Contract Types

As a global organization, UNDP requires several contract types to cover all individuals employed either for UNDP or on behalf of others. To fill job vacancies, UNDP has a wide array of recruitment tools. The UNDP policy is to fill job vacancies, as far as possible, through internal reassignments in order to capitalize on the investment made in recruiting and developing staff. UNDP applies several types of contracts for hiring personnel, and the type of contract to be concluded with individuals depends on a number of criteria. UNDP can hire personnel through international or local recruitment. The standard types of contracts are:

Fixed-term Contracts: Staff members recruited under FT are governed under 100 Series of the UN Staff Rules and employed on core activities of continuing nature, within the office; activities not likely to be concluded within 3 years. The salary scale is determined by periodic salary surveys and is based on the best prevailing rates in the locality for nationals carrying out functions of the same level. The international scale is based on best comparator civil service.

Activities of Limited Duration: Staff members recruited under the ALD contract are governed under the 300 Series of the UN Staff Rules. ALD appointment is an assignment funded from a project budget allocation. The purpose of this assignment type is to support special projects and activities which are for a limited period and budget. The assignment is of finite duration (six months to four years) with no possibility of further extension of the appointment. The compensation modality recognizes the limited nature of the assignment, and streamlines benefits and allowances by calculations based on a lump sum approach. Broad local salary bands established by reference to local scales; higher levels set by reference to international scale.

Service Contracts is a modality for hiring individuals under a non-staff contract. The SC is intended for engaging individuals under the following conditions: a) national personnel or others legally authorized to work in the country;  b) for non-core support services in the UNDP Office that would normally be outsourced to a company, i.e. custodial, security and IT service - see the UN circular ST/IC/2005/30 on outsourcing;

c) for development project personnel, where UNDP on request of an executing entity, or implementing partner under the harmonized operational modalities , or where UNDP itself serves as executing entity/implementing partner of a development project (DEX projects) provides personnel contracting services to support execution or implementation of the project; the SC issued will be limited to services to that project only and d) no authority other than UNDP may issue a UNDP SC. Usually a SC is issued for a minimum period of 6 months, renewable, but not more than 12 months at a time. Remuneration under a SC must be consistent with prevailing levels of pay for similar functions and comparable work in the local labour market.

UNDP Iran Office Staff

100 Series – National Staff:            25                           Female: 17                           Male: 8

100 Series – International Staff:    2                              Female: 1                             Male: 1

200 Series – National Staff:            0                              Female: 0                              Male: 0

200 Series – International Staff:    0                              Female: 0                              Male: 0

300 Series – National Staff:            3                              Female: 3                              Male: 0

300 Series – International Staff:    1                              Female: 0                              Male: 1

Total                                                       31                           Female: 21                           Male: 10

Service Contracts (SC) over US$ 30,000                                    Compensation

No issued Service Contracts above US$ 30,000 for the moment

 

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Recruitment /Hiring Procedures

As an international public service organization, UNDP needs to make sure it manages human resources operations in a transparent, efficient, and equitable manner. Doing so calls for using various procedures, mechanisms, and resources, such as hiring processes, panels, and committees, to name a few. In an effort to increase UNDP’s internal efficiency and improve the quality of our hiring processes, the following procedures have been established which relate to the recruitment and selection of candidates.

Composition of Hiring Panel

For added transparency, the hiring panel members, proposed by the Human Resources Unit, should be reviewed and approved by the Resident Representative (RR) and/or the Deputy Resident Representative (DRR) well in advance. All panels will normally include: i) the immediate supervisor and the head of the unit and/or departments.; ii) two other professionals from outside the unit who are graded higher than, or equal to, the post under consideration -- these professionals will need to be reasonably familiar with the requirements of the position and; iii) the HR focal point who generally acts as an advisor. Each panel will elect its own chairperson, who can be any one of the professionals most senior in grade. The immediate supervisor cannot chair the panel. Hiring panel members are responsible for a) long-listing applications, b) designing and scoring written exams, c) short-listing candidates and d) interviewing short listed candidates. Proposed staff and supervisors are expected to make time to serve in panels.

