Dear all,


Below is a job offer for those living in/close to the canton of Geneva, French is not an essential language to know but it is a plus.



IT assistant (internship)

Shelter Centre is a non-governmental, dynamic small humanitarian Organisation, located in Geneva immediately opposite the UN, which supports the sector of humanitarian operations that responds to the transitional settlement and reconstruction needs of populations affected by conflicts and natural disasters, from the emergency phase until durable solutions are reached.
Shelter Centre is looking for an IT Assistant to fill an entry-level position responsible for administering tasks within the IT Department. This internship offer is for an initial 3 month probationary period with a possible extension and is reimbursed with limited funding that will sustain a modest lifestyle in Geneva.
The role is a unique opportunity for a young professional still in his/her studies, or recently graduated, to assist an international humanitarian organization that highly values information technology. After their internship at Shelter Centre, many project assistants have gone on to work for humanitarian agencies, including CARE International, Cordaid, DFID, IOM, Oxfam and UNHCR.

Responsibilities will include:

- Troubleshoot various hardware in the office and at home offices
- Maintain work stations and ensure reliability and security
- Improve existing systems and procedures
- Administer Google applications
- Create and maintain user accounts, as well as e-mail accounts
- Maintain and enhance code repositories and related systems
- Monitor, test and improve back-up procedures and file server
- Administer commercial, Linux-based NAS
- Document procedures as they are created and refined
- Beta testing Shelter Centre websites and internal network applications
- Monitoring, testing and improving back-up procedures and file server (QNAP server)
- Administering a commercial, Linux-based NAS (Network-attached storage)
- Assisting the rest of the IT team with ad-hoc projects

Personal specification

Essential:
- Bachelors degree in information technology or equivalent certification either in progress or acquired
- Knowledge in Windows XP, Windows 7, Microsoft Outlook 2010, Google Apps, Server Administration, backup procedures and various open source applications
- Basic knowledge related but not limited to: networking, hardware routers, switches, subnets, firewalls and security practices
- Interest in humanitarian work
- Fluency in English

Desirable:
- Knowledge with Drupal or Joomla
- Adaptable and flexible to undertake various and urgent tasks
- Good interpersonal skills and sense of humour

How to apply:
Please send your CV and a letter of motivation in English torecruitment@sheltercentre.org, mentioning the post “IT assistant - Internship” in the subject of your email. In your letter please explain clearly the skills, experiences and characteristics that make you especially suited to the advertised role.
Shelter Centre does not set closing dates for applications; recruitment is ongoing until the position is filled. We review every online application. Applicants will be contacted only if they are selected as a potential candidate.

wanted: MR I do it all, for free (or cheap)...


system admin; dba; webmaster; network specialist, etc...


...

Constructive criticism:

kids and new grads get hired for this making a very comfortable living wage and aren't hurting for jobs right now. It is hard to make someone want to volunteer on a stipend to do this without someone with deep pockets and a love for volunteer work.

I would divide the internship into two : ticket monkey plus joomla for a true volunteer position (unpaid or fees only) and drop out the server admin stuff for a paid position so that you don't have an techie who does want to work for a low salary in his chosen field doing a cost-benefit of trying to make the magic happen while dealing with users.

Another option is signing up with the ORP as a place that helps unemployed people re-enter the workforce, a lot of volunteer orgs on the riviera do that. The ORP pays.

Another piece of advice... I wouldn't make statements like this:

If on your website the only job advert does have a closing date! It gives a confusing impression. I'm not sure if the two jobs are the same (job descriptions are so long) but even so... you said on here that you don't set closing dates, I went out of interest to your website to see what positions you had open and there was a closing date for the one available post. Doesn't give me a 'good feeling' about your organisation if I see contradictory statements like that.

Hi Vlh22,

Thank you for your honesty, I perfectly understand why its confusing that the closing date differs from one ad to the next. This is mainly due to the high turnover of interns in our organisation, many do come here as their first stepping stone to their career and in months they manage to find another job at a bigger organisation. Because this is a naturally occurring phenomenon we decided to have a policy that is suitable for reviewing our application at any time. The job described in this forum is aimed more at a system admin position. The job description on our website offers either Web content manager position or system administration. I hope this helps.

Hi NicoleCZ,

Thank you so much for your advice, you gave out some interesting points. As far as splitting the job positions, we would still like to advertise with both positions because we believe that a tech person can have skills in both domains, or at least be familiar with one and have basic knowledge with the other, we are after all looking for someone who is versatile. The salary might not be incredible but you will be hard pressed to find an internship in an NGO within Geneva that pays any fee.

That's where is your mistake.
You "believe", you don't know anything-

"managers" or whatever position, have no clue about technologies related to IT and think it's all the same, all easy.

You're "fake job spec" includes various skills found in different positions: IT support, web developper, system admin, etc...


Well no I am definitely not interested by your "pot-pourri".

I just don't like to see similar "adverts" where the poster assume it's all the same or a "tech people" have all the skills listed above.
Especially for free or little compensation-

Get real! Respect those jobs/people with similar skills!



I'll post my own advert:
Wanted: Wanker manager
Required skills: Accounting, high finance, Team leading, Technical skills: Oracle DBA, Network analyst, Developer in Java; HR expert recruiter, Chief specialised in Baking sponge cakes, etc...
Salary: no salary, only peanuts.

Coursebou: why so angry dude?