Career Counseling Services

Career counseling services

Introduction

MA’AN is an independent Palestinian development and training institution established in January, 1989, registered by law as a non-profit organization. The main office is located in Ramallah and the other branch offices are located in Gaza, and Jenin. MA’AN's work is informed by the necessity of creating independent, self-reliant initiatives that lead to the development of human resources for sustainable development, which incorporate values of self-sufficiency and self-empowerment.

Currently, MA’AN in partnership with UNDP is working on the implementation of the internship opportunities of "Al Fakhoora Scholarship and Empowerment Program" which funded by EAA. Through the internship program, the alumni receive intensive follow up and coaching from specialized career counselors to guide the targeted interns on how to optimize the benefit from the internship opportunity. 

Service required

MA'AN is seeking to form a pool of master qualified career counsellors in different specializations in order to provide career counselling services to the targeted alumni in the coming rounds of internship. The provided services aim at supporting the alumni as they transform their passions, education, and skills into purposeful career paths. This includes the following:

• Conducting Individual sessions to support the alumni to set an internship training plan to optimize the benefit from the internship opportunity. This should include set of technical, managerial and life skills to be cultivated and gained through the internship. It is expected that the counsellor has to organize at least two individual session with each alumnus prior the start of the on-job training in order to support the alumni to develop his internship training plan. 
• Build a system of supervision at the placement site (intern host organization). This includes to appoint and follow up with a supervisor or mentor from among the employer staff
• Conduct field visit to the placement site (host organizations), through the 5-month internship program, 5 field visits will be conducted by the counsellors for each alumnus in his workplace. Through the field visits, the counsellor will:  

1. Follow up on the achievements of the training plan and provide the required support for the interns to achieve the pre identified objectives. 
2. Provide onsite advices for interns helping them build knowledge for purposeful and meaningful career paths
3. Observe interns at work and ensure they are performing tasks related to their training and to ensure high level of satisfaction from the interns. 
4. Debrief with employers to make sure that they were happy with the interns’ performance and are successfully dealing with any challenges. 
5. Verify interns’ commitment with the internship regulations
6. Share the feedback from employers with youth, so that youth can learn from their internship experience and improve any difficulty areas in the future
7. At the end of the internship, to capture both interns and employer’s feedback through standardized evaluation forms.

• Conduct One-on-one sessions for the cases that have reported weaknesses or deficiencies from the employers or did not achieve the planned objectives in their internship plans. This includes to provide relevant advices helping the intern to address their areas of weaknesses.

The alumni specializations in the coming rounds are as the following: 

Qualification and experience required

• Having scientific degree in one of the aforementioned specializations (master degree is preferable)
• Minimum 5 years of experience in one of the aforementioned specializations
• Proven long lasting expertise in the same field of work.
• Having high connections with employers in his/her field of work
• Knowledge of working and business environment in Gaza Strip is a must; 
• Ability to develop concrete methodology and timeframe for delivering the required services within the specified duration.
• Excellent communication skills and inter-personal skills

Selection and evaluation criteria

In order to form a pool of master career counselors, the awarding criteria at this stage will be only based on the technical evaluation. Then, the eligible selected career counselors will receive RFQ in each round of internship in order to get their financial offers for the service. 

The evaluation criteria will be based only on the technical evaluation of the CVs, that includes:

• Scientific degree
• Years of experience in the sector 
• Conducting similar tasks 
• Conducting researches and studies in the related specialization
• Having elaborated connections with youth, alumni and employers 

Interested candidates are requested to send their curriculum vitae including the names and contact details for three references by email to [email protected] 

please ensure that you state the title of the career counseling service providers you are applying for as subject of your email. Deadline for submission Must be delivered before 04:00 PM on 20th February 2021