Pro Consul, British Embassy

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)

**Main purpose of job**:
The British consular network supports British nationals, and their families, facing acute personal difficulties overseas. As Pro Consul, you will deliver a professional, high quality consular assistance service to British nationals visiting or residing in Argentina, act as a key member of the wider Americas consular network and support the smooth running of the Consular Section according to guidance and best practice.

You will act as the first port of call for British nationals who may have been the victim of crime (including those who may have been raped or sexually assaulted); suffered a bereavement; been hospitalised; have been arrested or detained; or require additional support due to mental health needs.

You will need to provide excellent, empathetic and efficient consular assistance, tailored to the needs and circumstances of those you help; provide notarial and documentary services such as by issuing Emergency Travel Documents; manage stakeholders, websites and other communications channels; and take part in outreach with our partners.

The role involves direct and frequent (daily) interaction with the public; with local, regional and UK authorities; with colleagues across the consular network in the Americas and London; and with external stakeholders such as airlines and hospitals.

We invest in the development of our staff. The successful jobholder will benefit from an extensive online and virtual training programme throughout the duration of the **temporary position**.

**We are looking for someone who thrives on working with and helping others.** You will need sound judgement; an empathetic disposition; good organisational skills; and strong personal resilience in dealing with setbacks/obstacles and sometimes stressful encounters, with the support of your colleagues. If this sounds like you, we want to hear from you

**Roles and responsibilities**:
Assistance
- Maintain close links with local authorities including, but not limited to police, prisons, hospitals, and other British Government teams and departments who work with us to help British Nationals;
- Maintain accurate and concise case records using FCDO IT platforms;
- Facilitate and print Emergency Travel Documents (ETD) through liaison with our ETD centre;
- Make arrangements for citizenship ceremonies;
- Exceptionally, participate in call-out arrangements for emergency cases out of hours when our Global Response Centre in London requests additional support.

Counter and Notarial Services
- Prepare certified copies of British passports.

Partnership/Prevention and Project Work
- Create, maintain and strengthen relationship with key local authorities -sharing campaigns and concerns with a view to reduce the number of preventable incidents and minimise risks to British Nationals overseas. Maintain and update our consular database;
- Participate in weekly Buenos Aires video conferences and other wider thematic Americas teleconferences;
- Contribute to improvements to customer service delivery, including provision of accurate information for public-facing documentation and guidance.

Teamwork and Learning
- Personal administration and management, completing personal development plans and maintaining skills and knowledge proficiency;
- Provide support to colleagues dealing with traumatic events, distressed British people and complex cases;
- Contribute to learning and development initiatives for the whole team, providing and accepting constructive feedback to a professional standard.

Crisis work and Resilience
- Prepare for crisis handling and implementation of the Consulate Crisis Management Plan, including participation in crisis management exercises and use of the crisis IT systems;
- Regularly maintain and update the consular elements of Post’s Crisis Management Plan;
- Maintain a readiness to respond to a declared crisis, based on named roles within the Crisis Management Plan; provide regional resilience support where required;
- In crisis/emergency situations work as required to support the Consular response (sometimes on a shift pattern working unsociable hours).

Other
- In times of peak operational demand, be able to work flexibly.

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

Essential on arrival:

- Experience of working in challenging customer facing environments, where you have used your resilience, patience and adaptability in sometimes challenging, difficult and stressful situations;
- Excellent English written and verbal communication skills with an ability to communicate at all levels;
- Ability to take responsibility for the quality of own work and keep managers informed of how your work is progressing;
- Have sound judgement, critical thinking and problem solving skills to manage customer expectations;
- Ability to work at pace in an environment where priorities change to effectively prioritise, manage and execute multiple tasks within tight dea