Project for pre-qualification

We would like to inform you that in the next period, between April and September, MASIT, supported by USAID / REG project will start working on a project pre-qualification of ICT workforce. That is a project which will be implemented pre-requalification of ICT workforce, which will include employed and unemployed persons and interested candidates will have the opportunity to be pre-qualificated in order to gain some other skills, knowledge and practical experience (other than those already acquired) for IT profiles required from ICT companies, and in the future would potentially be employed in ICT companies.
The ultimate goal of the project, after visiting the program, is for people to be employed in IT companies at junior programming positions or other positions related to the ICT sector. The program pre-qualification of workforce will take about 5 months, starting in April, and in that period that will follow there would be recruiting staff who could potentially enter this program.

Training concept

- Based on the short survey among members of MASIT, the companies stated that what they are most needed / deficient following two profiles:
• .NET
• Front- End web Developer
- These two profiles will be part of the program pre-qualification of workforce based on the interests of member companies of MASIT
- For these two IT profiles will be created 2 sets of candidates for up to 20 candidates in the group.
- For those groups of 20 candidates to be created would be necessary a rigorous recruitment process in order to select the candidates with the greatest potential for development and upgrading of ICT skills. The process of attracting potential candidates will be made in coordination with the MASIT while the recruitment and the manner of its implementation will be proposed by the Recruiter and approved by MASIT. The process of recruitment is expected to be elaborated as a separate part of the offer, and within the same there should be given a reference list of recruiters who have experience in the recruitment of ICT workforce.
- Objects, content and providing of trainers within both IT profiles will be entirely the responsibility of training providers. Based on the call, both selected profiles for pre-qualification will need to provide a detailed curriculum of courses that will cover each of the profiles, as well as fond of classes within which will be covered each of the training.

- There will also be certification included for the courses where this is applicable.

Partners and beneficiaries

- MASIT – MASIT will be responsible for coordination of the whole project and ensuring all of the activities are performed as planned. MASIT will contract the training provider, the HR Recruiter and will coordinate the ICT companies for the goal of execution of the project. Also MASIT will execute all of the necessary activities in terms of PR, marketing, promotion so the pool of people interested for the project is larger.

- HR Recruiter – HR recruiter or HR team will be responsible for the analysis, evaluation of reported candidates, creating evaluation tests relevant for ICT skills (even psychological if that is necessary), selection / election of candidates who will qualify for part of the training and support in the later selection process for recruitment for employment of candidates in ICT companies, if that is necessary. As part of the offer, the offer giver is obliged to make a proposal on how to implement the process of animation and recruitment of workforce.

- Seavus education and development center will be fully responsible for the themes and curriculums for the program of training and obtaining relevant trainers for identified profiles. Training provider should develop a program, content, clear specification of subjects (courses) that will enter each of the two profiles; number of hours; and CVs of the coaches and to have full infrastructure / facility maintenance training.

- Companies – MASIT member ICT companies will be included in this project in the definition of the content of the program and also providing mentoring and internship in a period of 3 months for the selected participants. Companies will have the chance to influence on the courses and in that way to create a needed profiles of future employees, with the possibility of their employment right after the attendees finish the training. That way they will get access to the employees that gained tailor - made skills and knowledge according to the needs of market. (It it up to the companies if they decide to provide financial benefits towards the interns, but they can also arrange their own benefit policy towards interns. All outputs created during internship will remain in the possession of the internship provider).

- Training participants - Participants will be required to have at least high school degree and an interest and predispositions to pursue a career in the ICT field. Potential attendees can be graduates (from non IT faculties, example: architecture, technology, mechanics, economics and other), enrolled students or employed people interested to change their career path. For the non-IT background applicants the focus will be put on people who have tendency towards math and programming and have logical way of thinking. The participants that will be selected will learn the skills that are mostly needed in the field of ICT and basic programming, will get the opportunity to certify their knowledge (for courses where this is applicable) and will get an opportunity for employment according to the results shown during the training and internship. The candidates that will be selected need to pay a participation fee of 6000 denars with included VAT, for the whole training (this fee is to ensure that candidates will pledge their time to the courses). Also, all candidates will be required to sign a comitment letter that indicates that in case of their drop out from courses they will have to pay a significant amount of money (the real and not subsidized value of courses), as they have taken place from someone who could in the long run finish the program and become employed in the ICT sector.

Project Place, Duration and Phases

- The training will be held in Skopje, in the facilities of a selected Training provider

- Total project duration will as follows:

Preparatory period(1 month) - The first month will be the preparatory period where the following activities are expected to be done:

MASIT will consult with the member companies in order to define the 2 most ICT profiles that are needed on the market. A group of companies that are interested to be included in the project will be created and this group will provide the input in defining the courses for the two profiles and will provide the internship later in the program. These will be the companies that will have the chance to offer employment with priority, of the training attendees.
Based on the interest of the companies and defined training program, MASIT will contract a training provider and an HR Recruiter
MASIT with the help of the training provider will publish an announcement in order to call for applications from eligible interested participants. Cooperation with the Employment Agency, vocational secondary schools and other educational centers will be also stimulated in order to attract the un-employed and interested ones to send their CVs.
The HR Recruiter will attract applicants, create and perform behavioral and technical test for entering courses and will conduct interviews.
Total of 30-40 candidates for two groups will be selected ( 15-20 candidates per group)
The first couple of months of the training the basic and specialist subjects will be held
During the second couple of months the trainings will continue, and will be followed by internships or other types of project engagement on behalf of the companies. Ideally, the participants would be given specific projects during their internship in the companies, so they can apply the knowledge they gathered right away in practice. For the whole time the intern will have a mentor from within the company, while at the same time the lecturers will be available to provide answers that can arise.
At the end of the training the training provider will provide certification exam (only for the subjects where this is available and applicable)

Recruitment period (1 month)- The process of recruitment will start. The following activities are planned:
Training and internship – up to 5 months– Within this period the selected participants will start with the training:
Finalization and Evaluation– Quantitative and qualitative success indicators will be taken in consideration in order to evaluate the success of the project which will be used as lessons learned in possible continuation of the activities. By the end of this activity, it is expected that most of training attendees should be hired either in MASIT members or other interested successful ICT companies from Skopje.