Trade Assistant Job Vacancy at Embassy of Canada in Paris, France

This position is under the supervision of the Counsellor (Commercial) within the Trade Commissioner Service at the Canadian embassy in Paris. The position provides full and bilingual secretarial services: writing correspondence in French and English; scheduling; participating in the planning and follow-up of promotional activities organized by the service; maintaining an electronic document filing system; routing of information; making travel arrangements; keeping files, budgets and activity reports up to date; hosting visitors; and performing other related tasks as a Trade Commissioner Assistant.

Candidates will initially be selected based on the essential qualifications relating to education, experience and the required linguistic profile. Qualifications constituting assets may also be taken into account for the screening of applications.

Candidates will have to clearly demonstrate, in their covering letter (750 words maximum), the manner in which they meet these criteria by explaining clearly and concretely how they meet each criterion of the essential qualifications and where appropriate, the asset qualifications. Please note that it is not sufficient simply to assert that one meets the requirements or to list current responsibilities.

Short-listed candidates will subsequently be assessed in relation to the qualifications with the help of tools such as written exam, interview, role-play, simulation exercises, and/or reference checks.

Education:
Post-secondary diploma (equivalent to French baccalaureate + 2 i.e. level 5 French diploma) or Canadian post-secondary diploma.Languages:
Excellent expression and understanding of French (both written and spoken)
Very good expression and understanding of English (both written and spoken)Experience:
A minimum of one year of work experience in the following fields :
1. Office work and administrative assistance in scheduling and managing agendas, business trips organization, follow-up of files and documents, the transmission of messages and information requests, contact lists and inventories management etc.
AND
2. Client service (internal/external) or partners relations management• Experience using MS Word and MS Excel.

Abilities:
• Plan, organize and prioritize a diversified workload;
• Develop and maintain a budget;
• Draft current business documents such as emails and lettersCompetencies:
• Adaptability and flexibility
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Judgement
• Initiative and action orientation
• Attention to quality and detail
• Client service orientation

A preference may be given to candidates who, in addition to the essential qualifications, also possess the following asset qualifications. It is incumbent upon candidates to explain and demonstrate in their motivation letter how they meet these asset criteria:
1. Experience using a client relationship management system
2. Experience with finance policies and procedures of the Canadian government
3. Experience using a financial administration application
4. Basic understanding of terminology, institutions, and processes related to international trade, investment and business developmentIf candidates satisfy the criteria listed in the asset qualifications, they must also clearly demonstrate how they meet these criteria in their motivation letter and/or CV in order for these to be taken into account.