Org. Setting and Reporting
This position is located in Dakar, in the Human Resources Unit of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS). The Human Resources Officer will head the Human Resources Unit and will work under the direct supervision and general guidance of the Chief of Mission Support.

Responsibilities
Within delegated authority, the Human Resources Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

General
• Provides advice and supports to managers and staff on human resources related matters.
• Prepares special reports and participates and/or leads special human resources project.
• Keeps abreast of developments in various areas of human resources.
• Advises senior management on all aspects of human resources policies, procedures and substance.
• Guides the mission on the implementation of Organization-wide change initiatives especially those related to and have impact on the human resources.
• Responsible for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of delegated authorities through inter-alia, the Human Resources Management Scorecard (HRM-S), Service Level Agreements, HRM-S indicators, and the Senior Managers’ Compact.


Recruitment and Staff selection:
• Identifies upcoming vacancies in coordination with client offices.
• Prepares vacancy announcements, reviews applications, and provides a short-list to those offices.
• Manages the selection and appointment process of highly competent candidates by advising managers on organizational policies and SOPs on the staff selection process and ensuring compliance and required level of skill to conduct and document competency-based interviews for position specific job openings, if required.
• Manages recruitment and selection related process in a transparent, consistent, merit-based and fair manner, complying with policies related to gender balance, geographic diversity, as well as enhancing the management and staff awareness of these policies.
• Serves as ex-officio in appointment and promotion bodies, examinations boards, and prepares and presents cases to these bodies.
• Responsible for reviewing and submitting job descriptions for classification exercise and reclassification process.

Budget process:
• Participates substantively in the entire budget development process and provides advice to the Senior Management Team on the human resources requirements, staffing table and organizational structure of all sections based on the DMSPC/OPPFB guidelines on budget review.
• Coordinates with DOS and DMSPC on the review of the staffing aspects of the mission’s budget as well as preparation of documentation for classification of posts and the implementation of classification result.
• Ensures that expenditures related to staffing are within the budgeted staffing costs, coordinating with the Finance and Budget Units at the mission to ensure availability of funds.
• Ensures the integrity of the staffing table as approved in the budget without discrepancy in sections and locations.
• Advises hiring managers on loaning of posts between sections and movement of posts and staff between locations based on the SOP on Staffing table and Post Management.


Administration of justice:
• In coordination with interested parties such as the Staff Association(s) and the mission’s Conduct and Discipline component, Chief of Staff and/or CMS, the HRO contributes to addressing and mitigating staff grievances with the purpose of resolving them at the lowest practical level.
• Develops preventive activities such as training and sharing best practices and recent jurisprudence related to human resources management. In consultation with DMSPC/DOS, coordinates the mission’s responses to formal and informal requests coming from different entities under the Administration of Justice (AoJ) system and implements decisions applicable to the mission.


Administration of entitlements
• Provides advice on interpretation and application of policies, regulations and rules.
• Reviews and provides advice on exceptions to policies, regulation and rules.
• Administers and provides advice on salary and related benefits and travel entitlements.
• Determines and recommends benefits and entitlements for staff on the basis of contractual status.
• Reviews and recommends level of remuneration for consultants.
• Staff development and performance managemnt Identifies and analyses mission’s staff development and career support requirements to achieve the mission’s mandate.
• Advises on training opportunities for HR staff as well as staff in general, giving particular attention to developing and implementing career development paths for national staff members.
• Provides regular information on global vacancies and opportunities for the generic rostering system.
• Coordinates with DMSPC/DOS as a conduit for headquarters initiatives and as the initiator of individual career advice and counseling, which includes the planning and shaping the progression and movement of staff both within and among missions as part of the global secretariat.
• Ensure compliance with the UN staff performance management system as promulgated under ST/AI/2010/5.
• Monitors the implementation and compliance of the electronic performance management tool in the mission.
• Designs, plans, monitors and provides induction orientation programme and briefing to new staff members.


Other duties
• Maintains open communication with UN Country Team for efficient coordination in conducting national staff salary surveys, DSA/cost of living surveys, and establishing common policies on other in-country entitlements for staff.
• Organizes, as necessary, general or specific meetings for the staff on issues such as HR aspects of mandate implementation, status of HR reforms and other organizational change initiatives.
• Develops and implements a communication strategy that includes formal (town halls, meetings with program managers) and informal meetings with staff at all levels to clarify and communicate policy and staff administration issues.
• Monitors and evaluates the implementation of delegated authorities through inter-alia, the Management dashboard, HRM-S indicators, and the Senior Managers’ Compact. Maintain human resources information systems, including constant update and generation of information and reports for use by management.
• Performs other duties as required.


Competencies
• Professionalism: Knowledge of human resources policies, practices and procedures and ability to apply them in an organizational setting. Ability to identify issues, formulate opinions, make conclusions and recommendations. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.
• Planning and organizing: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.
• Client orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client Judgement/decision- making: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; Gathers relevant information before making a decision; Considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; Takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; Proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; Checks assumptions against facts; Determines that the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; Makes tough decisions when necessary.

Education
Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in human resources management, business or public administration, social sciences, education or related area. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.


Job – Specific Qualification
Not available.
Work Experience
• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in human resources management, administration or related area of which 2 years of experience using Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) and PeopleSoft platforms such as UMOJA, Inspira or equivalent for Human Resources Management is required.
• Experience in the application of Human Resources rules and regulations in staff administration of entitlements and benefits in the UN Common system or a similar international organization is required.
• Experience in provision of HR policy interpretation and advisory services, practical experience with strategic planning, reporting and delivery of human resources services is required.
• At least three years (03) of experience managing a small or medium size team is required. Experience in HR Specialist Support is desirable.
• Two (2) years or more of experience in data analytics and complex report extraction/design is desirable.
• Experience in travel management is desirable


Languages
• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position, fluency in
• English (both oral and written) is required. Knowledge of French is desirable
Assessment
• Previously rostered candidates are not subject to any further assessment and as such, will not be invited for such an assessment.

Special Notice
This « Recruit from Roster » job opening is only open to roster applicants who are already placed on pre-approved rosters, following a review by a United Nations Central Review Body. Only roster applicants who were placed on rosters with similar functions at the same level are considered to be eligible candidates. Eligible applicants receive an email inviting them to apply. Rostered applicants are encouraged to apply only if they are interested and available to take up the position at the duty station/s specified in the Job Opening. Applying to this job opening carries an expectation to accept the offer, if selected.


United Nations Considerations
According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Candidates will not be considered for employment with the United Nations if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. The term “sexual exploitation” means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. The term “sexual abuse” means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. The term “sexual harassment” means any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, and when the gravity of the conduct warrants the termination of the perpetrator’s working relationship. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment.

Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. By accepting a letter of appointment, staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the United Nations in accordance with staff regulation 1.2 (c). Further, staff members in the Professional and higher category up to and including the D-2 level and the Field Service category are normally required to move periodically to discharge functions in different duty stations under conditions established in ST/AI/2023/3 on Mobility, as may be amended or revised. This condition of service applies to all position specific job openings and does not apply to temporary positions. Applicants are urged to carefully follow all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira, and to refer to the Applicant Guide by clicking on “Manuals” in the “Help” tile of the inspira account-holder homepage. The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application. Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.