Working for the British Council

What we do?

We are the UK's international cultural relations organisation. Cultural relations is the building of engagement and trust between people of different cultures through the exchange of knowledge and ideas.

Our approach to cultural relations harnesses the power of education, the arts and creativity, sport, science, English and governance to build relationships of mutual benefit worldwide and to address global issues.

The British Council has refocused its activity on three programme areas of central importance to the international interests of the UK: intercultural dialogue, especially with countries and communities where the UK is less trusted; supporting the UK’s creative and knowledge economy; and highlighting the case for tackling climate change.

Where are we?

We have 7,400 staff in offices, teaching centres, libraries, and information and resource centres in the UK and over 100 countries and territories worldwide.

What are the opportunities?

You could work for us:

• globally: in administrative, management or project management roles at various levels
• outside the UK: as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) or
• teaching or lecturing in any discipline in a non-Council educational institution

What might you being doing?

In our global network, jobs combine managerial and professional roles. You could be involved in:

• Planning and managing training awards or programmes for visiting specialists
• Project pursuit and management
• Arranging arts events
• Managing the office, its staff, and finances
• Making visits and travelling within the country to meet working partners and establish new clients and contacts

Teaching jobs cover TEFL and other academic or vocational subjects.

In the UK you could be working on:

• Developing and managing key relationships with our UK partners
• Providing support to our global network
• Managing our global network and setting its policies and standards

If you are not a graduate we would expect you to have gained some workplace experience or to have at least GCSE level qualifications in English and mathematics before you apply for a Council job in the UK. If you are a graduate, you can be qualified in one of a range of areas as we have no preferred subject for your first degree.

What skills and experience are we looking for?

A minimum requirement for administrative and junior management jobs is previous experience of general administrative tasks, working accurately with figures, and composing letters in English which are clearly expressed and appropriately constructed. If you are a new graduate we have no subject preference for your first degree.

For our middle management jobs you will need previous experience of managing people, finance and resources.

There are a limited number of opportunities for UK staff to be posted overseas. If these opportunities arise, we require extensive work experience.

We expect you to have five or more years' work experience and to have managed staff and finances. We are particularly interested if you have project management experience and hard language fluency, e.g. Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin or Russian. Our specialist project management jobs are only suitable for experienced professionals.

For TEFL jobs you will need a recognised certificate level TEFL qualification e.g. Cambridge ESOL or Trinity TESOL, and at least two years' experience. There are sometimes opportunities for exceptional candidates with a certificate level qualification.