Key responsibilities:

• The Research Trainees will participate in the following activities under supervision:
• Conceptualisation and design of frameworks for research projects, especially on the South Africa labour market;
• Reviewing research reports and journal articles and other literature;
• Formulating relevant research questions and writing proposals;
• Selecting and developing appropriate research methods;
• Administering relevant interview schedules, questionnaires, observation schedules and other tools for data collection;
• Capturing coding and analysing data from various data-collection activities;
• Writing up and preparing reports for publication and disseminating research findings through seminar, conference and the media.

Key Requirements:

• Be registered for a Master’s or PhD degree that emphasises labour economics, or education economics, information systems, or management information;
• Be curious and enthusiastic about a research career that includes working with statistics, and involves qualitative and quantitative data analysis;
• Have work experience in or be interested in the field of labour markets, or education, or economics, or sociology, or information systems;
• Possess data management / data analysis / statistical skills.
• Have knowledge of and demonstrable working experience in more than one of the following software: MS Excel, MS Access, SPSS or Stata;
• Be able to work independently as well as in a team; and
• Be prepared to travel to visit research sites and project partners.

The HSRC is committed to accelerating the improvement in the proportion of its senior managers, research leaders and support staff who are black, female or disabled.

The HSRC offers attractive, market-related packages depending on qualifications and experience.

In your application, please include a letter of motivation, your CV, and the names of three contactable referees (with telephone, fax and e-mail contact details), an example of recent academic work (not exceeding 8000 words); and a one-page outline of your Master’s thesis topic (or the abstract of the completed work). The HSRC will only consider applications that satisfy the above requirements. Applicants may be required to undertake a written exercise covering competencies required for the position.

Please submit your application to: The Head: Human Resources, HSRC, Private Bag X41, Pretoria 0001, or hand-deliver it to the HSRC Building, Room S944, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria.  E-mailed and faxed applications will not be accepted.  Enquiries and not applications may be directed to Dr Nhlanhla Cyril Mbatha +27 (0)12 302 2541.

Applicants who have not been contacted within eight weeks should assume that their application has been unsuccessful. Only applicants who are interviewed will be advised of the outcome of their applications.

APPLICATIONS FROM RECRUITMENT AGENCIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.