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Career Planning – Finding the career of your dreams

It isn’t so farfetched to dream of a career –say, as a Forest Ranger — and to discover later on that hanging out alone in the woods makes you absolutely crazy. Sure, you like to be outdoors and to be hiking, boating or fishing, but all your life you have done it with other people and now, with an assignment to be on fire watch for an entire month, you can’t stand the solitude and silence.

It’s a good idea to take your career choice and run it through a series of questions before you invest a lot of time in a degree that may not be right for you.

Consider some very basic things:

Do you like to be outdoors?
Indoors? Working with other people?
Doing something all by yourself?

My very first job was in an accounting office with three people. The air conditioning was set to a bone-chilling 65 degrees, the people weren't friendly, and I spent the whole day manipulating numbers. When I was offered a position as a newspaper editor, for less money, I bailed in an instant. The newspaper office was filled with chatty people — all day long. I thrived on the deadlines. I was constantly running out to take a picture, do an interview or go to a meeting. I belonged in this environment where I learned new things, met new people and did something different every day. Thankfully I had not invested four years in an accounting degree!

In addition to your work environment, consider your skills. A biology major can find work ranging from lab research to working with big cats. An artist might end up doing graphic design on a computer, teaching a roomful of kindergarteners how to finger-paint, or decorating china. Understand what you are good at, and what makes you frustrated. There are many paths to follow in any given career and you want to be in a place that makes you feel challenged, but good about your work.

Another key area to think about when you choose a career is your values. Do you like helping people? Not everyone is cut out to be a teacher, counselor or nurse. Many of us find careers where we aren’t in direct contact with customers or consumers and we’re happier for it. Maybe you want to make budgets and financial plans but you don’t want to be the person who sits down with a client and tells them they can’t buy a boat. Think carefully about what you believe is important to you. If you value good health, sound finances, literacy, safety in manufacturing, or clean water — there is a job for you! Working in a field that you don’t find important is a recipe for disaster.
Other factors to consider are things like social status, job security, independence, using skills like public speaking and writing, the opportunity to travel (or not), and how much money you feel you need to earn.

Some high schools facilitate career shadowing days. You’ve dreamed of working with animals and after one day at the local veterinarian’s office you know that isn’t what you want to do for the rest of your life. Or, a day in the courtroom might convince you that you don’t need that kind of pressured environment. If you didn’t get a chance to shadow someone in the workplace yet, it’s not too late. Explore your options carefully, find someone in your chosen profession to talk to, and ask if you can tag along for part of a day.

Finally – do your research! You can learn a lot about different careers by asking good questions and by searching legitimate sites on the Internet. The Bureau of Labor Statistic’s site, www.bls.gov, can help you find out about necessary schooling, certifications, and requirements for certain jobs, what the outlook is for a particular career in the future, and even what you can expect to earn if you choose that path. Your happiness and your future depend on making some good choices now, so put in some effort now to find out which career might suit you best.

Honestly, there is no formula to determining which college will be ideal for a student. And, just because you hear that a particular university rocks doesn’t mean it will suite your needs and interests. It’s important for each individual student to decide for themselves where they will be happy, since, after all, it will be their home for 4 years.

Though there are no set rules for making this important decision, in general it is a bad idea to choose a college based on only one factor. Because humans are multidimensional, you should take into consideration all of the things that are likely to be important to you. This will require some hard work and careful research on your part, but it will be well worth it. Consider making a pro and con list of all of the important aspects you want to consider for each college. To help get you started, make sure you aren’t using these bad ways to choose your college.

1. The ____ friend
This one may be cliché, but it is so for a reason…because it happens so frequently. But consider that what is a great college for one person isn’t for another. And even if your boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend is attending school there, keep in mind that one of the great things about college is the opportunity to meet new people and experience new things. If you and your ____ friend are truly committed to the relationship, not being on the same campus won’t matter in the long run.

2. The location
Regardless of whether you can’t wait to get away from home or you want to stay as close to home as possible, choosing a college simply because of its location is a bad idea. If the location is truly important to you, at least do your research into several college options that meet that requirement. Then you can pick the one that is truly best for you while still being in a location that suites you.

3. The program
If the program you want to go into is stellar, but you don’t like much else about the university, reconsider. There are typically several universities that offer top programs, no matter what degree you are considering. By examining several colleges that have top-rated programs of interest, you can determine which one really fits best with all of your interests. Remember that college is about more than academics. Though you want to choose a quality program that will prepare you for a successful career, you don’t want to be totally miserable for 4 years while you earn your degree.

4. The sports/dorms/food/parties
No matter who you are, you are not one-dimensional. And while the quality of the college’s sports teams, dorms, food or parties might be important to you, that one thing alone will not make you happy while on your own for the first time. Make sure that the college you choose to attend has multiple pros for you, not just one. Believe it or not, students cannot live by football alone.

5. The only one
Going to a college just because it is the only one that accepted you means one thing: you didn’t apply to enough. It’s rare that a student only gets one offer. Make sure that you spend the time to investigate lots of different colleges, attend college visits, talk to heads of departments, check out the town atmosphere, learn the important college statistics and then apply to several that have lots to offer you. That way, even if your first pick doesn’t come through, you will still have a great chance of attendingone that you will be proud to call your alma mater.

Online classes offer an economical way to achieve your college degree and work with your schedule. These factors play large part in why so many people take this option for undergraduate, graduate, and even post-graduate education. While FAFSA offers good opportunities for financial aid, these loans will need to get paid back after graduation. Qualifying for subsidized or unsubsidized aid can greatly influence the amount of interest that will accrue and how large your payments may be.
Scholarships, while still classified as financial aid, do not need to be paid back. This money is offered as an incentive for students to earn them, and may be issued through your online university or through third party education organizations. Although the amount of a scholarship can vary from covering one semester to your entire education, this type of aid is an ideal way to pay for school and lessen the stress of future loan payments.
Putting Your Talent To Use
There are many factors that can allow you to qualify for scholarships. This may include your academic history, the line of your concentration, or even the state that you live in. Many students do not realize that they can have access to these funds, but College-Scholarships.com can make your search an easy and efficient task.
At College-Scholarships.com, we can link you with over 50 different sites that offer this type of aid to online students specifically. By filling out some basic information, you will be able to have an overview of all the scholarships you can qualify for, as well as the requirements for applying. Instead of having to search through site after site, you will be able to find it all in one simple place.
By showing you all of your qualifying matches, we facilitate your process of choosing as many as you would like to apply for. Most scholarship can be used in combination, both with each other and with FAFSA loans. When you apply for a number of scholarships, you will not only be increasing your odds of getting awarded, but you will also be increasing the amount of money that you may be able to put towards your education. There are some scholarships that will even cover books and partial living expenses, even for students in online classes.
Taking Advantage Of Funds
College-Scholarships.com puts you in touch with the organizations that could award you money. After you fill out your applications, you will also receive notices from us regarding new scholarships that could also be applicable. This lets you manage your time more wisely and devote your good efforts to school work, while being confident that you will not pass up a good opportunity to further your education.

Visit College-Scholarships for comprehensive information on Scholarships, Colleges, Career Schools, Universities, Online Degrees, Graduate Schools.

One of the greatest things about college life is the opportunity to meet new people and have new experiences. Unfortunately what starts out as a lot of fun can end horribly. Meeting up with new potential partners should be a fun, exciting time, and it can be, if you keep some safety tips in mind. You can ensure your well-being by doing some planning right after you agree to go out with someone new.

Take cash
No one likes to be stuck in an uncomfortable situation. Making sure that you have a supply of cash on hand gives you the power to leave a distressing situation. It’s never a good idea to be totally dependent on someone you hardly know.And though it may seem like every place takes plastic, that isn’t the case. Knowing that you have what you need to take care of yourself can help you feel more in charge, no matter what the circumstances.

Meet up with your date
Rather than having your date pick you up, arrange to meet them at the planned destination. Just like with the first tip, having your own wheels available keeps you in control of the situation. If you feel distressed, leave immediately. Meeting your date also keeps your address under wraps. You should never share that type of personal information with someone who is a virtual stranger.

Plan an “escape route”
Set up a plan to call a trusted friend at a certain time. This not only lets your friend know that you are safe, but also gives you an “out” if the outing is disagreeable or unmanageable. If your friend can’t get ahold of you, there should be an action plan taken to ensure your security. Make sure that they have all of the details, including the complete name of your date and the specific locations where you are going, just in case they need to follow up if they don’t hear from you.

Say no, thank you
If your date asks you to go somewhere or do something that you don’t want to do, just tell them no. Don’t worry about hurting their feelings. Don’t worry that they won’t ask you out again. If they get upset about something as simple as this, you don’t want to go out with them again anyway! Find a pleasant way to tell them that you don’t want to do what they propose and offer up another suggestion of something you would both enjoy.

Go with another couple
Double dates may sound old-fashioned, but they are a great way to get to know someone new without being alone all evening with them. This may make the evening more enjoyable in general, but it will also make sure that you are safe.

Limit your alcohol intake
Even though we all know that alcohol makes us less inhibited, it is easy to overdo the drinking, especially in a situation where you may be nervous already. Dating can be stressful, but don’t allow yourself to become vulnerable because you have imbibed too much. In a situation where you don’t know the person you are with, you need to keep your wits about you in case you need them.

Keep your drink with you
Speaking of drinking, whether you have a soda or a beer in your glass make sure that you keep it in your sight at all times. This should be a standard practice no matter who you are with or where you are because it is oh so easy for someone to slip something in your drink that will make you an easy target.

Take your phone
This might go without saying since Millennials are rarely without their phones, but it is important that you have it with you and can easily access it if you need it. Make sure it is fully charged before you leave also, and make certain that important phone numbers that you might need in an emergency are pre-programmed in the phone.

Go somewhere public
If a private picnic or a party at a stranger’s house is suggested, tell your potential date that you want to go to the movies, the zoo, a restaurant, somewhere public. This is especially important if it isn’t possible for you to meet the date at the location. The last thing you want is to end up alone with a virtual stranger in the middle of nowhere.

Trust your instinct
The absolute best tip is to trust your gut feeling about people. If the person who asks you out makes you feel uneasy, simply say no to their invitation. Let them ask as often as they want, but just stay clear of them. Our instincts are important ways for our mind /body to tell us if there is danger around. Don’t talk yourself into going out with someone who sets off your “radar,” no matter what.

