Under direct supervision of the Regional Programme Manager (RPM) and in close coordination with a local team, the Career Centre Specialist is responsible for developing and implementing capacity building of the staff of 5 career centres and incubation centres at SPARK’s higher education partners. To strengthen existing services in line with local labour market needs. This component is part of SPARK’s EU funded higher education programme in Iraq. In addition to providing access to higher education for Syrian refugees, vulnerability youth and IDPs (400 Scholarships) the programme contains several components aimed at enhancing access to the labour market for SPARK’s scholarship recipients and recent graduates.
Main Tasks and Responsibilities:
The responsibilities and tasks include, but are not limited to:
-
Conduct a needs assessment with the existing career centres and incubation centres at SPARK’s higher education partners in Iraq (TVET and University);
-
Develop and deliver a long term capacity building approach to strengthen existing services and develop new services in line with labour market needs to increase the effectiveness and sustainability of university career centres in the delivery of career counselling, soft skills training and employability services;
-
Develops content/ tools/ guidelines/ manuals to meet the technical needs as part of an integrated capacity building approach;
-
Provides support to the project teams and partners to develop work packages and implementation of activities;
-
Provides technical inputs, suggestions and feedback to improve the quality of the projects’ implementations and progress reports;
-
Analysis the project teams’ and partners’ technical performance, including the needs for further capacity development;
-
Responsible for management of relevant partner contracts as well as providing support in follow-up with implementing partners to deliver services towards the overall programme outcomes
-
Develops program specific internal and external training modules as needed and delivers the trainings in cooperation with the Regional Programme Manager and HR;
-
Assists the Country Representative for KRI and RPM in stakeholder representation and management;
-
Provide support and feedback to strengthen similar activities in SPARK’s regional programmes as required;
Requirements and Skills
-
BA or MA in a relevant discipline related to international development and or higher education;
-
Substantial professional experience (a minimum of 5 years) working in Iraq’s (KR-I) higher education sector, previous experience working in career counselling services within a university context is preferable;
-
Extensive knowledge of existing challenges and needs within Iraq’s (KR-I) higher education sector, particularly related to vocational education;
-
Strong network among relevant stakeholders;
-
Thorough knowledge of the political and economic situation in the region;
-
Prior experience designing and implementing tools, guidelines, training, coaching and mentoring activities, including previous experience delivering trainings to university staff;
-
Demonstrated ability to work effectively in politicized and multi-cultural settings with a wide variety of stakeholders;
-
Excellent interpersonal, communication, networking and representation skills;
-
Fluency in written and spoken English and Kurdish (Arabic is highly desirable);
-
Flexibility to travel and to work within the KR-I and potentially Mosul (including overnight stays);
-
Ability to work under stressful conditions.
SPARK Offers
-
A challenging and interesting position in an international environment;
-
Full time position 40h per week;
-
Remuneration according to relevant work and working hours between 2200-2500 USD gross
-
Dynamic team to work with.
