Department for Business and Trade Hiring for Consular Assistant, Grade-AO, Goa at Goa, India Full Time

Main Purpose Of Job

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a high-performing team making a real difference to people’s lives, often during times of real distress. The main purpose of the job is providing consular assistance to British nationals in Goa, including in times of crisis. The position will be at the British Nationals Assistance Office, Goa.

What Do We Want From You

The role calls for someone who has excellent communication and administration skills, is meticulous and pays attention to detail, and has the ability to provide assistance to British nationals when they are most distressed and vulnerable. It is tough work and can be emotionally draining – but it is also extremely rewarding.

You will need to show motivation, flexibility and team work in the job. You will be one of a small team of three members, which means we expect you to have the ability to work well with others and show team spirit. You should have the ability to deal with high pressure situations and a wide range of people in stressful situations. There will be times, for example, when you will be called upon to attend court hearings, visit prisons, hospitals and mortuaries. We need someone who is open-minded, sympathetic, has emotional awareness and is prepared for any situation.

Due to the nature of consular work, it is difficult to predict when someone will need our assistance so this is not a job that starts at 0800 and ends at 1600 hrs. You will be required to work longer hours at times, and occasionally may be required to travel at short notice. You will be sharing the role of Duty Officer with your colleagues in Goa – when it is your turn, you will be expected to be on call at all times.

As well as being part of the team for South Asia you will also be part of our wider Middle East, North Africa & South Asia (MENASA) Network as well as part of the Global Consular Team. This allows for regular training, workshops and exchange opportunities – throughout the region and in the UK.

We reserve the right to review, revise or amend the roles and responsibilities from time to time reflecting the changing needs of business.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve:

Consular Assistance

• Handling a full range of assistance cases, including: arrests; hospitalisations; deaths; victims of crime; welfare; and mental health cases, etc, & working to resolve cases flexibly within consular policy guidelines. This will include: meeting, assisting & guiding distressed British nationals; liaising with their families: casework teams in the FCDO; local authorities & stakeholders; and recording & updating cases on our consular case management
• Issuing Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs) as necessary and providing advice about the exit visa process as required;
• Dealing with members of the public across the counter, as well as over the phone and on email; responding to enquiries and cases that are escalated to the team by the Consular Contact Centre;
• Sharing the role of Consular Duty Officer with two colleagues in Goa, which necessitates careful planning and being on call every third week;
• Ensuring all files – paper and electronic – are up to date, including weeding when required.

Resource And Office Administration

• Completing all consular fee-related activity within deadlines;
• Managing the office cash account, ensuring cash is accounted for and properly receipted in line with finance procedures;
• Managing the Consular Benevolent Fund;
• Liaising with Corporate Services in Mumbai and local providers in Goa to manage estate-related services such as Security, CCTV, Fire (alarms, extinguishers, tests), office maintenance, etc.;
• Overseeing Annual Manual Contracts for physical assets in Goa;
• Managing the office facilities folder;
• Maintenance of the consular waiting room and public counter, ensuring the area is stocked with communications material, consular notices, etc; responsibility for the public computer;
• Liaising with the IT team in Mumbai, London and local providers over Goa IT issues as necessary.
• Managing cleaning resource and stocks.

Prevention, Communications And Networking

• Working on the Goa elements of the India Prevention Delivery Plan, including research and data analysis, updating key documents and implementing projects as necessary;
• Spotting and identifying trends and bringing them to the attention of the team and seniors; suggesting possible prevention-related solutions while keeping the wider local context in mind;
• Building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders across Goa; maintaining updated active contact lists for use in assistance work and crises;
• Administrative support and attendance at consular networking events (such as the annual consular reception) and outreach activity.

24/7 Resilient Service

• Managing the consular online appointments system.
• Ensuring all Post essential documents used by the Global Response Centre are updated regularly.
• Ensuring all systems used by remote teams (such as the Consular Contact Centres) are fully updated with the latest local information at all times.
• Working with the team to ensure the customer journey, online and physical, is as smooth as possible.
• Working with the team to ensure local India guides and other customer information on the website is current and regularly updated.

Crisis Planning And Response

• Prepare to respond to a crisis by:
• Being familiar with the various roles you may be expected to take on in a crisis
• Updating consular annexes on the Crisis Management Plan bi-annually
• Providing administrative support for and participating in all Goa-focussed crisis exercises
• Being fully conversant with the Crisis Management system by accessing and practicing it regularly
• Performing monthly checks/tests on all consular crisis equipment
• Responding to crises in Goa and Western India, as necessary, including obtaining, verifying and updating information through key contacts; deploying to the scene of a crisis, if necessary, following risk assessment.
• Providing remote or in-person support on crises in the India network and the wider consular region.

Resources Managed (staff And Expenditure)

Consular Benevolent Fund and Office Petty Cash Account

Learning And Development Opportunities

Wide range of development opportunities supported through exposure to regional Learning and Development programmes under the 70/20/10 principle. Mandatory training/guidance and e-learning will be provided on office systems. Additionally, a range of mandatory consular and crisis training will be provided within the first 6 months.

Working Patterns

Due to the unpredictable nature of consular work, you will be expected to:

• Work extended hours if the situation calls for it,
• Remain on call at all times when you are the designated Duty Officer,
• Travel when required, sometimes at short notice.

Any Other Information (or Specific Local Post Requirements)

We are a small high-performing team in the British Nationals Assistance Office (BNAO) covering the state of Goa for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s consular functions. Our core functions are to assist British nationals in distress or trouble in Goa, build effective partnerships and networks through outreach and communications, and crisis preparedness and response. We are integral members of the wider Western India and India teams, and a part of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia Consular Network.