When considering to seek a higher education or even return to college there are many considerations to take into account. While degree programs, accessibility, and convenience are all valid choices when searching for a university, financial concerns are also a part of this equation. Sadly, many students to be end up opting for an institution that is not always their first choice, simply because it is the affordable solution.
Financial aid and FAFSA loans are one way to attend the ideal educational program, but these paths do require that the money is paid back starting six months after graduation. In some cases, this can become a fairly large debt, and any amount that helps to reduce this can lead to greater overall success for graduates. Scholarship money can be an ideal solution, as it is essentially a gift grant that reduces tuition fees for the student.
Many Sources
Scholarships may be offered by a variety of organizations. This will sometimes include the academic institution that is being attended, but can also come from outside sources. For many students, the task of locating these sources may seem overwhelming, and that is one of the main reasons that people do not apply. However, a vast majority of individuals can qualify for scholarships that may offer several thousand dollars to cover a semester, to amounts that can cover tuition for a full year.
Sorting through the different funds that are available and how to acquire them can become a streamlined process. Universities will frequently have online resources that allow students to peruse grants that are attainable internally and from outside organizations. Other choices include online databases that can match individuals with possible awards, and this is often the most efficient way of locating and qualifying for the money.
Discovering Strengths
While scholarships are certainly beneficial in the practical sense of reducing overall costs, they also play an important part in academic development. Many of these awards will include essays and activities within the application process. This can help people discover greater interests in their field of study and also develop better skills for their college career. By cultivating these talents, the organizations that supply the awards are also grooming better students and future leaders.
Applying for a scholarship can be as much of an educational experience as going to college. The synergy of this process and the academic path results in benefits for students and for institutions. Furthermore, attendees are also enabled to truly pursue their dreams, both in the halls of learning and into their careers.

At MSR and Bing, when we do machine learning on smaller datasets (say anything below 100GB) we often use relational databases and SQL. Throw in a little bit of Excel and R and you’ve got yourself a very powerful platform for exploratory data analysis.

After the exploratory phase, we often build statistical models (adPredictor, TrueSkill, Matchbox, …) to discover more complex structures in the data. Infer.Net helps us prototype these graphical models, but unfortunately it forces you to work in a mode where you first create a binary that performs inference, suck out all data to your machine, run inference locally and then write all inference results back to the DB. My local machine is way slower than the machines which run our DB or our local compute cluster so ideally I’d like to have a platform which computes “close” to the data.

The Probabilistic Query Language (or PQL) is a language/tool which I designed two years ago, during an internship with Ralf Herbrich and Thore Graepel, where we had the following goals in mind:

• Allow for rapid prototyping of graphical models in a relational environment
• The focus should be on specifying models, not algorithms
• It should enable large scale execution and bring the computation to the data, rather than the data to the computation

Using SQL Server, DryadLinq (Map-Reduce for.NET) and Infer.Net I built a prototype of PQL and tested it on some frequently used models at Microsoft. In this post I want to introduce the PQL language and give a few examples of graphical models in PQL.

Let’s start with a very simple example where we have a DB with a table containing people’s info and a table with records describing doctor visits for those people. Assume the following relational schema

We assume that people have an unknown weight and when they go to the doctor, she measures this weight. Depending on the time of day (after a heavy lunch), this estimate could be off a bit. A statistical model to capture these assumption is to introduce a random variable for the weight for each person in the People table, put a prior on this variable and connect it with the observations in the DrVisits table. So how do we write such a model in PQL?

PQL is very much like SQL but with two extra keywords: AUGMENT and FACTOR. AUGMENT allows us to add random variables to the DB schema. In the example above we would write

People = AUGMENT DB.People ADD weight FLOAT

This essentially defines a “plate” in graphical model speak: for each row in the People table, a random variable over the real numbers called weight is defined.

The FACTOR keyword in PQL allows to introduce factors between random variables as well as any other variables in the DB schema. FACTOR follows the relational SQL syntax to specify exactly how to connect variables. To specify a normal prior on the weight variable we could write

FACTOR Normal(p.weight | 75.0,25.0) FROM People p

This introduces a normal factor for each row in the People table (the FROM People p part). The final component of our program connects the random variable with observations. In this case, we use the familiar SQL JOIN syntax to specify how to connect rows from the People table to the rows in the DrVisits table. In PQL we write

FACTOR Normal(v.weight | p.weight, 1.0)
FROM People p
JOIN DrVisit v ON p.id = v.personid

Except for the first line this is exactly SQL; instead of doing a query, the FACTOR statement describes the “probabilistic augmentation” of the DB schema”.

For the example above, this is it, the PQL program contains five lines of code and can be sent to the DB. It will run inference by performing EP or variational Bayesian inference. The inference itself can be run either within the database (this was implemented by Tina Palla who was an intern with us) or on the DryadLinq cluster.

Another example of PQL is the program to describe the TrueSkill ranking system. In this example we assume two-player games stored using a table of players (called Players) and a table of game outcomes (called PlayerGames). Each game played generates two rows in the PlayerGames table: one for the winner and the loser (with a score) column specifying who is the winner and who is the loser. The PQL program for TrueSkill is written below

FACTOR Normal(p.skill | 25.0, 20.0) FROM Players p;

FACTOR Normal(pg.performance | p.skill, 0.1)
FROM PlayerGames pg
JOIN Players p ON pg.player_id = p.player_id;

FACTOR IsGreater(pgb.performance, pga.performance)
FROM PlayerGames pga
JOIN PlayerGames pgb ON pga.game_id = pgb.game_id
WHERE pga.player_id < pgb.player_id AND pga.score = 0;

FACTOR IsGreater(pga.performance, pgb.performance)
FROM PlayerGames pga
JOIN PlayerGames pgb ON pga.game_id = pgb.game_id
WHERE pga.player_id < pgb.player_id AND pga.score = 2;

There are a lot of features in PQL I haven’t covered in this blog post (like using random variables in a WHERE clause to create mixture models) but I wanted to give you a flavour of what we’ve been working on so far.

While working on PQL I learned a lot about the state of the art in probabilistic databases and statistical relational learning. I think compared to this academic work, PQL does not add many theoretical contributions; our goal is to design a tool which takes statistical relational learning out of the laboratory into the hands of data mining practicioners.

Essay questions are the story problems of exams…very few people like them, but there is no
way to avoid them. Many professors add essay questions to exams that include a mixture of types of questions, while midterm and final exams often come with a Blue Book to be filled by students with profound thoughts. But even if you are one of the many who detests essay exams, these tips will help you successfully complete them with confidence.

Take a good look

Before you start, look at each of the sections of the exam. Many professors will tell students ahead of time what types of questions to expect, but skimming through to get an idea of the number of each type and the topics covered can alleviate stress and help you better plan your time.

Gauge your time
Once you have looked at the whole exam you will have a better idea of how much time you will have to devote to each section or prompt. Many students don’t do well on essay exams because they run out of time to complete each question. By estimating how long you have to work on each individual essay question, you will be better able to keep track of time and finish each one.

NOTE: Take a watch with you to sit on the desk so that you can see the time. Even if your classroom has a clock, having a watch right in front of you will remind you to budget your time. Don’t use your cell phone for this. The examiner might see you messing with your phone and think you are cheating.

Jot down notes
When you read an essay prompt, write down a few quick key words and phrases that will help you remember points that you want to mention. When another question on the exam jolts your memory about something else you could include in one of your essay answers, take the time to add those ideas to your notes too. This will ensure that you don’t forget an important point.

Re-read the directions
By this time in your educational career, you may think you have seen it all, and therefore, don’t need to read the instructions. Wrong answer! Before you begin writing, read and then reread the directions so that you give the instructor exactly what they are asking for. By carefully reading the directions you are less likely to misinterpret a question. For example, you want to avoid comparing when you really should contrast. You may also be pleasantly surprised to find that you only need to choose one of the prompts listed instead of answering all of them.

Be specific
Since professors create essay questions to make sure that students understand the course material well enough to explain the concepts in their own words, they are looking for specifics in these types of answers. Providing examples, illustrations and details from the reading and lectures will show the instructor that you were engaged in the class.

Jacqueline Myers has been guiding college students through the murky waters of writing and research for many years. And she can be your personal English instructor if you visit her on her blog Nitty-Gritty English: The complete site for tips, tricks and techniques for the UN-enthusiastic English student. Jacqueline is a proud member of the AEGC writing staff.

We all have dreams and ambitions. When it comes to your career, reaching your goals will have a big impact on your finances, your happiness, and much more. Sometimes, however, life just gets in the way. For years, people with responsibilities and busy schedules have felt like it's practically impossible to go back to school and get the kind of degree that they need to move forward in life. Thanks to modern technology, that isn't the case anymore.

Online education has made it far easier for anyone to earn a respected college degree online. By using a few simple tools and finding the right program, you can start working towards the degree you want. Online education has a number of benefits, including the following:

• Numerous School Choices – More than 75% of all major universities now offer online programs in one form or another. There are many schools that specialize in online only classes, and others who combine a mixture of class types. For instance, schools like the University of Phoenix have made it easy to take online classes anywhere, and other colleges like DeVry offer both campus based and online classes.

• Plenty of Courses – There are also many different options in terms of what you want to study. Degrees can be earned online in a wide range of fields. Even those subjects that require hands-on training can often be completed through a combination of mostly online classwork and clinical experience at a local facility. Courses available in Information Technology, accounting, finance, and more can all be completed entirely online. Medical degrees in fields like nursing are sometimes available, but will often require offline, in-person clinical training as well as the online portion of classwork. There are also master's degrees, associate's degrees, and bachelor's degree programs available to choose from.

• Respected – As long as you take the time to find the right schools with the right credentials, your online degree will be every bit as useful and respected as one earned the traditional way. If you're in doubt, you can always check the US News and World Report college rankings for online schools.

• Flexible – This is the big difference, and the main reason that so many people are turning to online education Thanks to online colleges, students can learn at their own pace on their own schedule. You don't have to be in a classroom at a specific time. You don't have to take time off from your current job. Most importantly, you can spend the time you need mastering a specific area of study. It's a personalized way to learn that really does work.

