Assistants, Council secretariat (2 posts + Reserve List)
JOB DETAIL
1. SUMMARY
As part of the Office of the Secretary General (OSG), NATO’s Council Secretariat provides organizational support and advice to the NATO Secretary General and the North Atlantic Council as well as to individual Allies and Partners. The Secretariat is structured in three functional areas: Council Support, Protocol and Events, and Committee Coordination. The Council Secretariat also leads the Summit and Ministerial Task Force.
The incumbent works closely with the other assistant position within the Office of the Secretary of Council and forms part the Council Secretariat’s (CONSEC) Front Office, which is the initial entry point to CONSEC for internal and external stakeholders. The incumbent primarily acts as Assistant to the Secretary of the Council. S/he assists in organising the Secretary of the Council’s calendar and travel arrangements. Also, s/he retrieves and organises correspondence and documents, organises meetings and provides any other secretarial and administrative support arising from her/his functions.
As part of the Front Office, s/he is accountable for tracking on behalf of the Secretary of the Council the work assignments and tasks provided to CONSEC across its three functional areas of Council Support, Protocol and Committee Coordination as well as within the framework of the Summit and Ministerial Task Force. The Front Office keeps CONSEC Section Heads abreast of relevant deadlines and decision-points and proactively informs colleagues about relevant developments affecting task implementation.
The Front Office assistants assist as required with crosscutting and coordination tasks within CONSEC, including on meetings and travel of the North Atlantic Council, knowledge management and filing. The incumbents act as CONSEC’s principal travel assistants and budget approver, responsible for submitting mission requests and liquidations for CONSEC staff missions and missions organised by CONSEC. Finally, the Front Office assistants act as coordinators for issues related to implementation of the Brussels Agreement (accreditation of Partner Heads of Mission).
As required the incumbent is also involved in the coordination of the business of the Deputies Committee (DPRC) and the Operations Policy Committee (OPC), reciprocally and with the work of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) and other bodies at Ambassadorial, Ministerial and Summit level. S/he is also involved in coordination and communication with the International Military Staff (IMS), thus contributing to better coherence, prioritization, collaboration and planning across the Organization and more effective and efficient conduct of the business of the Council and other bodies at Ambassadorial level and above.
S/he also carries out other Council Secretariat tasks as required.
2. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
ESSENTIAL
The incumbent must:
- have a good general education of higher secondary level;
- have at least four years’ experience performing administrative support duties;
- have a broad understanding of NATO’s organization, structure and decision-making procedures;
- be able to demonstrate precision and attention to detail;
- have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written;
- be able to demonstrate customer focus and customer service skills;
- have in-depth working knowledge of ICT systems, modern office equipment, current office software packages (such as Outlook,Word and SharePoint);
- possess the following minimum levels of NATO’s official languages (English/French) V (“Advanced”) in one; and III (“Intermediate”) in the other;
- be willing to travel and work outside of normal office hours, as required.
DESIRABLE
The following would be considered an advantage:
- working knowledge of an additional language of a NATO member Nation;
- knowledge of NATO work-flows, procedures and practices;
- experience in an international organization, a national administration or the armed forces;
- previous experience working with an Enterprise Resource Planning tool (i.e. SAP or Oracle).
- knowledge of, and experience in conducting financial support activities.
3. MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES
Planning and Execution
Plan and coordinate functional activities of the Secretary of the Council. Track and follow-up work assignments and tasks assigned to CONSEC. Communicate as required with relevant internal and external interlocutors, including from the International Staff (IS), International Military Staff (IMS), Allies, Partners, Agencies and International Organisations.
Assist with administrative and logistical arrangements and organize assigned tasks so as to ensure the accurate and timely execution of duties.
Information Management
Answer enquiries and incoming calls. Draft memoranda and cover letters to documents. Type and format all kinds of documents, including tables of figures requiring careful presentation using the standard software packages used by NATO (Word, Excel and PowerPoint). Take minutes at meetings as necessary. Oversee the paper flow into and out of the office, including retrieving and organising correspondence/documents (including classified information). Maintain an effective follow-up and/or reminder system for pending actions. Manage the communication flow related to meetings, in order to ensure that all involved possess the correct information to achieve their specific objectives.
Knowledge Management
Collect, categorise and track relevant information required for various tasks and projects. Enable a well-structured electronic filing system. Form part of the secretariat of the Inter-Staff Group for Ministerial and Summit organisation.
Organizational Efficiencies
Contribute to the identification of opportunities for organisational efficiencies within one’s own field of expertise, notably linked to enhanced collaborative work environments, facilitating seamless coordination with other Divisions and across CONSEC sections.
Stakeholder Management
Develop a network of contacts within the Organization and with Delegations. Liaise with points of contact to ensure efficiency in daily management of workload and processes. Be the point of contact for initial requests of varying nature. Maintain all lists of internal and external contacts. Reconcile the, sometimes diverging, interests and views of the different stakeholders involved in high-level meetings.
Expertise Development
Proactively develop skills in areas such as planning and organising, new technology, languages and effective communication. Liaise with other Assistants to leverage knowledge. Provide constructive suggestions to improve office procedures. Find ways to be faster, better and more effective in managing information and using office tools.
Project Management
Assist with day-to-day administration. Arrange meetings and handle related details, such as travel and mission arrangements, as well as the coordination of leave plans. Organise the assigned tasks so as to ensure that the planning and organisation of high-level meetings and special events is carried out in a correct and timely fashion.
Financial Management
Ensure that accurate financial procedures are followed for the budget, prepare the necessary financial documents, follow up on activities to ensure that financial files are accurately processed and maintain records of financial transactions. Submit and process financial requests in a timely and accurate manner
Perform any other related duty as assigned.
4. INTERRELATIONSHIPS
The incumbent reports to the Secretary of the Council and works closely with the Private Office of the Secretary General. S/He will have frequent contact with officials of national Delegations, the International Staff (IS) and the International Military Staff (IMS).
Direct reports: N/A
Indirect reports: N/A
5. COMPETENCIES
The incumbent must demonstrate:
- Clarity and Accuracy: Checks own work;
- Customer Service Orientation: Takes personal responsibility for correcting problems;
- Empathy: Listens actively;
- Flexibility: Acts with flexibility;
- Initiative: Is decisive in a time-sensitive situation;
- Organizational Awareness: Understands the Organization’s structure;
- Teamwork: Expresses positive attitudes and expectations of team or team members.
In accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations, the successful candidate will receive a definite duration contract of three years, which may be followed by an indefinite duration contract.
7. USEFUL INFORMATION REGARDING APPLICATION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS
Please note that we can only accept applications from nationals of NATO member countries. Applications must be submitted using e-recruitment system, as applicable:
- For NATO civilian staff members only: please apply via the internal recruitment portal (link);
- For all other applications: www.nato.int/recruitment
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More information about the recruitment process and conditions of employment, can be found at our website (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/recruit-hq-e.htm)
Appointment will be subject to receipt of a security clearance (provided by the national Authorities of the selected candidate), approval of the candidate’s medical file by the NATO Medical Adviser, verification of your study(ies) and work experience, and the successful completion of the accreditation and notification process by the relevant authorities.
NATO will not accept any phase of the recruitment and selection prepared, in whole or in part, by means of generative artificial-intelligence (AI) tools, including and without limitation to chatbots, such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (Chat GPT), or other language generating tools. NATO reserves the right to screen applications to identify the use of such tools. All applications prepared, in whole or in part, by means of such generative or creative AI applications may be rejected without further consideration at NATO’s sole discretion, and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.
