Young Associate 2025-27 – Centre for Skills

Company Description

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation comprised of 38 member countries that works to build better policies for better lives. Our mission is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Together with governments, policy makers and citizens, we work on establishing evidence-based international standards, and finding solutions to a range of social, economic and environmental challenges. From improving economic performance and creating jobs to fostering strong education and fighting international tax evasion, we provide a unique forum and knowledge hub for data and analysis, exchange of experiences, best-practice sharing, and advice on public policies and international standard-setting.

The OECD Centre for Skills (SKC) supports countries in the development of skills policies to support the acquisition and use of skills by individuals to improve their employability and social outcomes, strengthen their capacity to adapt to rapidly changing economies and societies, and ensure sustainable and equitable growth and social progress. 

Within the OECD Centre for Skills, the Vocational Education and Training (VET) team contributes to building a better understanding of how VET systems are designed and implemented around the world and how they can best contribute to developing relevant skills for young people and adult learners. The team carries cross-country data and policy analysis on topics such as VET teachers, work-based learning, and the role of VET in the green transition; and works directly with countries to provide recommendations and support for strengthening their VET systems.

Job Description

Role

The Young Associate will work under the supervision of the head of the VET team and in collaboration with the policy analysts in the team. The Young Associate will contribute to cross-country work and country VET projects. The Young Associate will be exposed to the broader work of the OECD Centre for Skills, including through contributions to joint activities with other teams.

Main Responsibilities

• Identify relevant policy issues, conduct in-depth analysis of specific topics or countries, extract policy lessons, and develop relevant, constructive policy advice.
• Undertake analysis of national and international datasets (e.g. OECD datasets, labour force surveys, longitudinal surveys, administrative data) and contribute to the development of policy questionnaires.
• Conduct desk research and draft chapters and content for country and thematic reports, working papers, technical papers designed for policymakers.
• Contribute substantive input to other products and/or events of the OECD Centre for Skills, such as country case studies, blog posts, presentations, briefing notes, peer learning workshops, skills summits, etc.
• Contribute to design and deliver workshops, seminars and high-level meetings using effective tools and methodologies to present analysis and evidence.

Qualifications

Ideal Candidate Profile

Academic Background

• University degree in economics, public policy, social science or related discipline (graduation date between 1 January 2024 and 1 September 2025). Applications from candidates who already hold or are enrolled in a Master’s, PhD, or equivalent degree will not be considered.
• Course work in at least two of the following areas is required: statistics, econometrics, economics, education, public policy, labour economics. Course work in research methods, policy evaluation, education policy, and labour economics is desirable.

Skills

• Effective written communication skills, including the ability to organise and present complex material clearly and simply for both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to make public presentations and to work collegiately in a team environment.
• Data analysis and knowledge of statistical software (e.g. STATA, R or Python).

Languages

• Fluency in one of the two OECD official languages (English and French) and a knowledge of, or willingness to learn, the other.

Core Competencies

• For this role OECD staff are expected to demonstrate behaviours aligned to six core competencies which will be assessed as part of this hiring processes: Vision and Strategy (Level 1); Enable People (Level 1); Ethics and Integrity (Level 1); Collaboration and Horizontality (Level 1); Achieve Results (Level 1); Innovate and Embrace Change (Level 1).
• There are three possible levels for each competency. The level for each competency is determined according to the specific needs of each job role and its associated grade.
• To learn more about the definitions for each competency, please refer to OECD Core Competencies.

Additional Information

Closing Date:

• Applications should reach us no later than midnight 1 December 2024 (CET).

Contract Duration

Two-year fixed term appointment

Starting Date

September 2025

Before applying, we encourage you to check your eligibility by answering a few short questions here.

What the OECD offers

• Monthly base salary is 3 780.34 EUR, exempt of French income tax, plus allowances based on eligibility. 
• Click here to learn more about what we offer and why the OECD is a great place to work.
• Click here to browse our People Management Guidebook and learn more about all aspects relating to people at the OECD, our workplace environment and many other policies supporting staff in their daily life.

The OECD is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes the applications of all qualified candidates who are nationals of OECD member countries, irrespective of their racial or ethnic origin, opinions or beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, health or disabilities. Applications from candidates who are not OECD Member country nationals will not be considered.

The OECD promotes an optimal use of resources in order to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. Staff members are encouraged to actively contribute to this goal.