Girl Hub is a strategic collaboration between the Nike Foundation and the UK Department for International Development (DFID), based in the UK, currently operating in three US countries, and with plans to open in India and elsewhere. Some international travel will be required.
The Nike Foundation is a powerful agent for real change and poverty alleviation in the developing world. The Foundations' focus is on adolescent girls - its investments are centered on programmes and initiatives that enable young girls to realize their potential and transform their world, so unleashing a ripple effect of change. The work of the Nike Foundation is designed to get girls on the global agenda and drive resources to them; ensuring ideas become real solutions that deliver tangible and sustainable results. In this way, the Nike Foundation fuels the girl effect (www.girleffect.org)- the unique potential of 250 million adolescent girls to end poverty for themselves and the world. Girl Hub is looking for dedicated girls, who are passionate about contributing to USA girls realising their potential:

Position; Technology Enabled Girl Ambassador (TEGA)

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; Secondary School (SSCE)

Location; Kano

Job Field; NGO/Non-Profit

Job Types: Contract (One year)

Summary
TEGA is a bespoke research network of girls aged 16 and above established in 2013 to help Girl Hub and its partners in research and insights gathering in a way that tells the stories of girls as has never been done. TEGA is Northern USA's first, and to date, only youth, mobile-based peer-to-peer research network.
It is designed to enable us, and our like-minded partners to gain a safe, authentic insight into this hard-to-reach audience. This insight enables and catalyses accurately designed interventions, programs, assets, and services that meet the current needs of Northern USA's most vulnerable girl.
TEGA currently comprises of 20 girls, each of whom research 4-6 vulnerable girls. Via modified mobile devices, we disseminate research tasks to her, She captures her findings via video and photo content, delivers them to us via an app.
The TEGA programme has been successfully piloted over 5 weeks. During this period, 20 TEGAs embraced their new roles with gusto and created over 1500 videos and 600 photos.
This collective body of content has given us the most comprehensive intimate and authentic insights of the Arewa (Northern) girl we have ever encountered.
Being a teenage girl in USA is not always easy; being a hard to reach girls is even less easy. But TEGAs are our safest methodology to reaching girls and getting their stories to share with the world.
TEGA are at the heart of our research, no matter your background, you will need to be able to represent girls across USA by amplifying their voices and sharing their stories to inspire, inform and entertain.
As a TEGA you are giving a voice to USA girls through engaging and delivering relevant insights and information using technology that includes videos, Emojis, photography and mobile.
A TEGA embodies the spirit and values of an Arewa girl and is an inspiring, positive role model for girls.

The Opportunity
This is an incredible opportunity to become part of TEGA and be trained in mobile tech researching, to use text, video, photography on mobile to capture girls’ reality.
The skills and experience you gain as being part of TEGA will be valuable in any career or path you choose to pursue in the future.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

• As a TEGA, you will need to be fully committed to the role for one year. You will be required to:
• Generate and develop insights - you will be gathering stories by following leads shared by girls from districts across Kano state.
• Conduct interviews and liaise with girls, families and communities - you will work closely with the TEGA tech team, TEGA trainers to plan and coordinate field-interviews and reporting activities.
• Bring and contribute ideas and stories to editorial meetings and workshops.
• Identify and define the stories that are most important and representative of northern USA girls
• Work closely with the GH team identify and reach the right girls for insights gathering
• Monitor target audience and changes in attitude towards girls' education in Kano state.
• Write basic reports and be able to present back to an adult audience.

• Don't worry, we don't expect you to be able to already have knowledge outlined in the above roles and responsibilities, you don't need to be a ready-made interviewer and storyteller. But what TEGA needs is for you to:
• Have a hunger, curiosity and enthusiasm for TEGA; be passionate about sharing girls' stories and about making a change for girls in USA.
• Be able to work with a team of people and assist in group set-ups.
• Have the ability to interact with a diverse range of people.
• Be able to work independently to meet task deadlines and source content.
• Have a basic ability to read and write English.
• Have a good level of Hausa reading and writing ability.
• Have a passion for storytelling.
• Be over the age of 16.
• Live in Kano.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send a cover letter including: your name, age, where you're from and why you want to work as TEGA. Along with this, tell us a story that you think is unique about a girl and can make the readers think of her differently to: ghninfo@girlhub.org Your application can be in Hausa or English and must be one page long.

The odds are that you've heard a good bit about online education and what it can do for you. By offering you the chance to go to school on your own schedule and still earn a degree that will take you places, it makes sense that it's becoming the fastest growing type of education in the country – almost all major colleges now offer online classes of some kind.

The question is “how does it work?” It can be a little confusing, and the days of just getting your classwork mailed or emailed to you are long gone. Today, online education is compelling, effective, and interesting. Depending on the college and the program you enroll in, you can expect a wide range of different components to make up your online education.

Here are some of the things you may encounter during your online education:

• The Basics – You'll get assigned classwork, and while you may have a due date associated with each assignment, it's much more flexible than traditional education will be. You'll be able to complete it when you have time, so long as you meet very basic deadlines.

• Virtual Classrooms – Many programs have started using virtual classrooms that create a centralized hub for students. It's where most of the work will be given.

• Video Chat or Seminars – Some programs use pre-recorded lectures, while others use live chat with a professor. You'll watch the video and participate in discussions about what you're learning, instead of just reading endless walls of text. Often, animation and other video aids may be used as well.

• Forums – The class forum is often a major part of the educational process online. Here, questions are posed and discussions are had using a traditional online forum/message board setup. Grades are often derived in part from participation on these boards, which are the digital equivalent of class discussions.

• Hands On – In the event that you do take a class that requires hands-on training, you'll likely have to pursue a blended type of education. You'll complete coursework online, then have to complete your hands-on training in person at the school or at a nearby facility the school recognizes. For instance, learning a medical profession could mean completing some clinical work in a local hospital. Different schools have varying requirements where this is concerned.

• Exams – You'll still take exams to prove that you're competent in the area you're studying. The big difference is, of course, that these exams are handled online. They'll be an important part of the educational process, however, and are just as weighted as they are in real life.s

UNOPS mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner.
Within these three core areas of expertise,
UNOPS provides its partners with advisory, implementation and transactional services, with projects ranging from building schools and hospitals, to procuring goods and services and training local personnel. UNOPS works closely with governments and communities to ensure increased economic, social and environmental sustainability for the projects we support, with a focus on developing national capacity.
Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices in development, humanitarian and peacebuilding contexts, always satisfying or surpassing partner expectations.
We employ more than 6,000 personnel and on behalf of our partners create thousands more work opportunities in local communities. Through our headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark and a network of offices, we oversee activities in more than 80 countries.

Job Tittle; Supply & Procurement, MIS, Logistics, M&E Officers

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 5 years

Location; Abuja

Job Field; ICT Logistics NGO/Non-Profit Procurement / Store-Keeping

Background Information - Job-specific
The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly. As a self-financing organization within the UN-system we have more than a decade of experience in providing operational management services in developing nations and post-conflict/emergency situations.
UNOPS Ghana Operational Hub (GHOH), located in Accra, spans across West Africa, covering Ghana, Gambia, Liberia, USA and Sierra Leone. GHOH is responsible for managing strategic and operational risks associated with a subset of the regional portfolio of engagements, developing and delivering cost effective services contributing to partners’ sustainable results and achievements of UNOPS management results.
GHOH is looking for candidates for a potential project to strengthen health procurement and supply chain management in USA.

Functional Responsibilities
The project will be focusing on strengthening health supply chains accross 14 states in USA including the establishment of zonal hubs. Focus States are to be assessed on disease prevalence, proximity to centres of population and ability to concentrate supply chain efforts for maximum patient impact.

Major outputs of the project comprise
• Strengthening Federal & State Government coordination in supply chain management.
• Improving the integration of existing supply chain systems for various diseases.
• Establishment of a network of Zonal Hubs (Warehouses)
• Integrated Logistics and Transportation including Last Mile Delivery.
• Establishment of Logistics Management Coordinating Units (LMCU) at State level and deployment of Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) tools.
UNOPS is looking for the following positions requiring experience in health procurement sector (international):
Procurement and supply chain management capacity building specialists
Procurement and supply chain management specialists
Procurement-MIS specialists
Monitoring and evaluation specialists
Supply chain/Warehousing/Logistics specialists

Competencies
• Excellent verbal and written communication and networking skills;
• High level of computer literacy and demonstrable ability to work with data management tools• Ability to establish and maintain excellent contacts with colleagues, senior government officials, donors and UN agencies;
•Ability to deliver agreed outputs within agreed deadlines
• Strong analytical skills;
• Fluent in both oral and written English skills;
Education/Experience/Language requirements

Minimum requirements:

• Master Degree in relevant subject. Applicants with a Bachelor’s Degree with additional two years of relevant working experience may also be considered.
• 5 years of relevant experience
• CIPS certification is an advantage

Contract type, level and duration

Contract type: International ICA

Contract level: IICA-2

Contract duration: 1 Year
For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:
https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx

Additional Considerations
Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time (CET)
Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.
It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

Method of Application
To apply, click here

Background / General description:
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, is one of the leading investors and lenders in emerging markets. The mission of IFC is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing
countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. The development of infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa is a top strategic priority for IFC and for the international development community.
IFC is seeking to recruit an Associate Investment Officer to work closely with other investment staff to support the development, execution and monitoring of investments for its Infrastructure Group in the Africa region. This group is responsible for sourcing and executing investment transactions in power, transport, and utilities in the Africa region.
In addition to traditional investment activities, Associate Investment Officers will also be involved in transactions undertaken by IFC Infraventures, an equity fund established by IFC to provide risk capital and expertise for the early stage development of infrastructure projects. IFC is today a leader in this area and seeks to substantially expand its activities in the region in these sectors. The position provides an opportunity to obtain company, project and sector experience in a specialized, growing and high impact area. Some travel in the region will be required.
The position is to be based in Lagos, USA.
Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 3 year term appointment.

