of job:
The British High Commission in Wellington is part of a global network providing a wide range of consular assistance and services to British people in New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji in line with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s (FCDO) published Consular Guidance and Customer Charter, Consular Services Strategy, local procedures, guidance and performance standards.
Consular officers have the opportunity to make a direct difference to people’s lives in challenging circumstances. The job includes dealing with sensitive cases and responding to crises and stressful events. The successful candidate will be working in a fast-paced and complex environment where the ability to work under pressure and with difficult subject matter is vital.
As a member of the Consular Team in Wellington, you will provide excellent consular services to British nationals visiting or residing throughout New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.
This role reports directly to the Consular Manager for Wellington, New Zealand.
Roles and responsibilities:
1. Consular assistance service delivery
- Sensitively deliver accurate advice, information and case management services to British nationals and their families (mostly remotely via telephone or email) on a range of issues such as imprisonment and detention; financial hardship and destitution; hospitalisation; supporting bereaved families; missing persons; mental health needs; child custody and other sensitive issues
- Provide occasional face-to-face support, including visiting British nationals in prison or hospital
- Respond to customer correspondence in a timely and efficient manner
- Maintain accurate and concise case records on consular case management systems
2. Partnerships, communication and prevention
- Assist the team to develop and maintain relationships with local authorities, including government agencies and non-government organisations to support case management
- Work productively with internal teams, including colleagues and senior leaders in New Zealand, Oceania, London-based consular casework teams and the FCDO overseas network
- Participate in team planning and execution of consular prevention and stakeholder engagement activities
- Monitor changes in local procedures and practices, ensuring that all information and guidance given to British nationals reflects changes and is up to date, e.g. service provider lists, travel advice, web content
3. Crisis
- As part of our whole-of-mission approach to crisis, participate in consular crisis preparation and response in the event of a crisis affecting British nationals.
4. Notarial and administrative duties
- Organise and deliver citizenship ceremonies and other consular stakeholder or public-facing events
- Printing of Emergency Travel Documents and facilitating in person collections
- Other administrative and transactional duties as required.
The formal job description may be subject to amendment in the future.
Specific considerations for consular roles:
Consular work can sometimes be stressful, distressing and of a sensitive nature. The successful applicant will therefore be expected to demonstrate high levels of personal resilience and maintain absolute consular confidentiality and impartiality, keeping in line with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Consular Strategy, consular guidance and Customer Charter, business targets and local procedures.
Essential on arrival:
- Strong customer service delivery, including sound expectation management skills
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- High level of attention to detail and organisation skills, ability to adhere to set processes, policies and procedures
- Strong teamwork skills, including working collaboratively and supporting others in a small team environment
- Strong self-awareness with a high degree of personal resilience
- Confident user of Microsoft Office software
Desirable:
- Prior experience working in a consular or similar professional frontline customer service delivery environment
- Prior experience working with vulnerable client groups
- Good understanding of local systems and support organisations
Making Effective Decisions, Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace, Working Together
27 November 2023
Administrative Officer (AO)
Part-Time, Permanent
18
Asia Pacific
New Zealand
Wellington
British High Commission
1
NZD
$75,512 per annum (pro rata) plus up to 5% superannuation contribution subject to an equal or greater contribution by the employee
22 January 2024
Learning and development opportunities
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is committed to developing its staff, working hard to provide a comprehensive L&D offer. The majority of our formal opportunities are delivered through FCDO resources.
Mandatory core consular training that must be completed successfully:
- Mandatory consular training courses (e-learning and virtual delivery)
- Mandatory crisis training courses
- Developing Consular Expertise (face-to-face at FCDO HQ)
There are additional opportunities to expand and maintain professional skills and knowledge through coaching and mentoring opportunities and workshops.
Working patterns:
- Location: This role must be based in the High Commission in Wellington.
- Working hours: Core hours are 8:45am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, part time workers are preferred to work across five to three days during these core hours.
- Flexible working: Due to the unplanned nature of some consular work, a flexible approach to working hours and patterns is essential. This role may be suitable for some hybrid and/or flexible working patterns, subject to operational demands.
- Travel: Some travel may be required for regional activities, such as prison visits, providing resilience to other teams, and for training purposes. This may include domestic and/or overseas travel.
- Leave entitlements: Full-time staff benefit from an annual leave entitlement of 20 days per calendar year plus additional office closures for some UK public holidays.
Other Information:
The British High Commission in Wellington represents the UK government providing consular services to British nationals in New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. In addition to consular work, policy, political and trade and investment activities are undertaken from this location.
Appointment is subject to a 90 day trial period and gaining and maintaining Posts security clearance requirements.
Open to New Zealand citizens, permanent residents, and partners/dependents of UK-based diplomatic staff currently posted in New Zealand. Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment checks. No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. Candidates must have or be able to obtain work authorisation for New Zealand in order to apply.
Staff recruited locally by the High Commission are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local New Zealand employment law. Only short-listed applicants will be contacted regarding the next phase of the selection process.
For more information on the work of the British High Commission, visit our website – http://www.gov.uk/government/world/new-zealand.
Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.
Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline.”
Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.
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.
All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the online application form completely including the employment and educational details, experience, professional skills and behaviour based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the applications and incomplete form in any respect may not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.
For inclusivity and diversity, please remove the following personal information when uploading your CV: name, address, email address, age, date of birth, gender, and nationality.
Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’. If during the reserve period of 6 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate.
The start date mentioned in the job advert is a tentative start date and the successful candidate will be required to undergo security vetting procedures. Any offer of employment will be subject to the candidate achieving suitable clearances.
Wellington
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