Terms of Reference

The immediate supervisor, who is the person to whom the incumbent of the vacant post will report, is responsible for producing the Terms of Reference (ToR) and submitting it to the Human Resources Unit (HRU). The HRU is responsible for reviewing the ToR to not only ensure there is consistency across posts and units but to also verify that statement made regarding competencies; required qualifications and years of experience are relevant and reflect corporate standards. This will be done in consultation with the Organizational Design Unit within the Office of Human Resources, HQ – NY. The final version of ToRs should be approved by Head of Unit and RR/DRR well in advance and prior to the advertisement.

Vacancy Announcement and Advertisement

Once the ToR is finalized, vacancy announcements are posted at http://jobs.un.org.ir and published in minimum two newspapers for a minimum of two weeks.

Creating the “Long-List” and Screening Applicants

Hiring Panel members will create the long list by identifying candidates that meet the basic criteria and competencies as listed in the vacancy announcement. The candidates under the “Long-List” will be invited to take the written exam.

Designing and Scoring Written Exam

Hiring Panel members will design written exam questions including scoring indicators as well as key concepts expected to be in the answers. The breakdown of marks and scores should be determined from the outset, to the extent possible. This will allow exam reviewers to score with accuracy and consistency.  

Administration of Written Exam

The HRU will organize and schedule written exams in a timely manner while ensuring total confidentiality.

Compiling a Short-list

Hiring panel members will compile a short-list, taking written test scores into consideration. The short-list should comprise a minimum of two to a maximum of six candidates.

Informing Short Listed Candidates and Scheduling the Interview Session

The HRU will arrange an interview session and inform short listed candidates accordingly.

Conducting Competency-Based Interviews

Conducting competency-based interviews requires a systematic assessment of the degree to which various candidates’ skills match the job criteria. Prior to interview session, the hiring panel members should convene a meeting and discuss the entire interview process. The ToR for the vacant post should be again reviewed and the key competencies and weight factors against which the panel is supposed to evaluate the candidates should be determined. The hiring panel members should also decide on a series of core questions that will help them assess each candidate’s competencies. The same set of questions has to be asked to each candidate to facilitate the comparison. The Chairperson, who will be acting as the facilitator, should discuss with panel the suggested competencies and linked questions and allocate questions to each panel member. To the extent possible, all candidates for a post should be interviewed by the same mode, (e.g. by phone, fact-to-face), irrespective of their location, to foster greater consistency and transparency.

Interview Panel Recommendations 

At the end of interview session, the interview score sheet will be used to rank each candidates skill level according to required competencies. Scores should be consolidated, i.e. all panel members should discuss in depth the candidate’s competencies – strengths and weaknesses and agree on a consolidated score and subsequently reach a consensus and make a recommendation to APP. Hiring panel members should base its recommendations solely on the information provided in the interview or documentation presented for review during interview, leaving it to the Appointment and Promotion Panel (APP) and the RR to take into account other objective criteria in order to come up with the final decision. The minutes of the interview session will be prepared by the Secretary to the Panel which should be endorsed by all hiring panel members. In the event that panel members fail to agree on making a recommendation for the post concerned or/and on the ranking of endorsed candidates, the varying viewpoints will be submitted for review to APP. The APP will make a final recommendation that will be submitted to the Resident Representative for final decision.

Conducting thorough reference checks (written)

The HRU will conduct thorough reference checks for the purposes of accuracy, information, and verification.

Preparing Documentation (Interview Report, APP Submission)

The HRU will prepare a package including all required documentation already signed by members involved. The package will be crosschecked and endorsed by the Operations Manager for accuracy prior to submission to APP.

Appointment and Promotion Panel

All appointments shall be reviewed by the APP Panel. The APP is responsible to ensure that all procedures have been properly followed and subsequently it should endorse the transparency, objectivity and accuracy of the recruitment process as well as the interview panel recommendation.

Informing Candidates

Once the hiring process is completed and approved by the RR, the HRU will inform all interviewed candidates of the result.

Roster

The name of those candidates, who have been recommended by the Panel and not selected for the current vacant position, will be kept on the roster to be used for future and similar positions.

Recruitment Principles

In all employment processes and the management of personnel UNDP operates with some fundamental principles: 

· Highest standards of competency and integrity

· UNDP independence and objectivity must be safeguarded

· UNDP is a good and fair employer (high standards of employment are applied using whether UNDP or   local rules)

· Selection of personnel must be competitive and based on merit