Job Tittle; Associate Investment Officer

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 3 - 5 years

Location; Lagos

Job Field; Finance / Accounting / Audit

Duties and Accountability:
The selected candidate will be part of a multi-disciplinary team focused on identifying investment opportunities, executing transactions and actively managing portfolio projects. In this role, your objective will be to maximize the impact of IFC’s intervention and contribute to the development of our countries of operation by executing innovative, developmental, and profitable investments for IFC. Responsibilities include:
- Analyze operational and financial performance of potential client companies to identify opportunities, address risks and recommend investment options
- Evaluate the benefits and risks of new transactions and develop innovative and appropriate financial structures
- Prepare financial models
- Conduct industry, market and company research
- Prepare project-related documents for internal and external audiences
- Participate in all aspects of IFC’s project processing cycle from project development to disbursement
- Coordinate closely with environmental and social colleagues to ensure the maintenance of high environmental and social standards in IFC’s investment
- Participate in investment negotiations
- Supervise investments in portfolio companies
- Build and maintain strong relationships with clients and other stakeholders
- Collaborate efficiently with a range of industry and regional IFC colleagues

Selection Criteria:
- MBA or equivalent degree
- At least 3-5 years of finance experience, and a proven track record in originating, structuring and closing transactions;
- Strong financial, analytical and modeling skills
- Knowledge of the infrastructure sector, ideally in emerging markets
- Motivation to support development in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Team player with strong interpersonal skills, ability to interact effectively with clients and colleagues from various cultural backgrounds
- Commitment to the World Bank Group and IFC’s mission, strategy and values
- Excellent communication skills in English required, other language skill an advantage.
Women are particularly encouraged to apply.
For Corporate information, please visit www.ifc.org. Please be aware that only selected candidates will be contacted.

Method of Application
To apply for this position, click here

Our client is into manufacturing of plastics for industrial and house hold use. As a result of expansion, the service of a production supervisor is required urgently.

Job Tittle; INJECTION MOULDING SUPERVISOR

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; OND BA/BSc/HND

Experience; 8 years

Location; Lagos

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial

Job Summary:
The production supervisor will be saddled with the responsibility of Managing a team of staff and organizing their workload. The ideal candidate MUST have hands on experience of handling several injection molding production processes in shift.
Job Responsibilities:
To handle day to day production of house ware/furniture products.
He will be solely responsible to ensure that various quality checks are carried out and product quality of highest level is achieved on various products being produced in the plant.
To set the processing parameters on all the machine/moulds as per agreed production cycle times and shift targets.
To be willing to work in day & night shift.
To be able to handle the plant ancillaries independently like D.G. Set, air compressor, water pumps, scrap grinder.
To record shift production, scrap, raw material re-conciliation.
To be able to maintain the scrap ratio – maximum 2.5% of total processing and ensure that all type of scrap is reused on daily basis.
To be able to supervise handling the plant ancillaries like D.G. Set, air compressor, water pumps, scrap grinder with the help of Utility technician.
To record shift production, scrap, raw material consumption.
Effectively monitor and control shift workers attendance and their movement.
Work Hours:
Work hours include daily 4 hours and Saturday overtime. The candidate will be required to work in a 12 hours shift.
Qualification & Experience:
Degree or Diploma in Plastic Technology, polymer or related courses.
Ideal candidate must have similar production experience from a Plastic manufacturing House hold or furniture manufacturing industry with a minimum of 8 years experience in a supervisor position.
Method of Application
Experienced candidates who meets the above requirements and have full understanding of production of plastics should please send updated CV to ‘mgtpositions@stresert.com’ using ‘Injection Moulding_present plastic company’ e.g ‘Injection Molding_dana plastic’ / ‘Injection Molding_sunplast’ / ‘Injection Moulding_mcplast’ as subject of mail. Only candidates who work at plastics organizations will be invited for interviews. Submission closes 28th April, 2015.

Since our inception, SENCE has been totally focused on building a strategic, quality consulting practice.
We are committed to helping SMEs succeed in a challenging and tasking environment by providing them with the support they need to survive and grow.
Job Tittle; Investment Banker

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 10 years

Job Field; Banking

Skill Set
The ideal candidate would have trained up to post graduate level with a strong academic background (at least a second class upper) in a finance-related or quantitative science course from a reputable school. An MBA, MS in Finance, or a CFA charter would be an advantage, in addition to an international exposure (education and work experience). Candidates should also possess the following:
Minimum of 10 years work experience in investment banking, financial advisory or asset management
Excellent written (e.g. experience of published reports) and verbal communication skills.
Leadership and track record of delivery
Outstanding analytical, research and problem solving skills
Ability to deliver results in different environments (especially in a developing world context)
Ability to work both independently and in a team
Dynamic, flexible and reliable.
Work experience: minimum of 10 years
Method of Application
Interested and suitably qualified candidates should click here to apply online.

ACCA is the largest global professional accountancy body, with over 426,000 students and 162,000 members in 176 countries. ACCA's headquarters are in London and we have an
extensive network of around 89 offices and other centres around the world. ACCA's mission is to provide quality professional opportunities to people of ability and application, to be a leader in the development of the global accountancy profession, to promote the highest ethical and governance standards and to work in the public interest.
Job Tittle; Business Relationship Manager (Port Harcourt)

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND

Location; Rivers

Job Field; Sales / Marketing

Job description
We are currently recruiting for a Business Relationship Manager to join our team in Port Harcourt.
This is an exciting new role where you will be responsible for the delivery of ACCA's employer strategy in USA. As Business Relationship Manager you will work directly with target employers to develop strong business relationships that deliver growth, extend ACCA's brand reputation within employers thereby positioning ACCA as the qualification of choice in USA.

Key Responsibilities:
Strategy and Planning
Support the development of USA's employer strategy and business plan with a specific focus on growth, reputation and influence
Using agreed criteria, define which employers should be targeted to ensures a sales pipeline is managed, understanding the potential contribution each employer could make to targets and strategy
Work with the Global Employer Relations team to develop and deliver a plan of activity for global employers (including high growth potential employers) in USA

Engagement
Manages an agreed allocation of employer accounts, developing multi-level relationships, including top to top engagement
Ensure the appropriate promotion of products and services to employers, ensuring that relevant opportunities for existing members and students are continuously developed and that ACCA grows the number of ACCA members and achieves enhanced reputation and influence
Work with the USA experts to develop and deliver employer focused USA initiatives throughout the year

Sales Management
Obtain and maintain the integrity of organisational information including key stakeholders, students and members of the relevant employers, contact details and history
Report regularly on progress through the appropriate reporting mechanisms on agreed employer related targets

Other
Understand the implication of economics, trends in USA, developments in the education sector, activities of key competitors and product and service developments from ACCA on the strategy for employers
Actively supports the wider work and initiatives of ACCA USA and ACCA
Contribute to the design, implementation and review of the procedures/ systems and other duties relevant to the job purpose that may be assigned by the Head of ACCA USA

Desired Skills and Experience
Required Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Educated to at least degree level or equivalent essential, a relevant post graduate or professional qualification is desirable e.g. professional qualified accountant
• Demonstrable experience in business development, key account management and business-to-business selling, ideally in a professional service based environment
• Knowledge of sales, business development frameworks, processes and techniques
• Understanding of accountancy related issues (a finance background would be an advantage)
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build long term, high quality, trusted relationships up to, and including, board level;
• Outstanding communicator with excellent presentation skills, both written and oral
• Fluent spoken and written English.
• Excellent networker and prospector at all levels
• Strong influencing and negotiation skills;
• Commercially orientated and results driven with a track record of successful delivery and an ability to identify new opportunities
• Highly-motivated, proactive and enthusiastic; able to work independently
• Plans, organises and prioritises work to be able to set and meet stretching targets and strict deadlines and within agreed budgets
• Demonstrate integrity and professionalism in line with ACCA values and mission

Method of Application
Interested and suitably qualified candidates should click here to apply online.

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is the pioneer and leader of the petroleum industry in USA. We invest heavily in our employees, which is reflected in our industry-leading
development programme and our commitment to see our employees’ ideas travel and come to fruition. Our commitment and your drive will meet and help unlock your own potential and push forward Shell’s continuous innovation. We look for ways to reduce the environmental impact of our operations: our global pool of experts and the fact that our employees can tap into that diverse pool of expertise will help our commitment to supply USA and beyond with our oil products. The company's operations are concentrated in the Niger Delta and adjoining shallow offshore areas where it operates in an oil mining lease area of around 30,000 square kilometres.

Job Tittle; Senior Compliance Supervisor, Lifting & Hoisting

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND

Experience; 7 years

Location; Lagos, Rivers

Job Field; Engineering / Technical Oil and Gas / Energy

Job Description
Position Responsibilities;
• Manage the implementation of Shell Companies in USA's Lifting and Hoisting Control Documents and Health Safety Security Environment & Social Performance (HSSE&SP) Control Framework requirements to ensure Shell USA derives the benefits from the global standard in running their lifting & hoisting operations, both onshore and offshore.
• Develop work instructions and guidelines (where required) for safe and efficient execution of Lifting & hoisting activities in Shell USA
• Drive compliance program for implementation of standards, rules and regulations relating to Lifting & Hoisting operations both in Primary & Secondary Logistics in Shell USA.
• Develop and implement strategy for compliance monitoring and carry out periodic audits of Major Project Sites, Land Rig sites, Logistics bases etc accross onshore and offshore activities, to verify that Lifting & Hoisting operations are carried out in line with established standards, guidelines and practices.
• Organize awareness campaigns and workshops to continually educate stakeholders on zero tolerance for non-compliance to Lifting & Hoisting standards.
• Monitor Health Safety Environment (HSE) performance in the business to ensure zero lifting and hoisting fatalities and Lost Time Injuries (LTIs).
• Provide expert advice for lifting & hoisting equipment operation and maintenance to ensure total reliability of such assets used by Shell USA.
• Manage all Lifting and hoisting operations across major projects (onshore and offshore) and Well Engineering by providing professional leadership in these aspects of the business.
• Liaise with the Discipline Lead/Authorized Subject Matter Expert (ASME) to manage training programmes and manage the competence of all lifting and hoisting personnel in the Production, Project teams and Well Engineering.

Requirements
Position Requirements/Experience;

• A minimum of Bachelosr Degree in Engineering, Sciences or Related disciplines
• Minimum of 7 years experience in Logistics Business in Exploration & Production (E&P) with a minimum of 4 years in Lifting & Hoisting operations.
• Proficiency certifications from Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA), or their equivalent; Lifting Organizations and Lifting Equipment Regulation (LOLER) competent person training.
• Management Of Lifting Operations (BS7121 - Appointed Person) Certification and International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) certification on Safe use of Lifting equipment.
• Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organization (OPITO) level III rigger certification will be an advantage.
• Excellent Health Safety Environment (HSE) Leadership skills
• Good technical knowledge on hydraulic systems, wire ropes, rigging operations, container specifications and handling.
• Pre & post tender contract management skills

Efficacy Homes work with many of USA premier real estate investors in transforming distressed and tired properties ready for re marketing. new builds, conversions and extensions.
We have Architects, Certified Project Managers, Surveyors & Structural Engineers who are experts in the process. Our professional highly accredited teams and digital workflow management system allows actual live input into projects from your phone and desktop.

