Research Analysts for AMS India at Delhi, Lucknow at attractive remuneration

If you have a masters or higher qualification (M.Phil, Ph.D) with a social sciences background, with a flair for focused research, read on.

The business of AMS (www.amsindia.org) is 3 fold

1. Prepare project proposals for Government agencies with an objective to secure funding from international donors like World Bank - be a consultant
2. Research the impact of projects and programs undertaken by government bodies based on project / program objectives
3. Build capacity in project / program executors through training support

By the 20th Nov, interested candidates need to send their detailed CV and copy of a research report they have undertaken (even course dissertations, preferably published would do) to hrd@amsindia.org

How do we equip those interested in this opportunity 

(pay is 6 Lakhs to 9 Lakhs per annum and quite attractive)

Firstly, do include a well drafted cover letter that has a 3-part structure to it. 

Part 1 should be about you, your personality, your specialization and interests. 

Part 2 should be about the research report you are enclosing, how did you choose, how long it took, who guided you, what obstacles you faced and how resourcefully you overcame them

Part 3 should talk about the fit between you, your expertise and opportunities at AMS. For example, look at their site and tell them that you easily see yourself as part of the team that did the "baseline survey of urban health mission" (for instance)

The cover letter is an important introduction to the diverse candidates they are going to receive. It reduces the fatigue of the selector by offering an easy frame in which you, the candidate could be viewed

Through our employability framework, the following would be deal making / breaking characteristics

a) The ability to operate in a dynamic environment

The job involves dealing with ambiguous or vague problem frames. Therefore how well the individual is able to bring focus and tangibility to high level intents and specifications would be critical. Tolerance for ambiguity is a key competency'

Since this problem solving profile is embedded in organizational context, the ability to judge what must be reported and how is critical. To recognize, that the effort will benefit from outside help and crisply soliciting for the same will enhance effectiveness and hence will be sought after

Also, when many lines of inquiry present themselves, to make quick decisions with an overview aproach will be essential.

b) The ability to stay vigorously focused

Each of these questions that the research analyst works on, while being open ended, the timeline to deliver an useful output is clearly closed ended. Hence the ability to stay focused on the right question and operate in a result oriented manner will be tested. This is likely to be specifically checked for those who come from an academic setting with little time pressure

The other aspect here is perseverance. For example, how does one go after useful resources - web, library, people to "lick the problem" will be a key watch area for the selection panel, one can safely deduce.

c) Savviness

A reasonable interpersonal savviness to get work done from strangers or those on whom there is no formal authority by timing and framing requests appropriately will be a desirable characteristic

For those who come from MBA like or corporate like profiles, what could be an area of probe is familiarity with social sciences domain. Since some of the program objectives do not have a commercial enterprise like evaluation criteria, the ability to understand nuances on this front will be critical. Also of interest to selectors could be the ability of the MBA to persevere till he/she unearths the truth about the problem

Some excellent resources to browse before you go for selection is criteria used by venture capitalists or prestigious foundations like the GATES foundation on program monitoring and evaluation. The World Bank site also offers very useful program monitoring and evaluation templates and discusses excellent case studies on different metrics used for program evaluation and monitoring. Their 2013 publication "handbook on impact evaluation" while is heavy read, is a useful artefact to orient oneself on important developments in this area. 

To get a useful overview of this domain from the publication, I would recommend you take each method listed and browse specifically on that methods' pros and cons and relate to some of the reports of AMS. Alternatively, take some live programs running in the area of public health, women and child development, education or rural development and prepare a table of applicability of each of the methods to evaluation programs in that area.

The overall organizational values seem to be one of independence, accountability, dependability, resourcefulness, reasonable speed and pride in one's workmanship. So, candidates whose value systems align will come across as better fit.

All the very best!

 

Fresh MBA's - Take a shot at Sigmainsights opportunity, last date 8th Nov-13

True to the overall theme, I am going to offer you a "second opinion" on how to equip yourself to get that job at Sigmainsights, a Delhi based company.

