We are

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political partnership between 27 European countries. It plays an important role in international affairs through diplomacy, trade, development aid and working with global organisations. Abroad, the EU is represented through more than 140 diplomatic representations, known also as EU Delegations, which have a similar function to those of an embassy.

The EU Office to Hong Kong and Macao aims to strengthen EU-Hong Kong and Macao relations.

We offer

We offer a post of a Secretary . The successful candidate will be required to carry out secretarial tasks to support the Head of Administration. The work will include duties of administrative support in: Infrastructure & Logistics, public procurement, human resources and in budgetary/financial aspects. The candidate will act as back up for the accounts clerk during his/her absence or exceptional workload.

The post is based in Hong Kong, for a regular 37,5 working hours per week, associated with a job profile and salary grid position in Function Group III.

We offer a competitive position in an international environment. Benefits, such as additional pension scheme and medical insurance, are offered to employees and their families under certain conditions.

Responsibilities and duties

Under this post, the recruited person will be attributed functions depending on the needs of the Office. Upon recruitment, the successful candidate will occupy a specific job function as Secretary – this job function may be changed in accordance with the needs of the Office. Under this job function the successful candidate will serve in the Administration section under the supervision and responsibility of the head of section.

Responsibilities will include but will not be limited to the following:

Administration

• Assist in management of protocol/consular affairs (including visas, diplomatic documents, etc.) and liaising with the other local authorities;
• Assist in management of office premises daily operation affairs and liaising with service providers;
• Assist in management of infrastructure affairs and liaising with landlords/agency;
• Assist in preparing of various reports;
• Assist in the recruitment process including handling the vacancy announcements and  facilitating interview sessions;
• Assist with management of rights and obligation of expatriate staff such as removals, rotation, travel and temporary accommodation;
• Assist in coordinating and organising training activities;
• Assistance with event management and logistics.
• Filing administrative and accounting related documents;
• Register documents as required by the European External Action Service (EEAS) procedures;
• Ensure a clear and logical filing system;
• Maintain an effective diary system for follow up
• Act as a secretary to the Head of Administration;
• Required to backup other team members during absences. This might require knowledge of additional administrative tools.

Procurement and Contract Management

• Assist in procurement procedures;
• Assist in contracting of administrative needs;
• Assist in procurement planning.

Accounting and Budget

• Assist in preparing of administrative budget plan and financial reports;
• Assist in the recurrent ex-post control requests and other audits;
• Assist in monitoring of budgetary consumption;
• Managing Legal Entity and Bank Account/Cheque validation process;
• Financial initiation and/or verification of payments;
• Assist in following up the execution of payments;
• Assist in managing Commitment appropriations against Payment appropriations;
• Assist in managing Real Estate Management IT tool (Immogest).

Selection Criteria

Minimum Requirements:

- Formal education corresponding to upper secondary education or above;

- Minimum proven 3 years of experience as Secretary with preferably experience in administration or accounting tasks;

- Good level in English (B1 level in CEFR) and Cantonese/Mandarin (equivalent to C2 level);

- good IT skills (MS Word, Excel  and Power Point)   

The following will be considered an asset:

- Experience in another diplomatic mission or in a multi-cultural environment;

- Knowledge of accounting software(s).

- Experience in either finance, audit or accounting management;

How to apply

Please send your application and supporting documents to delegation-hong-kong-vacancies@eeas.europa.eu

Applicants should write in the subject of their email the following:

Application for the post of Secretary – SURNAME / NAME (in capital letters).

The application should include, as attachments to the email:

• a cover letter (maximum 1 page) and
• a detailed CV (Europass template obligatory (max 2 pages) - https://europa.eu/europass/en 

Applications received via standard mail service will not be taken into account.

Applicants who failed to present their application as described above will be automatically excluded from the competition.

The Delegation will not supply additional information or discuss the selection procedure by telephone: please address any queries concerning this procedure to delegation-hong-kong-vacancies@eeas.europa.eu.

The procedure

After the deadline for applications, the applications will be reviewed by a Selection Committee set up for this purpose. The Selection Committee will prepare a short-list of candidates who are considered the most suitable for the post based on a preliminary assessment of the information provided in their application letter and CV. The short-listed candidates might be requested to send additional supporting documents and, if compliant, will be invited to an assessment phase in form of a written test. During this phase the Selection Committee will assess the suitability of the candidates for the post, and may also verify knowledge of IT tools as well as language level requirements.

The best candidates from the assessment phase will be invited to an interview.

The candidates who have not been short-listed will not be contacted individually; however, the Office will use the same means of publication as for this Vacancy Notice to inform the remaining candidates once the recruitment procedure has been completed and that a candidate has (or has not) been recruited. 

The deadline for applications is: Monday 24^th January 2022 at 12pm Hong Kong time