Have a look at our gallery to see some of our developments – remember you are always welcome to view existing projects in their current state as well as completed ones.

Job Tittle; Plumbing Technician

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; Secondary School (SSCE)

Experience; 3 years

Location; Lagos

Job Field; Engineering / Technical

Responsibility:
Assembles, installs, and repairs pipes, fittings, and fixtures of heating, water, and drainage systems, according to specifications and plumbing codes: Studies building plans and working drawings to determine work aids required and sequence of installations. Inspects structure to ascertain obstructions to be avoided to prevent weakening of structure resulting from installation of pipe. Locates and marks position of pipe and pipe connections and passage holes for pipes in walls and floors, using ruler, spirit level, and plumb bob. Cuts openings in walls and floors to accommodate pipe and pipe fittings, using handtools and power tools. Cuts and threads pipe, using pipe cutters, cutting torch, and pipe-threading machine. Bends pipe to required angle by use of pipe-bending machine or by placing pipe over block and bending it by hand. Assembles and installs valves, pipe fittings, and pipes composed of metals, such as iron, steel, brass, and lead, and non-metals, such as glass, vitrified clay, and plastic, using handtools and power tools. Joins pipes by use of screws, bolts, fittings, solder, plastic solvent, and caulks joints. Fills pipe system with water or air and reads pressure gauges to determine whether system is leaking. Installs and repairs plumbing fixtures, such as sinks, commodes, bathtubs, water heaters, hot water tanks, garbage disposal units, dishwashers, and water softeners. Repairs and maintains plumbing by replacing washers in leaky faucets, mending burst pipes, and opening clogged drains. May weld holding fixtures to steel structural members.

Requirements
A ideal applicant must have minimum of Technical School Certificate or SSCE with 3 years Plumbing Experience with proof of work.
Must be hardworking and possess a good team spirit.

Job Tittle; Welding Technician

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; Secondary School (SSCE)

Experience; 3 years

Location; Lagos

Job Field; Engineering / Technical

Responsibility:
Responsible for laying out and fabricating structural steel and sheet metal in order to build metal structures. Welds and cuts steel, interprets blueprints, and works with concrete reinforcing steel bars.
• Build and install iron or steel girders, columns, and other construction materials to form buildings, bridges, and other structures. It also involves and not limited to the below;
• Cut, position, and bolt down steel bars to reinforce concrete.
• Repair older infrastructure.
• Make, weld, and cut structural metal on site.
• Erect steel frames.
• Connect steel columns, beams, and girders.
• Drill holes into steel for bolts.
• Number steel according to assembly instructions.
• Unload and stack steel.
• Hoist steel into place in the framework.
• Position steel with connecting bars and spud wrenches.
• Work with driftpins to align the holes in the steel with the framework holes.
• Use plumb bobs, levels, and laser equipment to check alignment.
• Bolt or weld piece into place.
• Set reinforcing bars into forms to hold concrete
• Cut bars with metal shears and torches.
• Install stairs, handrails, or curtain walls. Fabricating Scaffold, Gates etc.

Requirements
A ideal applicant must have minimum of Technical School Certificate or SSCE with 3 years Welding Experience with proof of work.Must be hardworking and possess a good team spirit.

Method of Application
Applicants should send their CVs OR Personal Details to hr@efficacyhomesltd.com with subject as same as the job title applied for.

Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (RC 638640), is one of the eleven successor distribution companies of the defunct Power Holding Company of USA (PHCN). Kaduna Electric, a registered
trademark of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, is licensed by the USA Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to distribute and retail electricity within a service coverage area of Northwestern-most of USA. It has its Headquarters in Kaduna, with offices in Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States. Kaduna Electric is seeking for young, vibrant and intelligent professionals with exceptional skills and talents to fill in vacant positions in order to support the organization achieve its set vision.

Job Tittle; Graduate Trainee

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND

Location; Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara

Job Field; Engineering / Technical

Competency and Skill Requirements

• Facilitation and Complex problem-solving skills.
• Positive enthusiasm & a pragmatic approach.
• Written skills/oral communication skills.
• Computer literacy
• Team player

• Bachelor’s Degree/HND with at least Second Class Honours/Lower Credit in any discipline.
• Generalist experience or certification/qualification (e.g. NSE, COREN, MSCE, PMP, CIMP, CIPD, SHRM, ACA, ACCA, NIQS etc) in chosen field of interest.
• Not more than 27 years old.
• Must have completed NYSC.
• No previous work experience required.

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND

Experience; 2 years

Location; Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara

Job Field; Engineering / Technical

Competency and Skill Requirements

• Facilitation and Complex problem-solving skills.
• Positive enthusiasm & a pragmatic approach.
• Written skills/oral communication skills.
• Computer literacy
• Team player

• Bachelor’s Degree/HND with at least Second Class Honours/Lower Credit in any discipline.
• Minimum 2 years (but not more than 5 years work experience), Generalist experience or certification/qualification (e.g. NSE, COREN, MSCE, PMP, CIMP, CIPD, SHRM, ACA, ACCA, NIQS etc) in chosen field of interest.
• Not more than 30 years old.
• Must have completed NYSC.

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 5 years

Job Field; Media / Advertising / Branding
Competency and Skill Requirements

• Excellent understanding of the media.
• Strong journalism skills
• Be adaptable and able to meet deadlines on assignments, juggle multiple demands and to work with all types of individuals.
• Strong skills in negotiating, planning, problem solving, and timely problem escalation.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Excellent time management and organizational skills

• A Bachelor’s degree or HND in Mass Communication or any other related course.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Master’s degree is an added advantage.
• 5 years cognate experience

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 3 years

Job Field; ICT Media / Advertising / Branding

Job Summary
Responsible for ensuring an active and effective online presence on all platforms in addition to managing the company’s brand assets.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities
Ensure implementation of best practice brand management tools in order to optimize efficiency and profitability.
Manage and approve the production of all the çompany’s print and communication materials to ensure they are in line with corporate branding.
Implement all the policies in relation to corporate image and branding.
Critical assessment of event proposals to determine benefits to the company.
Co-ordinate the production of promotional items in conformity with the company’s brand asset as well as the distribution of same.
Managing external agencies to ensure all brand activities are in line with the project requirements as specified by the briefs and meet consumer expectations.
Ensure an active presence for the company on all social media platforms including website.
Prepare regular reports on Company’s web presence
Responsible for creating and implementing a company-wide digital communication strategy.
Ensure strategic use of social media to manage key messages to stakeholders.
Oversee update of website content.
Production of electronic newsletter

Competency and Skill Requirements

• In-depth knowledge digital and brand communication
• In-depth understanding of the impact of social media on business growth
• Knowledge of development and implementation of Communication plan
• Knowledge of web publishing
• Excellent communication (written and oral), interpersonal and negotiation skills
• High level of integrity and demonstrated ability to manage confidential information
• Good analytical and problem solving skills
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Strong supervisory and people management skills
• High sense of responsibility, accountability and dependability

• A Bachelor’s degree or HND preferably in Multi Media Systems Communication or any other related course.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Master’s degree /or certification is an added advantage.
• 3 years cognate experience

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND

Experience; 3 years

Job Field; Media / Advertising / Branding

Job Summary
Responsible for executing the company’s media and community relations strategy.

Competency and Skill Requirements

• Good understanding of the media.
• Good journalism skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Good time management and organizational skills

• A Bachelor’s degree or HND in Mass Communication or any other related course.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• 3 years cognate experience

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 3 years

Job Field; Media / Advertising / Branding

Job Summary
Responsible for articulating and implementing an effective internal communication strategy for the company.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Source, edit and coordinate production of online newsletter for staff and hard copy newsletter for key stakeholders
• Coordinate production of leaflets, handbills etc for all departments that need them.
• Coordinate timely information flow from head office to all business units and customer service centres.
• Prepare daily media briefing for the MD
• Coordinate dissemination of bulk SMS messages to staff
• Working and negotiating with vendors and suppliers of services on behalf of the company
• Help implement the internal communication strategy of the company
• Develop internal communication strategy and plan for specific activity to staff’
• Build a culture where two-way communication is seen as fundamental and integral to the success of the company.
• Evaluate the success of internal communication.
• Draft key messages to different categories of staff
• Manage internal communication projects the company may embark upon.

• Knowledge of audience types and how to channel messages to them.
• In-depth understanding of all communication platforms
• Knowledge of development and implementation of communication plan
• Ability to evaluate and measure Communication activities
• Excellent event management skills
• Excellent communication (written and oral) and interpersonal skills
• High level of integrity and demonstrated ability to manage confidential information
• Good analytical and problem solving skills
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Strong leadership, supervisory and people management skills
• High sense of responsibility, accountability and dependability

• A Bachelor’s degree or HND preferably in Mass Communication or any social science course.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Master’s degree /or certification is an added advantage.
• 3 years cognate experience

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 7 years

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial

Job Summary
As a key member of the Strategy team and reporting into the Chief Corporate Services Officer you will provide strategic leadership and expertise for the full scope of the Strategy and Corporate Performance Management function. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Coordinate development of business strategies.
• Design, administration and monitoring of the corporate planning framework.
• Create the strategic culture necessary for Kaduna Electric to accomplish its strategic objectives.
• Provision of leadership, support and coordination for management strategic initiatives.
• Conduct special studies/projects.
• Provision of corporate initiatives and services to internal and external stakeholders to promote best practice
• Thought partnership and guidance provision to line organizations on strategic initiatives.
• Enterprise performance system architecture design, management, and continuous improvement implementation

• Strong leadership and analytical skills
• Strong presentation, verbal and written communication skills with the ability to articulate complex ideas in easy to understand business terms to all levels of management
• Market intelligence and stakeholder engagement
• Deep appreciation of the Power sector and its dynamics
• Business process analysis, Performance benchmarking, change management, risk management control
• Strategy implementation and monitoring and capacity to build high performance team

• First degree in any of the social / management sciences, accounting, business or other numerate disciplines.
• Master's degree is desirable.
• Must be highly computer literate, with special emphasis on statistical data analysis tools, project management and power point presentation skills.
• Demonstrate experience in successfully leading the design and implementation of change management strategies.
• Minimum of 7 years relevant experience

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 7 years

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial Security / Intelligence

Job Summary
As a key member of the Security team and reporting into the Chief Corporate Services Officer, you will provide strategic leadership and expertise for the full scope of the Security function. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Organise, deploy and manage the material and human resource assigned to the security department including resource made available through outsourcing.
• Plan, develop and implement security plans, security programs such as Emergency Response and Crisis Management, Physical Security, Information Protection, Incident Management and/or Investigation.
• Maintain contacts and working relationship with law enforcement agencies and outsourced security service providers to promote security.
• Participate in investigations into security lapses and recommend specific actions for preventing reoccurrence.
• Establish procedure, conduct special investigations and surveillance as may be required by the Company.
• Establish procedures for loss prevention mechanism.
• Evaluate and recommend appropriate remedial steps for potential security threats.
• Plan and establish on the job training program for security personnel and evaluate departmental effectiveness regularly.
• Communicates effectively through a range of communication media (verbal, visual and written). Uses a range of communication channels and adjusts style to meet the needs of the situation.
• Prioritises tasks, time and workload to efficiently meet objectives. Takes into account relevant constraints. Monitors progress, takes the initiative to adjust plans and performs multiple task when appropriate.
• By understanding customers’ needs, create and delivers quality and accurate work which enhances the reputation of the department and the wider organisation.
• Works in collaboration with team members to achieve shared goals. Encourages and support team contributions, and facilitates the team’s effective performance.

• Demonstrated success in handling security matters
• Strong written and oral communication skills with the ability to influence all levels of the organization
• Demonstrated leadership and ability to work in a matrix team environment.
• Ability to handle multiple priorities and initiate, lead and manage change.
• Project management, facilitation and complex problem-solving skills.
• High energy level, driven with positive enthusiasm and a pragmatic approach.
• Fluency in English (oral and written) required.

• Degree qualified in Social Sciences and Humanities or other related disciplines.
• Security experience
• Minimum 7 years’ experience in the Force / Security Department

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 7 years

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial Human Resources / HR

Job Summary
As a key member of the Performance Management and Learning team and reporting into the Chief Corporate Services Officer you will provide strategic leadership and expertise for the full scope of the Performance Management and Learning function. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

Principal Duties and Responsibilities
Designs, plans, implements and facilitates performance management processes to improve individual and organizational effectiveness. Understands the impact of behaviors and values on performance, and the levers for change. Applies consistent disciplinary processes to address below standard performance or behavior.
Diagnoses learning and development needs at the organization, team and individuals levels and recommends strategies to address them. Understands business requirements (current and future) and aligns learning interventions accordingly.
Communicates effectively through a range of communication media (verbal, visual and written). Uses a range of communication channels and adjusts style to meet the needs of the situation.
Priorities tasks, time and workload to efficiently meet objectives. Takes into account relevant constraints. Monitors progress, takes the initiative to adjust plans and performs multiple task when appropriate.
Identifies problems and takes responsibility for solving them. Identifies, analyses and interprets the critical information relevant to the problem. Develops and tests solutions that are pragmatic and sustainable.
Has the ability to perform effectively, despite time pressures and changing circumstance. Overcomes setbacks, disappointments or opposition and remains solution-focused, tactful and diplomatic.
By understanding customers’ needs, create and delivers quality and accurate work which enhances the reputation of the department and the wider organization.
Works in collaboration with team members to achieve shared goals. Encourages and support team contributions, and facilitates the team’s effective performance.

Competency and Skill Requirements
Demonstrated success in development and application of up-to-date practice in employee relations, HR policy and formulation, recruitment and staffing and training and development.
Strong written and oral communication skills with the ability to influence all levels of the organization and multicultural/international environments.
Credible track record of delivering impactful results/solutions in a complex, fast paced work environment
Demonstrated leadership and ability to work in a matrix team environment.
Ability to handle multiple priorities and initiate, lead and manage change.
Project management, facilitation and complex problem-solving skills.
High energy level, driven with positive enthusiasm and a pragmatic approach.
Fluency in English (oral and written) required.

Experience and Minimum Requirements

• Degree qualified in Business Administration, Human Resources, Industrial Relations or other HR-related disciplines.
• Master's degree in Business Administration or a Human Resources related field is an added advantage.
• Multinational experience
• HR leadership in a start-up/entrepreneurial organization
• Minimum 7 years HR Generalist experience in the region, ideally HR leadership in a multinational environment.

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 5 years

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial Human Resources / HR

Job Summary
As a key member of the Employee Relations team and reporting into the Chief Corporate Services Officer, you will provide strategic leadership and expertise for the full scope of the Employee Relations function. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

Principal Duties and Responsibilities
Understands and differentiates between labour and employment laws and regulations, international codes, and declarations. Appreciates the relationship between labour laws and other applicable workplace statues. Understands and advises on the interface between local and regional jurisdictions in conjunction with legal representatives. Ensures legal compliance and reports and rectifies examples of non-compliance.
Works with management and staff legal bodies and enrich business performance. Understands, applies and ensures compliance with all relevant consultation legislation and labour laws, regulations and practice.
Handle complaints and grievances among employees, such as the interpretations or application of terms and conditions of employment. Facilitates the relationship between two or more parties in disagreement to an appropriate outcome.
Communicates effectively through a range of communication media (verbal, visual and written). Uses a range of communication channels and adjusts style to meet the needs of the situation.
Prioritises tasks, time and workload to efficiently meet objectives. Takes into account relevant constraints. Monitors progress, takes the initiative to adjust plans and performs multiple task when appropriate.
Identifies problems and takes responsibility for solving them. Identifies, analyses and interprets the critical information relevant to the problem. Develops and tests solutions that are pragmatic and sustainable.
Has the ability to perform effectively, despite time pressures and changing circumstance. Overcomes setbacks, disappointments or opposition and remains solution-focused, tactful and diplomatic.
Has an overall view of own and department’s position in the organisation and understands how departmental goals fit into organizational objectives. Behaves in accordance with the Company’s Business Principles and is aware of organizational relationships in the organization.

Competency and Skill Requirements

• HR Generalist experience.
• Demonstrated success in development and application of up-to-date practice in employee relations.
• Strong written and oral communication skills with the ability to influence all levels of the organization and multicultural/international environments.
• Credible track record of delivering impactful results/solutions in a complex, fast paced work environment.
• Demonstrated leadership and ability to work in a matrix team environment.
• Ability to handle multiple priorities and initiate, lead and manage change.
• Project management, facilitation and complex problem-solving skills.
• High energy level, driven with positive enthusiasm and a pragmatic approach.
• Fluency in English (oral and written) required.

• Degree qualified in Business Administration, Human Resources, Industrial Relations or other HR-related disciplines.
• Master's degree in Business Administration or a Human Resources related field an added advantage.
• Multinational work experience is desirable
• HR leadership experience
• Minimum 5 years cognate experience

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 5 years

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial Logistics

Job Summary
As a key member of the Logistics team and reporting into the Chief Corporate Services Officer, you will provide strategic leadership and expertise for the full scope of the Logistics function for the organisation. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

Principal Duties and Responsibilities
The Team Lead, Logistics will demonstrate leadership in communicating business goals, programs, and processes. In this role, you will utilize your experience or expertise to solve problems, develop and execute objectives for self and others, and have the ability to effect short-term and some long-term business goals.
Prioritises tasks, time and workload to efficiently meet objectives. Takes into account relevant constraints. Monitors progress, takes the initiative to adjust plans and performs multiple task when appropriate.
Identifies problems and takes responsibility for solving them. Identifies, analyses and interprets the critical information relevant to the problem. Develops and tests solutions that are pragmatic and sustainable.
Has the ability to perform effectively, despite time pressures and changing circumstance. Overcomes setbacks, disappointments or opposition and remains solution-focused, tactful and diplomatic.
By understanding customers’ needs, create and delivers quality and accurate work which enhances the reputation of the department and the wider organisation.
Works in collaboration with team members to achieve shared goals. Encourages and support team contributions, and facilitates the team’s effective performance.

Competency and Skill Requirements

• Experience in a multinational environment is desirable
• Strong written and oral communication skills with the ability to influence all levels of the organization and multicultural/international environments.
• Credible track record of delivering impactful results/solutions in a complex, fast paced work environment
• Demonstrated leadership and ability to work in a matrix team environment.
• Ability to handle multiple priorities and initiate, lead and manage change.
• Project management, facilitation and complex problem-solving skills.
• High energy level, driven with positive enthusiasm and a pragmatic approach.
• Fluency in English (oral and written) required.

• First degree or HND in the numerate or technical related field.
• Leadership experience in a start-up/entrepreneurial organization
• Minimum 5 years cognate experience

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 5 years

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial Human Resources / HR

Job Summary
As a key member of the Human Resources team and reporting into the Chief Corporate Services Officer you will provide strategic leadership and expertise for the full scope of the Human Resources (HR) function for client population. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

Principal Duties and Responsibilities
Providing HR leadership, coaching and generalist support.
Driving strategic and operational level HR-related planning including Labor Relations, Recruiting and Staffing, Pipeline Management, Compensation and Benefits, Leadership Coaching, Employee Development and Performance Management.
Leading/Initiating new and innovative global HR practices to create a strong culture of leadership and high performing teams.
Ensuring/Maintaining all HR processes and records relative to local statutory requirements while providing guidance and leadership to the business regarding regulatory interpretation and compliance.
Implementing appropriate communication tools and systems to ensure effective flow of information including employee opinion surveys, leadership communications, etc.
Developing appropriate work force plans in support of key business needs in a dynamic, changing environment and develop/implement appropriate change management plans as required.
Providing support and/or delivering training on a variety of Human Resources topics.
Providing Executive Coaching to business leadership.
Serving as an impartial employee advocate to ensure that all individuals receive fair and equitable treatment.

Competency and Skill Requirements

• HR Generalist experience, ideally in a multinational environment.
• Demonstrated success in development and application of up-to-date practice in employee relations, HR policy and formulation, recruitment and staffing and training and development.
• Strong written and oral communication skills with the ability to influence all levels of the organization and multicultural/international environments.
• Credible track record of delivering impactful results/solutions in a complex, fast paced work environment
• Demonstrated leadership and ability to work in a matrix team environment.
• Ability to handle multiple priorities and initiate, lead and manage change.
• Project management, facilitation and complex problem-solving skills.
• High energy level, driven with positive enthusiasm and a pragmatic approach.
• Fluency in English (oral and written) required.

