Operations Associate, Volunteer Deployment

The Volunteer Services Centre (VSC) is the centre of excellence that provides HR services to more than 12,000 UN Volunteers serving agencies, funds and programmes across the UN system. VSC is responsible for providing timely and high-quality services in

• Talent acquisition cycle (from sourcing to recruitment)
• HR administration cycle (from hire to separation)
• Payroll administration
• Related guidance, customized packages and support for volunteers and UN entities globally

VSC works in close collaboration with other relevant sections at headquarters, as well as with Regional Offices and Field Units to ensure seamless and consolidated services in accordance with UN Volunteers Conditions of Service, regulations and rules, policies and internal best practices.  

• Plan and coordinate regional deployment activities in consultation with other VSC recruitment teams with the aim of minimizing deployment time and issues;
• Pro-actively engage in deployment activities to reduce delays by coordinating with third parties involved in deployment steps;
• Liaise with others in the Volunteer Services Centre, the Regional Office, and related Field Units to keep abreast of evolving demands for UN Volunteers in the region, ensuring that deployment mechanisms are aligned to meet those demands;
• Ensure the consistent application of policies and procedures for the deployment of UN Volunteers in the region;
• Monitor the timely and quality delivery of volunteer deployment services in the region as per corporate key performance indicators;
• Coordinate and monitor the implementation of agreed standard communications and processes related to UN Volunteer deployment;

2. Facilitation of knowledge building and sharing

• Compile and maintain a knowledge repository on deployment specificities of countries in the region to facilitate fast and smooth deployment of UN Volunteers;
• Keep abreast of latest trends and benchmarks in deployment to leverage the most relevant approaches for UNV to introduce new or adjusted methods, policies and procedures for the deployment of UN Volunteers in the region;
• Contribute to the analysis of the regional Volunteer Service Centre results, report on trends and propose changes for improvements.
• Engage with, learn from, and make sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice;
• Synthesize and share lessons learnt in regional deployment to contribute to the development of guidelines and operational procedures;
• Provide inputs to the design of training materials and corporate activities towards building staff capacity at headquarters, regional and country levels on deployment.

3. People management

• Supervise staff, including performance management and capacity development;
• Monitor the ongoing deployment activities in the region to ensure timeliness and quality of work, and re-distribute work, as needed;
• Support the Operations Associate, Volunteer Deployment in the annual reporting process as it relates to regional volunteer deployment;
• Support Operations Associates during times of high workload;
• Perform other duties as may be required.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: Direct supervision of 1-4 GS staff at their regional location. Responsible for creating an empowering work environment, performance management, and capacity development.

Achieve Results

• Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work

Think Innovatively

• Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking

Learn Continuously

• Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning

Adapt with Agility 

• Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process

Act with Determination

• Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously

Engage and Partner

• Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion

• Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making

People Management

UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Knowledge Generation

• Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need.

Portfolio Management

• Ability to select, prioritise and control the organization’s programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimising return on investment

Communication

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience;
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Customer satisfaction/Client management

• Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfill and understand the customers’ real needs;
• Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy;
• Look for ways to add value beyond clients’ immediate requests;
• Ability to anticipate clients’ upcoming needs and concerns.

Relationship management

• Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding.

Data analysis

• Ability to extract, analyze and visualize data (including Real-Time Data) to form meaningful insights and aid effective decision-making.

• Secondary education with specialized training in human resources, business or public administration, or related field; 
• University degree in human resources, business or public administration is desirable, but not a requirement.

• 7 years of relevant experience in deployment, personnel and/or business management;
• Experience in MS Office 365;
• Experience working in web-based management/CRM systems;
• Experience working with Salesforce Service Cloud would be an asset;
• Experience in an international or non-profit context would be an asset;
• Experience working with volunteers would be an asset.
• Fluency in English and in the local language of the duty station;
• Proficiency in another official UN language, and/or other dominant language in the region, would be an asset.

• Only short-listed applicants will be contacted;
• The successful candidate will hold a UNDP letter of appointment;
• This post is for local recruitment only. It is open to citizens of Kazakhstan.