HR Officer - Talent Acquisition (NOA) - Damascus - Va011 - 2026

HR Officer

The HR Officer will be leading the Talent Acquisition team and reporting to the Head of HR; the incumbent will contribute to successful people operations for WFP's Syria Country Office. The ideal candidate has a deep passion for talent acquisition, staying abreast of industry evolution, always looking to introduce new methods and ideas for identifying and engaging top talent; and successfully enlists support from the business for talent attraction, networking and employer branding engagement initiatives and a strong knowledge of the various aspect of talent management.

The HR Officer will:

• Contribute towards the development of country specific plans and processes, and deliver HR operational activities or projects, following standard processes and ensuring alignment with wider WFP policies.
• Shape and enhance processes to ensure effective and streamlined talent acquisition strategies putting forward simplifications to contribute to process efficiencies and improvements with the aim of ensuring timely returns.
• Manage the HR talent acquisition team, acting as a mentor and guiding more junior staff.
• Responsible for full cycle recruitments for national positions ensuring transparency, consistency and adherence to HR framework and policies.
• Research availability of diverse talent pools focusing on gender, disability inclusion, to ensure diversity across the operation.
• Engage and partner with managers to understand their specific functional staffing needs and implement solutions to meet these needs, following standard processes and ensuring alignment with wider WFP policies.
• Articulate WFP's employee value proposition to enhance visibility and reputation in key sourcing channels by carrying out impactful and targeted employer branding activities.
• Build partnerships, develop and maintain strong relationships that include outreach to schools, institutions of higher learning, target diversity organizations, professional associations and other recruiting sources to ensure sourcing produces a strong talent pipeline.
• Contribute to preparation of a regular, accurate reports (i.e, a dynamic dashboard) on talent acquisition activities that enable informed decision-making and consistent information for stakeholders.
• Act as a point of contact for all recruitment related matters for both hiring managers and staff.
• Contribute to staff capability building, working with managers to understand individual skills and business requirements, and organizing/delivering development solutions which equip people with the skills and knowledge required to meet current and future challenges.
• Coordinate internal and external communications with stakeholders and applicants to ensure transparency of processes and act as a focal point for recruitment related queries.
• Other duties as required.

Desired experience for entry into the role includes:

• Has provided direction and instruction to more junior staff members within area of expertise
• Has gained extensive experience providing administrative and systems support across multiple activities in employment life cycle including: recruitment, interviews, training support, and performance management within a country office environment.
• Has had exposure to supervisory responsibilities in previous experiences.

Qualifications and experience required include:

• Advanced university degree in Human Resource Management, Public or Business Administration, Industrial Psychology or other relevant field, or First University degree with two additional years of related work experience.
• At least one (1) year of postgraduate professional experience in Human Resources with strong experience in recruitment/selection and talent acquisition and with an interest in international humanitarian development.

Knowledge and skills:

• Experience in sourcing and recruiting hard-to-fill profiles.
• Demonstrated success developing and deploying creative, effective candidate pipeline development methodologies and effective outreach strategies.
• Ability to leverage social media to connect with diverse community to do Employer Branding and recruitment market.
• Knowledge of the Syrian employment Market.
• Knowledge of Talent Acquisition best practices – latest trends (Sourcing, EVP, Selection methodologies, Onboarding, Retention, etc).
• Customer Orientation at any times and very proficient communication skills (verbal – written).
• Experience working as part of a multicultural and diverse team.
• Ability to transfer knowledge, best practices to colleagues in a context-relevant and credible way.
• Strong analytical – reporting skills to compile, maintain, analyze and prepare strong people reports to draw some (initial) conclusions and help key stakeholders make some informed decisions.
• Curiosity to learn, challenge the status quo and positive drive.
• Experience in partnering with senior management and managers is desirable.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Knowledgeable of online recruitment platforms and recruitment systems.

Fluency in spoken and written English and Arabic.