Consular Assistant – British Consulate in Milan

Consular Assistant

Job Category

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Consular Roles)

Job Subcategory

Consular

Job Deion (Roles and Responsibilities)

The main purpose of this job is to work as part of a high performing team delivering first class consular assistance and support to resident and visiting British people across the Italy network.

To build and maintain good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, in order to support British nationals in times of difficulty.

To support the Consul and colleagues in the Italy and Europe network to deliver against our strategic objectives.

Roles and responsibilities:

Assistance

• Provide consular assistance to British nationals in Italy in line with Consular guidance
• Issue Emergency Travel Documents and process recovered documents
• Manage Consular systems, availability of appointments and financial transactions
• Respond to enquiries from local authorities, police and British nationals
• Provide resilience and support to other posts across the Italy and European network
• Occasional out of hours work responding to a crisis situation

Prevention

• Identify and escalate trends and issues to support prevention initiatives, collaborating closely with colleagues across network on projects, campaigns and media messaging
• Identify services available from local organisations and professionals to make it easier for British nationals to obtain help
• Maintain and publish lists of local service providers i.e. lawyers, undertakers etc.,

Crisis

• Maintain a high level of preparedness in order to effectively  respond to local crises involving British people
• Participate in local crisis planning and exercising as part of a mission-wide effort
• Collaborate with emergency service agencies and possible deployment in the event of a crisis involving British people
• Support contingency planning for large-scale events likely to attract significant numbers of British visitors

Stakeholder engagement

• Identify and help to develop a network of mutually beneficial relationships with internal colleagues, local authorities, travel and tourist industry, British community groups, and the NGO sector.

Liaise and collaborate with local authorities

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

• Fluency at minimum C1 level both in English and Italian according to CEFR Framework*, or equivalent
• Previous experience in a customer facing role, of at least 2 years, and a strong sense of customer service delivery, including an ability to support customers with empathy in difficult or traumatic situations
• Excellent administrative and organisational skills as well as attention to detail
• Excellent communication and problem solving skills
• Strong and flexible team player; ability to work collaboratively with colleagues throughout Europe and the UK
• Excellent time management and ability to work at pace and prioritise
• Resilience and resistance to trauma, ability to cope with the challenging nature of consular work;
• Excellent IT skills and knowledge of Microsoft systems

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience

• Previous Consular experience;
• Knowledge of Italian government structures and processes;

Required behaviours

Changing and Improving, Making Effective Decisions, Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together

Application deadline

6 January 2023

Grade  

Administrative Assistant (AA)

Type of Position  

Full-time, Fixed term, with possibility of renewal

Working hours per week

35

Region   

Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia

Country/Territory 

Italy

Location (City)  

Milan

Type of Post   

British Consulate

Number of vacancies

1

Salary Currency  

EUR

Salary  

€ 1,906.00 gross/month

Start Date   

1 March 2023

Other benefits and conditions of employment

This is a full-time fixed-term position with possibility of renewal with a contract of 12 months, graded AA according to the Civil Service grading structure. The annual gross salary is € 26,692, with an additional payment of € 10.33 EDR paid 13 times per year (pro-rata). There are 14 salary payments in a calendar year, with double salary payments in June and December. If working less than a full calendar year, the additional salary payments will be pro-rata.

Working hours are 35 hrs per week Monday to Friday, typically from 09.00 – 17.00, with some flexibility.

All staff are enrolled in the Italian state social security and pension schemes, with flexibility to pay into the employee’s private pension scheme if chosen.

The appointment is subject to security clearance, professional background check and the successful completion of a probationary period of 4 months.

All staff employed by the British Consulate are subject to Italian income tax (IRPEF). However the administration of these tax payments will vary depending on nationality.

Staff recruited locally by British diplomatic missions in Italy are subject to terms and conditions of service according to local Italian employment law.

Visa/work permit requirements: Candidates must currently hold the independent right to live and work in Italy 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.

Additional information

All applicants should have the right to live and work in Italy. The British Consulate does not sponsor for work permits.

When completing the motivation field please make sure you present clearly and concisely why are you applying for the position.

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 note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.

FCDO does not pay for travel related expense incurred in interviews (including Security Check) or accept any financial risk, including cancelation or reschedule costs. The FCDO will not meet the costs connected with relocation if offered a position.

*Please note for more information on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment  levels  please click on the following link CEFR. Please bear in mind in case you are invited for an interview your language skill is going to be assessed.

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