TRAVEL ASSISTANT

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UN RSCE - Regional Service Centre at Entebbe

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Application deadline 11 months ago: Thursday 20 Apr 2023 at 23:59 UTC

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Contract

This is a G-6 contract. This kind of contract is known as General Service and related categories. It is normally only for nationals. It usually requires 6 years of experience, depending on education. More about G-6 contracts.

Org. Setting and Reporting The Department of Operational Support (DOS) was established to provide end-to-end operational support, advisory services, and other solutions to operating entities across the Secretariat, including departments, offices away from headquarters, peace operations, and regional commissions.

The Regional Service Centre in Entebbe, Uganda (RSCE), was established in July 2010, following the adoption of General Assembly resolution 64/269. The Centre provides efficient, client-oriented, and scalable services with the goal of moving transactional, non-location dependent administrative functions to the Centre from its client entities. This includes transactional elements of human resources, finance, multimodal movement and control, personnel and cargo transport and information and communications technology (ICT) support.

In addition to these services, the Office of the Chief RSCE and support offices through the Deputy Chief RSCE provides overall guidance on the operations of the RSCE including strategic planning, communication, budgeting, human resources management, property management, quality assurance and business intelligence, conference services, record keeping and archive management, and audit response and risk management.

For more information, please visit https://rsce.unmissions.org.

This position is located in the Travel, Claims and Education Grants Pillar, Education Grant Service Line at the RSCE.

Responsibilities Under the general supervision of an Education Grant Team Leader, the Travel Assistant GS-6 will carry out the following duties:

  • Coordinate with the client missions CHROs and other relevant stakeholders to ensure Education Grant travel policy is complied with.

  • Provide advice on education grant travel related to entitlements for all such travel and participate in education grant policy revisions.

  • Participate in providing information about frequency of air services and provide advice to education grant travel eligible staff on the most direct and economical airfare rates for such travel, as permitted by the rules and regulations.

  • Provide information on rates and travel schedules for specific itineraries, as requested for budgeting purposes for programme managers.

  • May participate in contacting airlines to make reservations, negotiate least expensive fares e.g. related to education grant travel, discuss with travel agency management and with senior airline sales management for space on flights, reduced airfares, group discounts and reduced excess baggage charges, initiate issuance of tickets; discuss discrepancies and problems.

  • Calculate the residual values of partially used tickets when there is a rerouting.

  • Provide input to draft communication to all stakeholder on changes to education grant travel policy.

  • Arrange for changes or cancellations requested by travelers and has tickets reissued, including obtaining reimbursement, where applicable.

  • Convert departure and arrival times, as needed, and identify class of accommodation corresponding to the nature of the travel.

  • Examine and pre-audit the official education grant itineraries of eligible staff members, as stated in the travel authorization, in order to determine air travel cost entitlement of the proposed official travel of the traveller and ensure conformity with established rules, regulations and relevant directives.

  • Review travel claims and supporting documentation for completeness, accuracy, and validity, prior to forwarding to the Finance Section for payment; ensure that entitlements are in conformity with UN Rules, Regulations, and policies. Refer discrepancies back to Administrative and /or Certifying Officers for clarification and possible correction.

  • Advise Administrative Office of more efficient and cost-effective routings with regard to more complicated staff itineraries and assist them in making travel plans in order to take advantage of the benefits to be derived from advance purchases or special promotional fares.

  • Maintain records of all travel authorizations processed and records savings accrued to the organization as a result of the cost savings techniques employed.

  • Review on a periodic basis education grant travel authorizations in relation to entitlements, which stopovers are designated official business or personal; depending upon actual category of the traveler, all other costs, including excess baggage, terminal expenses, and other travel related miscellaneous expenses such as COVID -19 testing.

  • Perform other duties as required.

    Competencies Professionalism - Knowledge of Staff Regulations and Rules in an international setting. Knowledge of IATA visa requirements and familiarity with United Nations Staff and Financial Rules, Regulations and Procedures is desirable. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines, and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work. Familiarity with travel related operations including knowledge of Airline Passenger Tariffs and Airlines Booking System (ABS) or Official Airline Guide (OAG).

Client Orientation - Considers all those to whom services are provided to be "clients" and seeks to see things from clients' point of view; Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; Identifies clients' needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; Monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients' environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; Keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; Meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

Planning & Organizing - Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; Identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; Foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; Monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; Uses time efficiently.

Education High school diploma or equivalent is required.

Job - Specific Qualification A technical or vocational certificate in the field of business administration, travel and related matters or related fields is required.

Familiarity with travel related operations including knowledge of Airline Passenger Tariffs and Airlines Booking System (ABS) or Official Airline Guide (OAG) is desirable

Work Experience A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in travel administration, including travel rate calculation, routing, and travel reimbursement, or related area is required.

Experience working in a United Nations common system field operation (inclusive of peacekeeping, political missions and UN agencies, funds, and programmes) or similar international organization in a conflict or post-conflict setting is desirable.

Languages English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of French is desirable.

Assessment Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

Special Notice - This post is funded for an initial period of one year and may be subject to extension. - The United Nations Secretariat is committed to achieving 50/50 gender balance in its staff. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position. - Staff Members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General and to assignment by him or her. In this context, all Staff are expected to move periodically to new functions in their careers in accordance with established rules and procedures. * Applicants for the General Service and related positions must be authorized to work in the country where the position is located.

United Nations Considerations According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Candidates will not be considered for employment with the United Nations if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. The term “sexual exploitation” means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. The term “sexual abuse” means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. The term “sexual harassment” means any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, and when the gravity of the conduct warrants the termination of the perpetrator’s working relationship. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment.

Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment.

The paramount consideration in the appointment, transfer, or promotion of staff shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. By accepting an offer of appointment, United Nations staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General and assignment by him or her to any activities or offices of the United Nations in accordance with staff regulation 1.2 (c). In this context, all internationally recruited staff members shall be required to move periodically to discharge new functions within or across duty stations under conditions established by the Secretary-General.

Applicants are urged to follow carefully all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira. For more detailed guidance, applicants may refer to the Manual for the Applicant, which can be accessed by clicking on “Manuals” hyper-link on the upper right side of the inspira account-holder homepage.

The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application.

Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.

No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

Added 1 year ago - Updated 11 months ago - Source: careers.un.org