As a Research Assistant, you will be collaborating with an excellent team of intellectually curious people, conducting exciting in-depth secondary research on podcast guests and topics ranging from economics to politics to environment to international affairs, and writing intros and essays on podcast episodes.
Responsibilities:
Research: Conduct secondary research on podcast guests and topics and prepare detailed profiles and questionnaire to be used in the podcast
Content writing: Write short intros and detailed descriptions of each podcast episode to be published on the Future Startup website along with each podcast episode.
Coordination: Assist in coordinating podcast interviews with guests
Content plan: Assist in the developing monthly content plan.
Promotion: Help promote Podcasts across social media channels
Transcribe podcast interviews to be published in Future Startup
Develop material for Social media channels
Analyze the response of listeners/readers and take notes to improve
Assist in managing the Podcast listeners community
Develop partnership proposals and find potential partners/sponsors
Requirements:
Open to learning and intellectually curious; analytical, articulate, and good writing skills in English
Undergraduate/Graduate students from any discipline/subject can apply. A background in social sciences is preferred
Keep oneself abreast of contemporary socio-economic, political, and development issues
Adept at conducting secondary research using the internet and other means
Hardworking and committed and capable of working on a tight deadline under pressure
Flexibility and willingness to work and learn in a fast-paced, unstructured startup environment
Weekly 25-30 hours equivalent of contribution and will have to attend at least one weekly meeting over Zoom and other meetings as necessary
A suitable candidate will be swift and effective in online communication as the supervision will be done mostly remotely
Benefits
Mentorship to learn and grow professionally in the development space
Excellent learning and networking opportunity
Opportunity to be nominated to participate in workshops, seminars, and conferences
Letter of reference/recommendation for graduate school and job
Remuneration: Unpaid during the probationary period of the first month. Upon successfully completing the one-month probationary period, one of the positions is to be turned into a paid position. Please note that significant time, resources, and effort will be made available to ensure that RAs learn from the experience and grow professionally. It will require commitment from the RAs, so read the JD carefully and apply if you are serious and find this worthwhile. Selected RAs are expected to start from early June or even earlier and will be inducted with an online orientation.
Remote work: You will be working remotely, from home, or anywhere for that matter, with flexible remote office hours. However, on some occasions, traveling for taking interviews, meeting clients, and attending meetings may be required.
Shamir Shehab is a faculty member at North South University and founder of the Bangladesh Youth Environmental Initiative (BYEI). He consults for a range of development projects in the nexus of climate change, environment, and development, funded by international development organizations such as the GCF, World Bank, FCDO, GIZ, and others.
Ruhul Kader is the co-founder and CEO of Future Startup and author of Rethinking Failure: A short guide to living an entrepreneurial life. He is a technology business and technology policy analyst based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He writes about internet business, strategy, technology, technology policy, and society.
Nafis Jalil
"As a mentor, Shamir Shehab has been having a continued impact on my professional life. He leads by example, and by virtue. He will challenge you at times and will know your limitations only to push you forward. It will be a rare and rewarding experience to have an opportunity to work with him."- Nafis Jalil, a graduate of the University of British Columbia as an International Leader of Tomorrow Awardee and BYEI’s Earth Champions Program, and currently working as Junior Geological Engineer in Arctic Canada.
How to Apply
To apply, send your following items to [email protected]. Put ‘Application: The OCF Podcast Research Assistantship 2021’ as the email subject line. Applications without a resume and essays will not be reviewed.
Resume
Response to the following questions as word or pdf document –
Briefly tell WHY you are a good fit for the position (max 550 words)
Briefly tell a situation in which you either succeeded or failed to be analytical or have a learning mindset. If succeeded, please explain HOW and WHAT you did. If failed, please tell, what is your takeaway and how would you act in similar situations now? (Approx. 800 words)
Previous works/sample link (if any)
Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis, we strongly encourage early application. The first round of applications will be reviewed on May 18th, 2021 and the final deadline is May 25th, 2021. Shortlisted applicants will be contacted for further assessment.
Only shortlisted candidates will be invited to participate in the following rounds (take-home assignments, interviews, etc.). The recruited candidate will start working from June 2021.
Special Note: We are looking for people with traits of integrity, humility, dignity, and a learning mindset. We don't tolerate racist or misogynistic or any form of discriminatory behavior to any individual or group of people.
Future Startup publishes original and deeply-reported insight, analysis, and inspiration about the business, technology, and entrepreneurship in Bangladesh that you won’t find elsewhere.