Read on if you are a fresh MBA or know a friend who is a fresh MBA (you can email link to him / her)

In their own words, "Sigma Insights, is an innovative product company, which develops world class information and analytic products for corporations"

What they do: Produce analytic reports for different stakeholders in the power sector (at the moment), to help them make better investment decisions

Why is this business interesting: The power and energy sector in India has gone through periods of attractiveness to disinterest, with fluctuating fuel prices, policies. It is however clear that investing in power and energy infrastructure is an inevitable pursuit for any government. Trillions of dollars are going to be spent in the next few years in this space

To give you an idea, one of the reports (approx 425 pages) is sold for Rs 55000/- and organizations are customers for such reports

What is the job About: The job is simply to help produce those reports (standard like one above or customized, in response to a query that could be posed by one of their clients) 

Who Can Apply: Fresh MBA's (2013 pass outs) with 60%+ score

Process: A written Test, 1 or more rounds of face-to-face interview

Why this could be a useful skill / career move?

The future of knowledge work depends on assimilating / synthesizing pieces of information to produce meaningful conclusions. Multiple strategy firms like McKinsey & Co, Bain & Co, Accenture Consulting, Monitor Group; as well as investment banking firms like Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs will value such profiles. If you get to work here, you will also pick up a knowledge base in a sector of interest for the future. The power and energy sector is not an intuitive one to understand, hence formal exposure could add value to your overall career

You need to write to careers@sigmainsights.org by 8th Nov with your CV and request for appearing in their selection process

What are they looking for?

In their own words, "we look for people who have demonstrated exceptional ability and an enviable track record. The basic personal traits that we look out for in our new hires are curiosity, thoughtfulness, problem–solving and leadership ability"

More Insights

If we analyze this job basis our employment framework, we will classify this job as

a technical or problem solving variety, where

Operating in a dynamic environment (dealing with ambiguity, decision making, reporting and informing); followed by vigorous pursuit of results (perseverance and drive for results) are key employability traits that could be tested

How would a prospective employer like this one test it?

In the written test - Analytical reasoning questions, data sufficiency questions, data based inference questions would be typical

In the interview - Estimation questions (with an intent to understand the process and approach to the estimation) - for e.g. what is the total talent pool count for this opportunity; maybe a case study

General Awareness questions - Especially on the major dilemmas in the power sector, the stakeholders in that sector, total capacity requirement related questions, policy and de-regulation related questions

If you don't know, I would encourage you to guess after stating that you are making an educated guess

In the illustration of achievements, if you could focus on stuff you have done in dynamic circumstances, with insufficient data, that will be a plus.

Other - Communication during a crisis, how do you seek help, how do you work with others, how do you self analyze your output, have you been punctual about your deliverables, do you admit errors and rectify could be key aspects where negative behavior could disqualify candidature in personal interview assessment

Desirable - how do you store information and findings? how do you create a knowledge database? have you done that in the past, while working for placement committee or cultural committee?

I hope this gave you my take on the job and the context. I would encourage applicants to get into the rhythm, tempo and soul of the job rather than memorize dos and donts. This is the best way to equip yourself!

All the very best!!!

PS: I am doing this based on applying a structured framework to interesting information available in the public domain. The idea is to provide a second opinion on equipping yourself to get that job out there. This is purely undertaken in personal capacity to add value to you

What they look for?

Often, I get asked: "What do they look for" while evaluating us for a job.

This simple looking question is not easy if you put it to a test. The test is that the reader should be able to use the answer to increase his / her chances of finding or getting that job.

My attempt in these blog pages will be to answer this simple looking question. And, I hope that the reader would have increased his / her chances of securing the job. This is based on years of observation and experimentation I have done as a professional helping people become more employable

Generally, you can classify the job you are seeking into a technical or problem solving type, the sales type, the process intensive type or the liaison type. I am talking here about entry level jobs, the kind graduates get into as first employment

Each of the above call for different levels of emphasis on core employability skills.

- the ability to operate in a dynamic environment
- the ability to produce results
- Possessing a certain savviness with people

We will apply this framework and detail the key aspects for individual jobs in the subsequent blog posts.