Call for Interest: Short-Term Administrative Assistant Talent Pool (multiple GS-level positions)

## Organizational Setting Applicants for National positions at General Service level must be legally authorized to live and work in the country of recruitment at the time of application. Any job offer is subject to evidence from the candidate to have obtained and be able to maintain the legal status to live and work in the country of recruitment, in this case, Italy.The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation.IFAD is launching a call for applications for placement in the Short-Term Administrative pool in the General Service (GS) category at its Headquarters in Rome, Italy. Staff in the GS category are locally recruited and subject to local recruitment. Short-term appointments are designed to facilitate the discharge of administrative support functions of a temporary nature and may vary in duration; short-term appointments granted by the same Division/Unit may not exceed 11 continuous calendar months including extensions; not exceed 11 cumulative months in a calendar year; and, after aggregate periods of 44 cumulative months (1,320 calendar days), a mandatory six-month cooling-off period applies.  Temporary General Service assignments do not carry any expectation of, or imply any right to, further extension, renewal or conversion to any other appointment. The grade level of the General Service assignments will be determined by the Hiring Division requirements. ## Job Role Under the supervision of the Administrative Associate or a Professional staff member, the incumbent is accountable for operational support and clerical services to assist in the smooth running of the office to which they are assigned. The accountabilities/key results expected are:Operational SupportSecretarial Support(These duties are generic and thus not all inclusive nor are all duties carried out by all Short-Term staff in the General Service category) ## Key Functions and Results 1. OPERATIONAL SUPPORT: Short-Term staff in the General Service category support a higher graded Associate/Assistant in the provision of operational support. Accountabilities typically include Enterprise Resource Planning data entry and reporting activities as originator; maintaining correspondence logs for incoming and outgoing correspondence; distributing incoming correspondence, reports and other materials; making travel arrangements; preparing periodic reports, extracting information and preparing statistical tables on request; and maintaining the office filing and reference systems, both traditional and digital; maintaining office supplies stock.2. OFFICE SUPPORT: Short-Term staff in the General Service category provide the full range of clerical support to the office staff. Accountabilities typically include typing and/or formatting a variety of material in draft or final form including correspondence, reports and official documents; drafting standard format correspondence; preparing briefing materials for official trips or meetings as requested; proofreading all outgoing correspondence and official documents for grammatical accuracy and formatting and assuring all attachments are included; reviewing supporting documents for processing a variety of administration actions/requests; and may make informal translations of correspondence.3. MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS: Short-Term staff in the General Service category are accountable for integrity, transparency, and equity in the personal use of assigned IFAD resources, including equipment, and supplies. ## Key Performance Indicators Short-Term staff in the General Service category typically report to a higher-level Assistant or Associate. The work is standard and repetitive in nature; there are no specialized administrative activities that would require formal training performed on a regular and recurring basis.  Key performance indicators include the complete and accurate performance of assigned, recurring activities. The incumbent brings any inconsistencies or discrepancies to the attention of the supervisor or responsible specialist. ## Working Relationships Short-Term staff in the General Service category typically are accountable for the exchange of routine information with counterparts within IFAD. Routine exchange of information within the Fund includes arranging travel, procurement and information technology support. Typical contacts within the division, office or department as well as external contacts consist of responding to basic inquiries. ## Job Profile Requirements CompetenciesStrategic thinking and organizational development: Personal influenceDemonstrating Leadership: Personal leadership and attitude to changeLearning, sharing knowledge and innovating: Continuously seeks to learn, shares knowledge and innovatesFocusing on clients: Focuses on clientsProblem solving and decision making: Demonstrates sound problem solving and decision making abilityManaging time, resources and information: Manages own time, information and resources effectivelyTeam Work: Contributes effectively to the teamCommunicating and negotiating: Communicates effectively, creates understanding between self and othersBuilding relationships and partnerships: Builds and maintains effective working relationshipsTechnical/FunctionalProficiency in MS Office: Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook. Proficiency in corporate electronic databases and systems would be an asset.Ability to handle a large volume of work accurately under time pressure.Ability to deal patiently and tactfully with visitors.Ability to handle confidential information with discretion.Ability to work effectively with people of different national and cultural background.Ability to work in a team environment to achieve common goals.Minimum recruitment qualificationsEducation:Secondary school education is required.Experience:At least two (2) years of secretarial and/or administrative support experience; each employment record of the Personal History Form should contain a detailed description of the administrative duties performed.Language requirements and other skills:Excellent English.Working knowledge of any other IFAD official language* (Arabic, French and Spanish) is a distinctive asset as is knowledge of the Italian language.Eligibility criteria:Eligible applicants must have the legal status to live** and work in the country of recruitment, in this case, Italy.All applicants must be between 18 and 64 years old and nationals of an IFAD Member State.(**Locally recruited staff in the GS category are subject to local recruitment conditions and need to reside within commuting distance from IFAD's HQ in Rome, Italy; 150km or 1.5 hours, whatever is less) ## Other Information Candidates already engaged in a short-term contract with IFAD are encouraged to apply to this call for interest.In line with policy, IFAD accepts either the UN Language* Proficiency Levels, as well as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Proficiency is considered to be met at Level C, if administered by FAO or by any other UN agency, and at Level `C1 and above', if attained through external accredited language institutions aligned with the Common European Framework for Languages Standards (CEFR).  When the candidate's Personal History Form (PHF) indicates that the candidate completed high school and/or university studies in a non-mother tongue language from a school or university in which the language in question is an IFAD official language required by the job opening and job description, the candidate may be exempted from language proficiency testing as determined by IFAD's People and Culture Division (PCD).In the