Private Office Administrative Assistant and Support at the British High Commission (BHC)

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer. We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: Private Office Administrative Assistant and Support to Political Section

Ref Id: 06/19 ABJ
Location: Abuja
Type of Position: Permanent
Start Date: 1st June 2019
Job Category: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Policy & Political roles)
Job Subcategory: Private Office
Grade: A2 (L)

Main Purpose of Job

This is an interesting and varied job working in the High Commissioner’s Private Office in the heart of the British High Commission.
The focus of the job is to provide an excellent level of administrative support to the Private Office and support the Executive Assistant to the High Commissioner and the PA to the Deputy High Commissioner.
In addition you will also provide support to the wider Political section

Roles and Responsibilities
Office Tasks:

Sorting official correspondence and drafting replies.
Assisting with receiving, dealing with and prioritising meeting requests from both internal and external stakeholders in consultation with the EA/HC and PA/DHC.
Liaising with the visa section on visa requests from external contacts and keeping visa log up to date
Collaborating with the High Commissioner’s EA and Deputy High Commissioner’s PA to manage the combined activity and output of the HC and DHC, including diary coordination, internal communications and liaison with the Residence Manager.
Management of British High Commission phone list and contacts lists of other Missions and Government departments.
Management of Private Office Gift Register
Liaising with IT team to ensure comms with our other posts arranged and tested in good time prior to regular meetings
Covering for EA/HC and PA/DHC during leave absences.

Diplomatic Bags and customs clearance:

Overseeing the sending and receiving of UK and Lagos diplomatic bag.
Assisting with the sorting and distributing UK diplomatic bag.
Arranging clearance paperwork for diplomatic bags.

Political Section and General Support:

Providing general support to Political team.
Drafting official Note Verbal’s to Government Institutions.
Assist with setting up calls, meetings and events as required by Political Section.
Booking of transport for Deputy High Commissioner and Political Section.
Administrative support for inward visits to Nigeria

Essential Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Previous office experience with good organisation skills.
Strong IT (including good working knowledge of Excel spreadsheets, outlook etc).
The ability to speak and write in clear, correct, jargon free English.
The successful candidate will need to be flexible and able to work unsupervised to keep on top of the workload and changing priorities. Good interpersonal skills will be essential as the jobholder will need to build close and effective working relationships with colleagues from across the High Commission, the FCO, and with Nigerian officials.

Required Competencies: