British Council Nigeria Exams Officers Recruitment

The British Council is the world's leading cultural relations organization and creates opportunities for people in the UK and worldwide to understand each other, to work together and learn from one another. We see this as crucial to building secure, more prosperous and sustainable futures for us all. We build trust and understanding between different countries and cultures and develop strong international links that are of benefit to people in Britain and the rest of the world.

We are recruiting to fill the below position below:

Job Title: Nigeria Exams Officer

Location: Abuja
Reports to: Assistant Country Exams Manager
Duration of Job: Indefinite
Pay Band: Country Appointed PB4
Department: Exams, Nigeria

Purpose of Job

• To support Examination Services in Nigeria in delivering examinations on behalf of UK examination boards.
• To provide a great branded customer experience for our clients and to maintain them at the highest professional standards as set out in the British Council's QCA (Quality and Compliance Standards), project outcomes, examinations boards and partner requirements.

The following are particularly important in the way we work:

• We are completely compliant in all aspects of examination delivery. we are entrepreneurial in seeking and exploiting new opportunities;
• We focus on delivering excellence to the customer in order to achieve maximum impact;
• We work with and through partners to ensure that our work is relevant and to increase impact and sustainability;
• We are forward-thinking in our use of new technologies to communicate with our audiences and to deliver services;
• We are clear and confident about our offer to partners and customers: access to UK excellence; our reputation as a trusted partner and provider; our ability to work across sectors; our access to international networks;
• We put our values - people, creativity, mutuality, professionalism, integrity - at the heart of our work. We are committed to equal opportunity and to the celebration and promotion of diversity and inclusion.

Context and Environment: (e.g. dept description, region description, organogram)

• Nigeria, a tier 1 country, has the largest project, programme and exams operations in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).  We operate from 4 main office locations. Individually, the Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt Exams offices alone are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd largest exams businesses by income in SSA respectively. Nigeria examinations work encompasses School exams, IELTS, and a wide range of academic and professional qualifications.
• The Exams business in Nigeria has grown significantly in recent years. We doubled our income and volumes between 2011 and 2013. In 2014/15 we delivered 90,000 examinations, this financial year the target is 100,000 exams on a turnover of £8.5m.
• Customer service, operational quality and compliance assurance are critical to the business. Nigeria’s operating context means that risk management and contingency planning will be ongoing areas of focus. Developing flexible and appropriate delivery models will be critical in responding to the challenges of working across the country. There are a number of initiatives underway to address these needs.
• The Global New Operating Model for Exams (GNOME) and Global Financial Change projects are critical to our business plans.

Accountabilities and Responsibilities
(including people management and finance)

• As Exams Officer, the post holder will be line managed by the Assistant Country Exams Manager
• This role will support delivery of the different examinations administered from the Abuja office.
• All administrative procedures are in full compliance with Examination boards, Partners and EQCA standards.
• Reliability: to ensure examinations are delivered securely according to board requirements
• Quality and Compliance: to deliver a high standard of customer service as measured by our own Exams Quality and Compliance Assessment, Customer Service Standards and examination boards as required.
• Finance: all British Council standards for managing finances are met with relation to income reconciliations, cash handling, managing POs, managing contracts and procurement.
• Information Knowledge Management: Manage information created and received in compliance with the Council’s information management standards, policies, the UK Data Protection Principles and local legislation.

Main Duties
Administration of examinations in Abuja:

• Exam registration procedures including receiving and collating registration forms for the Abuja area: exam board registration portals, payments and exams correspondence including dispatch of results, entering and retrieving data on CIE Direct, IWAS as the case may be
• Overseeing and taking delivery of examinations materials and checking them prior to exams commencing, packing and returning scripts daily, maintaining logs appropriately.
• Preparing candidate registration forms.
• Answering enquiries about exams.

Exam delivery:

• Delivering Examinations on test days which includes:
  • Supervision of venue staff
  • Ensuring adherence to examination day procedures

Post-Examination administration:

• Secure and accurate despatch of test answers and materials to the examination board. Maintaining accurate logs of examination paper movements.
• Using up-to-date knowledge of PSN and IWAS/ESOLCOMMS to generate test report forms and jagged profiles when delegated by the ACEM
• Effective delegation of duties when absent on leave or through illness etc.
• Shredding examination materials while recording this in accordance with PSN standards and keeping accurate records of the movement of live materials when delegated by the ACEM
• To keep a database of suspected malpractice cases

Venue Staff:

• Venue staff creation and payment.
• To be part of the recruitment, training and monitoring team for venue staff.
• To schedule venue staff for examination sessions.