• Degree qualified in Business Administration, Human Resources, Industrial Relations or other HR-related disciplines.
• Master's degree in Business Administration or a Human Resources related field would be an added advantage.
• Multinational experience is desirable
• HR leadership in a start-up organization is desirable
• Minimum 5 years cognate experience

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 7 years

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial Engineering / Technical

Job Summary
Responsible for New Customer Connections activities. Role will provide strategic advisory support to the Energy Management Team.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities
Recommendation / specification of customers’ tariff structure / placement based on the nature of their business and load measurement.
Recommendation / computation of customers’ estimated load to be used for billing purpose for newly customers or in the event of faulty / ruptured meters.
Coordinates activities of Energy Engineers in line with company’s guide lines to facilitate efficient service delivery to our new customers
Track and maintain an updated records of all promising customers with timeline for integration to our distribution networks.
Conducting advance metering activities (energy aggregation, energy analysis, energy loss analysis, bill determinants and dynamic tariffs etc.)
Installation and commissioning of the following meters:
(a) Single Phase
(b) Three Phase
(c) Whole Current Meter Board
(d) MD Low Voltage Standard Meter Board
(e) MD High Voltage Standard Meter Board
Maintenance, certification and re-certification of meters as stated above.
Testing and calibration of meters as enumerated above.
Supervision / providing metering standard specifications in accordance with the IEC and USA standard according to USA Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) policy.
Conducting of general meter type testing, meter routing testing & meter sample testing as the case may be in any condition or situation of meter supply.
Provision of support to services to other offices and resource planning

Competency and Skill Requirements

• Excellent understanding of the standards of the energy industry.
• Strong customer service and support focus with desire to deliver high quality service
• Self-motivated and highly professional with ability to take ownership and responsibility
• Adaptable and flexible to business demands
• Team player and attention to details
• Ability to multi task and work under pressure
• Project Management skills
• Strong skills in negotiating, planning, problem solving, and timely problem escalation.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Excellent time management and organizational skills

• A Bachelor’s degree or HND preferably in Electrical, Electronics, Physics/Electronics, Computer Engineering or any relevant field.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Master’s degree /or certification is an added advantage.
• NSE registration or COREN is an added advantage
• Minimum 7 years’ experience in a related function
• At least 2 years’ management experience

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 7 years

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial Engineering / Technical

Job Summary
Responsible for Grid Metering activities. Role will provide strategic advisory support to the Energy Management Team.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Conducting advance metering activities (energy aggregation, energy analysis, energy loss analysis, bill determinants and dynamic tariffs etc.)
• Develop electrical engineering studies, plans, specifications, calculations, evaluations, design documents and performance assessments.
• Coordinates activities of Grid metering engineers E2E
• Conduct Grid meters re-validation exercise quarterly
• Installation and commissioning of the following meters:

• Maintenance, certification and re-certification of meters as stated above.
• Testing and calibration of meters as enumerated above.
• Recommendation / specification of customers’ tariff structure / placement based on the nature of their business and load measurement.
• Monthly report and certification of readings obtained from Grid Energy meters to ensure accurate billing of the company by Market Operators (MO).
• Supervision / providing metering standard specifications in accordance with the IEC and USA standard according to USA Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) policy.
• Conducting of general meter type testing, meter routing testing & meter sample testing as the case may be in any condition or situation of meter supply.
• Development of energy sourcing strategies
• Process management for the network asset planning processes
• Provision of support services to other offices
• Performing remote energy usage tracking and resource planning

• Excellent understanding of the standards of the energy industry.
• Project Management skills
• Adaptable and flexible to business demands
• Team player and attention to details
• Ability to multi task and work under pressure
• Self-motivated and highly professional with ability to take ownership and responsibility
• Strong skills in negotiating, planning, problem solving, and timely problem escalation.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Excellent time management and organizational skills

• A Bachelor’s degree or HND preferably in Electrical, Electronics, Physics/Electronics, Computer Engineering or any relevant field.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Master’s degree /or certification is an added advantage.
• NSE registration or COREN is an added advantage
• Minimum 7 years’ experience in a related function
• At least 2 years’ management experience

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; BA/BSc/HND MBA/MSc/MA

Experience; 7 years

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial Engineering / Technical

Job Summary
Responsible for Grid Metering activities. Role will provide strategic advisory support to the Energy Management Team.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Conducting advance metering activities (energy aggregation, energy analysis, energy loss analysis, bill determinants and dynamic tariffs etc.)
• Develop electrical engineering studies, plans, specifications, calculations, evaluations, design documents and performance assessments.
• Coordinates activities of Grid metering engineers E2E
• Conduct Grid meters re-validation exercise quarterly
• Installation and commissioning of the following meters:

• Maintenance, certification and re-certification of meters as stated above.
• Testing and calibration of meters as enumerated above.
• Recommendation / specification of customers’ tariff structure / placement based on the nature of their business and load measurement.
• Monthly report and certification of readings obtained from Grid Energy meters to ensure accurate billing of the company by Market Operators (MO).
• Supervision / providing metering standard specifications in accordance with the IEC and USA standard according to USA Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) policy.
• Conducting of general meter type testing, meter routing testing & meter sample testing as the case may be in any condition or situation of meter supply.
• Development of energy sourcing strategies
• Process management for the network asset planning processes
• Provision of support services to other offices
• Performing remote energy usage tracking and resource planning

• Excellent understanding of the standards of the energy industry.
• Project Management skills
• Adaptable and flexible to business demands
• Team player and attention to details
• Ability to multi task and work under pressure
• Self-motivated and highly professional with ability to take ownership and responsibility
• Strong skills in negotiating, planning, problem solving, and timely problem escalation.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Excellent time management and organizational skills

• A Bachelor’s degree or HND preferably in Electrical, Electronics, Physics/Electronics, Computer Engineering or any relevant field.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Master’s degree /or certification is an added advantage.
• NSE registration or COREN is an added advantage
• Minimum 7 years’ experience in a related function
• At least 2 years’ management experience

The World Bank is a United Nations international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs. The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group, and a member of the United Nations Development Group.
Job Tittle; Country Director

Job Type; Full Time

Qualification; MBA/MSc/MA PhD/Fellowship

Experience; 12 - 15 years

Location; Abuja

Job Field; Administration / Secretarial

Background / General description
Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 4 year renewable term appointment.
The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in race, gender, nationality, culture, and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.

THE WORLD BANK GROUP’S VISION AND STRATEGY
The global development community is at an auspicious turning point in history. Thanks to the success of the past few decades and favorable economic growth, developing countries now have an unprecedented opportunity to end extreme poverty within a generation. This is the vision of the WBG: to eradicate extreme poverty by reducing the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day to 3 percent by 2030, and promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40 percent in every country.
To achieve this vision, the WBG Board of Governors has approved a strategy for the organization. This strategy leverages, for the first time, the combined strength of the WBG institutions and their unique ability to partner with the public and private sectors to deliver customized development solutions backed by finance, world class knowledge and convening services. The strategy has three components: (1) maximizing development impact by engaging country clients in identifying and tackling the most difficult development challenges; (2) promoting scaled-up partnerships that are strategically aligned with the goals; and (3) crowding in public and private resources, expertise and ideas.
The architecture underpinning the strategy and instrumental to its success is the establishment of fourteen Global Practices and five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas that, in concert with the WBG Regions, will design solutions that address clients’ most pressing developmental challenges, and ultimately, enable the WBG to meet its twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity

ABOUT THE WORLD BANK GROUP
Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2013, the WBG committed $52.6 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $16.3 billion was concessional finance to its poorest members. It is governed by 188 member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally.
The WBG consists of five specialized institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank is organized into six client-facing Regional Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions, and fourteen Global Practices as well as five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.

REGIONAL CONTEXT
The Africa Region, which is comprised of approximately 900 staff members, mostly based in 38 field offices, is committed to helping Africa realize its considerable development potential, with a focus on employment generation. The core values guiding our work are passion for our mission of sustainable poverty reduction with keen attention to quality and trans-formative impact, putting the needs of the client at the center of all our activities, trust and respect as a common currency, intellectual rigor and curiosity, honesty and integrity, teamwork, openness to learning and the courage to admit we do not always have the answer.
Sub-Saharan Africa has a population of around 800 million people in 48 countries, and is a vibrant and changing environment for development work. The last two decades of democratic elections and, in some countries multiparty systems has created a greater openness to pro-poor reforms. A vibrant civil society has become increasingly vocal on policy issues, and US citizens are more and more holding politicians accountable for their actions (although there are variations across countries). Regional institutions, such as AU/NEPAD are applying peer pressure on national leaders to improve their performance.
Until the onset of the global financial and economic crisis, Africa had been experiencing a period of sustained and widespread growth. In addition to the oil exporters, some 22 non-oil-exporting countries were experiencing better-than-four-percent growth for a decade and two third of the population lived in countries that had grown by between 5.9 and 8.1 percent per year. The sources of this growth were three-fold: (i) external resources—aid, debt relief, private capital flows and remittances were all increasing; (ii) strong commodity prices and a buoyant global economy; and (iii) improved macroeconomic policies, reflected for instance in the fact that the median inflation rate in the mid-2000s was about half that in the mid-1990s.
While the overall business climate in Africa is the weakest in the world, several countries—including some fragile states—have made great strides in improving their environment for business. What is emerging as a result is a growing region, with setbacks from time to time, that is increasingly seen as a destination for investment as much as for aid; and one where leaders are increasingly willing to address problems of poor governance that harms development effectiveness.
The Africa Region seeks to seize this unprecedented opportunity to better support our clients in realizing the ambition of eradicating extreme poverty and boosting prosperity.

