Officer (Project Pathways – Internships for High School Students) – Lend-a-Hand India (LAHI)

Lend-a-Hand India (LAHI) is a 12 year old NGO with the mission to integrate vocational education with mainstream education for students from 9th to 12th grade level and equip them with an entrepreneurial mindset to thrive in the real world ahead. We facilitate “school to work” transition for these 14-18 year old in-school students by imparting vocational education and internship opportunities as a part of the secondary school curriculum.

We aim to universalize vocational education and restore “dignity of labor” as lack of dignity of labor is one of the major impediments in India which restricts the youth from achieving their full potential. Currently, more than 1 million+ young students from 10,000+ high schools in 24 states/UTs across India are part of the program.
Majority of our work is in partnership with the state governments by helping the state governments to scale up vocational education in the state under ‘Samagra Shiksha’ scheme of Ministry of Education.

Recently, Lend A Hand India was awarded The organization was recently awarded a system change grant by Co-Impact, a donor collaborative consisting of Rockefeller, Gates, Chandler, Nilekanis and others.

Industry Non Profit Organization Management

Job Description
Position Summary

Lend A Hand India has launched a pioneering initiative to introduce internships for Grade 11-12 students with small and large enterprises near their school as part of the school curriculum. Launched in Pune 4 years back and with encouraging results, we are set to scale this program across multiple states.

To experience the impact of this program – watch the short clips below:

1. Samya Choudhary – Taj Hotel (Hindi): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-m5aNPu_1w

2. Swati Kumar – Taj Hotel (Hindi): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi07-_XZcWA

3. Alia – Information Technology (English) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6lgJCxtliM

4. Sonali Chavan – Electrical Appliance (Marathi with English Subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16neqRRFYpo

5. Saubhagya Chavan and Mehraj Mullar – Retail (Hindi) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T5aXRZpxcA

Principal Responsibilities:

Be part of the team responsible to manage internships for the high school students in partnership with the state government.

What You’ll Do:

• Orienting students for internship opportunities, Conduct training sessions for the students to introduce them to the concept of career, internship, apprenticeship, full time/part time jobs and various options they have. Engaging past students in orientation
• Outreach to potential employers to advocate the idea through cold calls, emails, meetings, references who can offer internships, apprenticeships, full/part time job opportunities to students.  Onboarding of employers inducting them about internship / apprenticeship program.
• Ongoing liaison with employers by providing updates of students and involving them to stay in touch by way of inviting them for visits, events, guest lectures, act as judge, mentor, etc.
• Conduct events like HR meet, Job Fair, Celebrations to bring students, parents, employers, vocational training providers on common platform to promote Skill based Education and Jobs
• Work across functional areas of the Project to organize, coordinate and deploy necessary resources for effective implementation of project with the help of field team. Active contribution to the strategic plan of the project and translate strategic objectives into operational plans.

How We’ll Help You Grow:

There is no limit to how much or how fast you can grow in this role. Here, you will truly experience what it is like to convert a concept into a reality. You will grow with us. With time, you will be able to build a strong understanding of our program, the problems we are looking to solve, student needs and pain points, and more. You will truly experience what it is like to work with the government and get your voice in the policy making and execution. With time, you will be able to build a strong understanding of our program, the problems we are looking to solve, student needs and pain points, and more.

Based on the interest and expertise that you develop with time, candidates can expect to go on to either lead their own teams, launch us in new markets or create new products.

Requirements
What You Need to Bring:

• 2-3 years of work experience (preferred but not essential. Should be in addition to fellowship experience, if any)
• You are an entrepreneur at heart
• You do not wait for instructions and guidelines but believe in taking end-to-end ownership of things
• You are excited to learn new things and do not shy away from going above and beyond the traditional growth paths
• One who is a die-hard optimist: This is not going to be easy and that is why probably it is not done so far. There will be multiple seemingly insurmountable challenges but you would be willing to overcome those
• One who is a great story teller: This position is going to be as much about storytelling as about getting the work done as you will be required to convince multiple stakeholders who will be full of rightly placed apprehensions.  Your job will be to bring them on board (read parents, employers, policy makers, vendors and of course, the youth)
• One who is not looking for credit but getting the work done: Lend A Hand India has a rule of “no logos and no egos” as we believe that work will speak for itself
• One who has track record of Idea to Execution – While managers will be always there to guide you, imagine that the background you have been given as this part of Job Advertisement is the only thing you have been told and you have to run with it and make it happen on the ground hence exceptionally good at conceptualization, design, execution, and post execution follow ups
• One who is comfortable with Technology for scaling up: Needless to say, technology will play a significant role in nationwide scale up of such an initiative hence being comfortable with technology and its application is necessary.

What Will Get You Brownie Points:

• Worked in a start-up environment
• Past experience of working with the government
• Understanding of the development sector in general or education sector in particular