Exams Team Support:

• To assist in planning teacher training events for CIE attached and potential attached schools
• To manage recruitment, training, monitoring of support staff for the Abuja exams team.
• To support the IELTS team in maintaining logs of preparation materials for IELTS
• To support the IELTS team in managing IELTS preparation courses in Nigeria
• To assist the Abuja Exams team in delivery of schools-specific events.
• To assist Exam/Grant Funded Services (GFS) project managers in delivery of Education/Skills-specific events, including assisting with managing relationships with stakeholders.

Marketing & Customer Service:

• To follow a programme of visits to schools to build relationships with existing and potential clients to expand the business.
• To assist the ACEM in appropriate marketing of CIE and other examinations in Abuja and Northern Nigeria
• To assist the Regional Sales Manager in collecting qualitative and quantitative marketing data in order to contribute to the marketing action plan and support business development.
• Seeking and using customer feedback to improve service delivery.
• To assist in customer service, delivery of other examinations and other duties as required in this small office, especially in times of staff absences.

Finance:

• To prepare and submit income reconciliations to agreed timescales.
• To record income correctly on the FABS system and in a timely manner.
• To process payment on time for support staff we engage in test administration
• To comply with Contract and Procurement standards.

Key Relationships
Internal:

• Country Exams Manager, Deputy Country Exams Manager, Assistant Country Exams Manager, Head of Marketing, IELTS Administrator, Assistant IELTS Administrator, Training Manager, Customer Service Manager, Regional Sales Managers, Centre Manager Port Harcourt, Exams Officers in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Customer Service Staff Nigeria, Finance Manager Nigeria. Schools and Project Managers etc

External:

• CIE, Edexcel, AQA UK and SSA representatives, School Principals, Schools examinations co-ordinators, AISEN, APEN and other professional teaching associations, IELTS RMT, IELTS Examiners, venue staff, enquirers, candidates, Regional Exams Manager.

Other important features or requirements of the job
(e.g. travel, unsocial/evening hours, restrictions on employment etc)

• Flexible working hours during peak periods (May/June & November/December) for CIE, ACCA, University of London etc is required.
• Examination delivery deadlines are absolute; therefore, out of hours working may be required in order to meet these deadlines.
• IELTS tests are usually held on Saturdays and Sundays and some early evenings.
• Professional and vocational examinations are also occasionally held on Saturdays.
• Rostered working on Saturdays, Sundays and some evenings is required.
• Travel to administer/monitor these tests in centres outside of Abuja is required.
• Test deadlines are absolute; therefore, out of office hours working may be required to meet these deadlines.
• Travel to administer/monitor examinations in centres outside of Abuja may be required.
• Overnight stays and weekend working may be required.

Person Specification
Behaviours

Essential:

• Working together (essential): Establishing a genuinely common goal with others.
• Making it happen (essential):
• Being Accountable (more demanding)
• Creating Shared Purpose (essential)
• Shaping the future (essential):
• Look for ways in which we can do things better.
• Connecting with others (essential): Making regular opportunities to understand others better.

These behaviours will be needed to successfully carry out the role, but will not be assessed for recruitment purposes

Assessment stage:
Interview

Skills and Knowledge
Essential:

• Marketing and Customer Service - Level 1
• Computer Skills - Level 1
• English Language proficiency to IELTS band 7.5 in all areas (or equivalent).

Assessment Stage:
Shortlisting and Interview

Desirable:

• Knowledge of the education and qualification systems in the UK and Nigeria

Experience

• Dealing with customers and enquiries in a service environment.
• Providing and monitoring service within quality standards.
• Working quickly and accurately to tight deadlines.
• Experience of handling and reporting on payments from customers.

Desirable:

• Experience of delivering examinations in a timely and secure manner.
• Managing and training casual staff.

Assessment Stage:
Short listing & Interview

Qualifications

• Secondary School education up to ‘A’ Level standard

Desirable:

• A qualification in examinations management

Assessment Stage:
Short listing

Application Closing Date
30th April, 2016.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Click here to download job details (MS Word)

Click here to download BC Behaviour (pdf)