Junior Professional Officer in Skills for the Future

Introduction

The Employment Policy Department develops integrated employment, development and skills policies that maximize the employment impact of economic growth, investment and development and which are inclusive, productive and sustainable. Apart from the Skills and Employability, the Department also deals with youth employment, national employment and labour market policies, employment intensive investments, sectoral approaches and pro-employment strategies for rural development and informal economy.

The Skills and Employability Branch of the Department assists ILO member States and the social partners in applying policy recommendations through tripartite consultations on skills development adapting them to their circumstances and priorities. Comparative research, policy guidelines and technical assistance aims to help constituents to integrate skills development into national and sector development policies and strategies. The branch works on the basis of key strategic policy documents agreed by the ILO tripartite constituents: ILO Centenary Declaration on the Future of Work (2019),  ILC Conclusions on skills for improved productivity, employment growth and development (2008), Recommendation 195 on Human Resources Development (ILO, 2004). The ILO approach to skills development is based on 3 pillars:

• matching supply and demand for skills,
• helping workers and enterprises to adjust to continuous change,
• anticipating and delivering new and different skills to sustain a dynamic development process and to meet broader strategic objectives of growth and development.

In line with the ILO Centenary Initiative on Future of Work, the Skills and Employability Branch undertakes research and policy formulation by identifying future skills demand in times of technological change and disruption. The branch undertakes applied policy research to understand future demand for digital skills, soft and technical skills arising from robotisation and the use of Artificial Intelligence, climate change and just transition to a greener economy, changes in work organisation, demographic change and globalization. The findings are used in policy advice and formulation and in capacity building to support the ILO constituents.

The team contributes to drafting policy documents for the discussion by the ILO Constituents at the ILO Governing Body, International Labour Conference, as well as G20, G7 and BRICS. The team actively collaborates with the OECD, WEF, World Bank, UNESCO, UNCTAD, WTO, UN Environment, UNIDO, UNITAR, Cedefop, ETF, the European Commission and other international and EU organisation. The JPO will be expected to actively contribute to drafting policy documents and collaboration with other organisations.

Training Components and Learning Elements

Upon completion of the assignment the JPO will have/ will be able to:

• Broaden his/her knowledge about learning in an international organization, dealing with skills and employment issues, understanding the ILO’s work in this field and the ILO’s activities and goals in general;
• Become familiar with technical cooperation, also through specific ILO training courses in working in ILO technical cooperation projects;
• Interact with ILO constituents (ministries of labour, employers’ and workers’ organizations), UN agencies, international organizations (such as UNESCO, the OECD and other development partners) engaged in skills development, training systems and employment issues;
• Improve his/her abilities to conduct applied research, draft reports and professional communication;
• Work as a member of an international team.

The JPO position includes a training allowance (DTTA) of $ 4.000 per year which may be used for learning activities related to the assignment and career development.

Supervision

Direct Supervision by:
Senior Skills and Employability Specialist

Overall Supervision by: 
Chief, Skills and Employability Branch

Content and methodology of supervision:
The Junior Professional Officer (JPO) will work in the team which implements a number of projects and other activities in the field of anticipation of future skills required on the labour market. These activities will include policy advice, research, tools elaboration, case studies and technical cooperation. He/she will directly contribute to further developing ILO’s work related to methods, systems and best practices of identifying skills mismatch and anticipating future skill demand and supply at macroeconomy or sectoral level, skills for trade and economic diversification, skills for technological change and innovation, integration of skills aspects into employment strategies.

The JPO will report to the Senior Skills and Employability Specialist who leads the Team of the Work Area. The incumbent will be expected to collaborate with other members of the Skills and Employability Branch, namely in the fields of apprenticeship training and workplace learning, qualification systems, core / transversal employability skills, skills development for poverty eradication, including in the rural and/or informal economy, and skills development for vulnerable groups. Furthermore, he/she will be expected to collaborate more broadly throughout the ILO with other units of the Employment Policy Department, Sectoral Acitivities Department, Research and Statistics departments, bureaus of workers’ and employers’ activities as well as ILO field offices and other ILO units.
The JPO will be expected to participate in missions, seminars, workshops and meetings on behalf of the supervisor or together with senior staff.

Work outputs will be discussed and agreed with the supervisor, and regularly reviewed in order to ensure good quality outputs.  Performance management will be reviewed in accordance with ILO’s Performance Management Framework, as applicable to Junior Professional Officers.

Description of Duties

Under the direct supervision of the supervisor, the JPO will perform the following duties and responsibilities:

• undertake country-level as well as cross-country comparative policy-applied research and case studies on technological change and other drivers of change (climate change / just transition, changes in work organisation, demographic change and globalisation) and their impact on skills demand;

• apply, adapt and maintain tools in anticipation and forecasting of skill needs, such as sectoral skills needs analysis, technology foresights, forecasts and scenarios of future skill needs.  The work item includes country-level assistance in surveys and analyses implementation;

• develop and analyse data and indicators on changing technical and soft skill needs, digital skills;

• develop and apply innovative skills measurement data such as big real time data analytics;

• develop alternative approaches to skill needs assessment and policy research in times of crises, such as in the context of the COVID-19 response measures;

• provide technical advice at national and sectoral level in building efficient systems  of skill needs anticipation, sectoral approaches, surveys on technological change and changing skills demand;

• contribute to collaborative interagency work (UN, OECD and EU agencies) on anticipation of skill needs, including inter-agency meetings, joint research projects, cases studies, joint events and training delivery;

• develop training courses and capacity building events in ITC-ILO in Turin and, on request, in ILO member States and regions on the development of good-quality systems of skill needs anticipation;

• organize national and international workshops and other ILO events, including tripartite discussions and validations;

• participate in applied research projects and in the drafting of research documents, reports and policy briefs;

• take part in the planning and implementing technical cooperation activities;

• liaise with ILO field offices, project partners and tripartite constituents;

• perform others task that may be assigned by the supervisor.

Education

Advanced university degree (equivalent to Master degree) in labour economics, or other social sciences, technical and vocational education and training, or human resources development.

Experience

Two to four years maximum of experience in conducting applied research in the field of skills assessment and development, or employment projections and skill needs forecasting, or technical and vocational education and training, or human resource development. Work experience in developing countries and/or international organisation would be an asset. 

Working experience within the UN system should not exceed 50% of the relevant working experience including UNV, (paid) UN internship and UN consultancy.

All paid work experience since obtaining Bachelors degree will/can be considered.  

Languages

Minimum: Excellent command of the English language with a good ability of drafting skills.

Desirable: Good knowledge of a second working language of the ILO would be an asset. Knowledge of other UN languages would be an advantage.

Skills for the assignment

Minimum: Ability to communicate effectively in both, written and verbal forms, ability to initiate activities and to work effectively in a team, ability to prepare high quality and technically sound reports and publications, ability to use standard IT technology, such as word processing, spread sheets and presentation techniques.

Desirable: Ability to communicate effectively at a high policy level, ability to draft concise policy documents, ability to produce high-quality analytical outputs with the use of complex methods, data sets and variables, ability to use statistical data processing tools, ability to work in inter-disciplinary teams, ability to deliver training and presentations engaging audience, ability to use a variety of presentation tools (such as PowerPoint, Prezi, PowToon and others), creativity in developing ideas for the preparation of publications and for upgrading webpages which would be clear and appealing for the audience.

Competencies

The candidate is expected to demonstrate and be guided by ILO competencies, specifically:

1. Good communication skills, both written and verbal.
2. Capacity to work on own initiative as well as cooperate as a team member.
3. Sensitivity to diversity and the ability to work in a multicultural environment.