COUNTRY CONTEXT
With a population of about 170 million people, USA is the largest country in Africa and accounts for 47% of West Africa’s population. It is also the biggest oil exporter in Africa, with the largest natural gas reserves in the continent. With these large reserves of human and natural resources, the country is poised to build a prosperous economy, significantly reduce poverty, and provide health, education and infrastructure services to meet its population needs.
Since 1999, USA embarked on an ambitious reform agenda. The most far reaching of those was to base the budget on a conservative reference price for oil, with excess saved in a special Excess Crude Account (ECA). The economy responded with strong growth between 2003 and 2014 – averaging over 7%. Weaknesses in the oil sector have increased macroeconomic risks. Oil accounts for close to 90% of exports and roughly 75% of consolidated budgetary revenues. Declining oil revenues in 2014-15 will provide additional budgetary challenges, against the additional backdrop of Presidential elections.
USA was among the first countries to adopt and implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to improve governance and oil sector. The power sector reform initiative was launched in 2005, recognizing that improving power sector performance is critical to address development challenges. The challenging process of implementing reforms was revitalized in August 2010 through the 2010 Roadmap, which clearly outlines the government’s strategy and actions to undertake comprehensive power sector reform to expand supply, open the door to private investment and address some the chronic sector issues hampering improvement of service delivery.
USA is both AFR’s largest IDA recipient, with a lending envelope of approximately USD1.5b per year, and has recently moved to blend status, giving it also access to IBRD resources. The coming years thus provide a unique opportunity to support the government in tackling range of pressing development needs. With a strong federal structure, and States responsible for service delivery in the social sectors, the Bank has increasingly engaged state level reform and IDA investments. Enhancing the volume and effectiveness of social spending will be critical to tackle pervasive poverty and poor local indicators. In addition, USA faces a large income gap between the South, and Northern States, with the latter also affected by the Boko Haram terrorism and violence. Hence, USA has both elements of middle-income challenges (such as urbanization in Lagos State) and fragility (in the North and oil delta region) that need to be addressed simultaneously in the Bank’s engagement.
Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 4 year term appointment.

Duties and Accountabilities:
The Country Director is accountable for performing the responsibilities, modeling the behaviors and maintaining the technical competencies (listed below) in his or her capacity as a member of the Regional Management Team in the Africa Region. Accountability means being answerable for managing quality, risks, results, institutional initiatives and compliance with Bank policies and procedures.

RESPONSIBILITIES
The Country Director is responsible for performing activities in the following areas:

Business Management responsibilities:
Manages the day-to-day operations of the country office.
Leads or support the coordination and delivery of the Bank’s strategy and related work program.
Manages the day-to-day dialogue with the Government on a broad range of policy and implementation issues
Provides ongoing updates, guidance, advice and support on local political, social, economic and other relevant developments country team members, including visiting missions as needed.
Develops and implements the Country Partnership Framework (CPF), with special attention to transformative non-lending and lending interventions at the sub-regional, country, practice and program levels that produce practical, visible and sustainable development results.
Supports the development and monitors the implementation of high quality work programs and sector strategies that are based on the CPFs and are attuned to client demand and country contexts.
Provides oversight on portfolio (including trust fund) management and quality issues, working with clients and the country teams to provide timely and effective implementation support.
Oversees, supported by an operations adviser, the regional integration portfolio for West Africa

People/ Talent Management responsibilities:
Leads and motivates the country teams with a focus on client orientation, development outcomes, strong cross-practice coordination and problem solving, and takes responsibility for achieving and communicating these outcomes with operational staff, Global Practice technical staff, and the country management team.
Manages the functioning of CMU and RI West unit in partnership with global practice management, models integrity and inclusion, offers mentoring and development opportunities for local and international staff.

Resource Management responsibilities:
Ensures that deployment of Bank's resources are consistent with Resource Management rules, policies and internal controls
Sets priorities and allocates budget within and across countries, in line with institutional priorities and a view to maximizing the impact and value-added of the Bank's activities.
Relationship Management responsibilities: (Internal and External):
Maintains strong partnerships with the governments concerned, development partners, civil society, media, the private sector, and other stakeholders to further the aid effectiveness agenda. Exercises courageous and transformative leadership in dialogue
Leads or maintains and further strengthens the relationship and policy dialogue on a broad range of economic and sectoral issues with the Government and key stakeholders. This includes conveying government positions and concerns to the Country Director and Country Team; clarifying the Bank’s advice, perspectives, and policies/procedures as needed, helping both Government and the Country Team translate policy objectives into concrete development proposals.
Works proactively and innovatively with IFC and MIGA to leverage World Bank financial and technical support, including with the private sector.
Appreciates the complexities and relevance of political economy considerations on the Bank’s development effectiveness in USA and collaborates appropriately with other CDs, regional and sub-regional institutions in West Africa, and other partners to enhance such effectiveness.

Knowledge Management responsibilities:
Embraces good corporate citizenship, including contributing to the development, implementation and communication of corporate policies, strategies and priorities (including ongoing reforms in investment lending, knowledge management, HR policies, and the “Global Bank”).
Champions regional management initiatives.

Other:
Implements and is accountable for a Country Office/regional security and safety program covering Bank Group personnel (including registered dependents, travelers on Bank Group business, etc.), property, programs and information in the assigned Country Offices.
Represents the Bank in the c

Selection Criteria:
PhD or Master’s degree in relevant field/discipline and substantial professional experience (typically the successful candidate will have about 12 to 15 years of experience in positions of increasing complexity and responsibility).
Prior work experience in achieving results on the ground in more than one world region (including both pre-Bank and Bank experience). A corporate assignment (e.g. Network, Anchor, DEC, WBI, FAC Units) may substitute for experience in a second world region.
Sound operational experience, including thorough knowledge of Bank Group policies, programs, products, and procedures, and exposure to economic and sector work, CPF, and PRSP activities. Demonstrated results in lending and non-lending products, portfolio management, and implementation support.
Strong strategic orientation in order to link macro and sector strategies as well as lending and non-lending services within a consistent development framework, and to anchor and integrate the overall economic and sector policy dialogue.
Ability to innovate and leverage the Bank’s knowledge and lending tools, beyond the direct financial contribution of the Bank.

Competencies
Outstanding WBG managers demonstrate the confidence in their convictions and the integrity to express themselves to peers and superiors even if it is easier or more comfortable to refrain from speaking up. They have the confidence, balanced with humility and judgment, to operate with the intent of doing what is right for the WBG and its clients. Key themes include: confidence, resilience, agility, judgment and adaptability.

GI level description:
Takes on challenges in a very diplomatic way, seeing them as an opportunity for both personal and organizational improvement. Pushes back against one's peers, manager and others higher in the organization, and clients, when necessary or in the best interests of the WBG mission and its clients. Advances bold ideas in the face of resistance (internal and external), especially when they are consistent with the WBG mission and values.

Leading the Team for Impact
Outstanding WBG managers focus on the WBG purpose and mission in order to provide on-going clarity and vision to their teams. They align capabilities and resources around the WBG mission. They create an energizing and empowering work environment where people are engaged and have the resources necessary to do their jobs, while holding team members accountable for results and improvement. Key themes include: building, focusing, constructing, empowering and aligning teams through clarity and resources.

GI level description:
Inspires through linking the vision of their department/organization to the WBG mission. Ensures that others buy into the vision through taking symbolic actions and reinforcing desired changes. Energizes through positive encouragement and reinforcement for thinking about possibilities of what can be done versus what can't be done. Aligns people around the WBG mission as a way to focus people on the most critical priorities. Includes resolving competing priorities as they exist.

Influencing Across Boundaries
Outstanding WBG managers persuade, convince and create buy-in for ideas and initiatives in order to advance their own goals and strategies, consistent with the WBG mission and vision. Key themes include: having a positive impact on others through varying sophistication of influence techniques, scope of impact and effective navigation through the culture.

GI level description:
Takes a broad view of the organization, seeking to influence across multiple departments in order to advance initiatives. Displays awareness and respect to other's position when making a case for an opposing opinion. Anticipates other's reactions, preparing responses and contingency plans in advance. Crafts an argument unique to the individual in order to gain buy-in and participation; engages the heart and mind of the individual by making one's point of view relevant to them and by connecting with their emotions.

Fostering Openness to New Ideas
Outstanding WBG managers create open and innovative climates for the people around them. They are transparent, open to divergent views and encouraging of these attributes in others. They promote broad thinking and frank discussion, welcoming others' input into the decision-making process, and they build on others' ideas. Key themes include: openness, humility, true two-way communication, strategic thinking and the space to be innovative without negative repercussions.

GI level description:
Creates and models norms around how others should interact. Encourages and supports the people with whom they come into contact to embrace differences, create transparency and promote frank and respectful discussions. Changes systems or processes to encourage more open communication and to facilitate new ways of doing things.
Building Talent for the Future
Outstanding WBG managers build people's capabilities for the future by supporting and leveraging the diversity of staff in terms of their race, gender, nationality, culture, educational and professional backgrounds. They create growth opportunities for others, encouraging them to stretch beyond their current experience or comfort zone. They provide ongoing feedback and development, including long term career development and mentoring, as well as hold their team members accountable for developing others. Key themes include: Supporting the growth of all staff to further their development technically, professionally and personally to better address clients and WBG's mission.
GI level description:
Creates opportunities for development, such as full job change or project assignments (as appropriate for their career path) in order to grow their breadth of knowledge and/or leadership capability; may include moving people to different groups or business units. Makes the time to reach out to key talent to mentor them and determine their aspirations, both within and outside the immediate team, regardless of benefit to own self. Identifies future leaders in the organization and develops them over the long-term, incorporating building leadership and WBG specific behaviors. Prioritizes the development of diverse talent in order to ensure that the Bank's staff is able to meet the needs our of clients both now and in the future. Holds team members accountable for providing development opportunities and activities for their people.

Core Competencies:
Lead and Innovate- Mobilizes the organization for innovation.
Deliver Results for Clients- Leads an organization that focuses on results for clients and impact rather than transactions or processes.
Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries- Takes accountability for collaboration at all levels of the WBG and with external partners.
Create, Apply and Share Knowledge- Drives a culture where knowledge is created, applied, and shared to strengthen WBG’s leadership role, development impact and to improve solutions for internal and/or external clients.
Make Smart Decisions- Models decisiveness and accountability.

Method of Application
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Three weeks ago I gave a presentation on probabilistic modelling to an audience of data mining practitioners. These people know about machine learning, they use it every day, but their main concern is to analyze data: real data!

The experience taught me a valuable lesson which I hadn’t come across by interacting with the academic community: Probabilistic models are hard. Even for people that are very close to the machine learning community (data mining), probabilistic models are a very different (new?) way of thinking.

The whole idea of building a generative story for your data and then using Bayes rule to “invert” the model given some dataset has become second nature to me. Nonetheless, I (we?) shouldn’t forget that it took statistics a long time to think about modelling in this sense. Hence I now understand realize that for outsiders the framework of probabilistic modelling is a highly non-trivial concept to grasp.

In this context I am obliged to share a blog post by Jeff Moser. I have never seen such a great explanation of a non-trivial probabilistic model that is deployed in very large scale on XBox Live: “Computing Your Skill”, a description of the TrueSkill ranking model. Very very well done Jeff!