City councillor

City councillors represent residents of a city in the city’s council and perform local legislative duties. They examine the concerns of the residents and respond to them in an appropriate manner, and represent their political party’s policies and programs in the city council as well. They communicate with governmental officials to ensure the city and its agenda are represented and supervise all operations which fall under the city council’s responsibility.

The following job titles also refer to city councillor:

local government councillor
local councillor
councillor
county councillor
elected representative
cabinet member
town councillor

High school diploma is generally required to work as city councillor. However, this requirement may differ in some countries.

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

• the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
• the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
• the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

City councillor is a Skill level 4 occupation.

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to city councillor.

secretary general
mayor
provincial governor
secretary of state
community development officer

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of city councillor. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of city councillor with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of city councillor.

Government policy implementation: The procedures related to the application of government policies at all levels of public administration.

These skills are necessary for the role of city councillor.

Maintain relations with local representatives: Maintain good relations with representatives of the local scientific, economic and civil society.
Build community relations: Establish affectionate and long-lasting relationships with local communities, e.g. by organising special programms for kindergarden, schools and for dissabled and older people, raising awareness and receiving community appreciation in return.
Maintain relationships with government agencies: Establish and maintain cordial working relationships with peers in different governmental agencies.
Write meeting reports: Write complete reports based on minutes taken during a meeting in order to communicate the important points which were discussed, and the decisions which were made, to the appropriate people.
Analyse legislation: Analyse the existing legislation from a national or local government in order to assess which improvements could be made and which items of legislation could be proposed.
Observe confidentiality: Observe the set of rules establishing the nondisclosure of information except to another authorised person.
Advise on legislative acts: Advise officials in a legislature on the propositioning of new bills and the consideration of items of legislation.
Perform political negotiation: Perform debate and argumentative dialogue in a political context, using negotiation techniques specific to political contexts in order to obtain the desired goal, ensure compromise, and maintain cooperative relations.

This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of city councillor. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Political parties: The ideas and principles that political parties stand for and the politicians representing them.
Election law: The regulations concerning the procedures during elections, such as voting regulations, campaign regulations, which procedures candidates must follow, how votes are counted, and other electoral procedures.
Project management principles: Different elements and phases of project management.
Bookkeeping regulations: The methods and regulations involved in the process of accurate bookkeeping.
Public finance: The economic influence of the government, and the workings of government revenue and expenditures.
Budgetary principles: Principles of estimating and planning of forecasts for business activity, compile regular budget and reports.
Public law: The part of law which governs relationships between individuals and the government, and the relationships between individuals which concern society directly.

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of city councillor. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Promote political campaign: Promote the political party or politician before and during election when the political campaign is being held to ensure a wide audience and the most beneficial outcome possible for the political candidate or party, by performing promotional activities.
Inspect government expenditures: Inspect the financial procedures of a government organisation which deals with budget and resource allocation and spending to ensure that no faults are being made and no suspicious activity occurs in the handling of financial accounts, and that the expenditures are compliant with financial needs and forecasts.
Manage budgets: Plan, monitor and report on the budget.
Manage staff: Manage employees and subordinates, working in a team or individually, to maximise their performance and contribution. Schedule their work and activities, give instructions, motivate and direct the workers to meet the company objectives. Monitor and measure how an employee undertakes their responsibilities and how well these activities are executed. Identify areas for improvement and make suggestions to achieve this. Lead a group of people to help them achieve goals and maintain an effective working relationship among staff.
Think analytically: Produce thoughts using logic and reasoning in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Inspect government incomes: Inspect the resources available to a national or local government organisation, such as tax incomes, to ensure that the incomes are compliant with the income expectations, that no faults are being made and no suspicious activity is present in the handling of government finances.
Manage administrative systems: Ensure administrative systems, processes and databases are efficient and well managed and give the sound basis to work together with the administrative officer/staff/professional.
Delegate activities: Delegate activities and tasks to others according to the ability, level of preparation, competence and legal scope of practice. Make sure that people understand what they should do and when they should do it.
Perform project management: Manage and plan various resources, such as human resources, budget, deadline, results, and quality necessary for a specific project, and monitor the project’s progress in order to achieve a specific goal within a set time and budget.
Manage government policy implementation: Manage the operations of the implementation of new government policies or changes in existing policies on a national or regional level as well as the staff involved in the implementation procedure.
Analyse community needs: Identify and respond to specific social problems in a community, delineating the extent of the problem and outline the level of resources required to address it and identifying the existing community assets and resources that are available to address the problem.

1111 – Legislators

 

 

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References

1. City councillor – ESCO