Curriculum Vitae: Steven Albert
Personal details
Telephone:-
Date of birth:
21 January 1971
Email address:-Nationality:
South African
Physical address:
19 Albert Rd
Hout Bay
Home language: Other languages:
English
Afrikaans
Qualifications
Qualification
Date
Institution
P.D.M. (Human Resources)
1993
Wits Business School
B. A. (majors in Applied Psychology
& Industrial Sociology)
1990 – 1992
Wits University
Matric
1988
King David
Associations
Registration
Date
Institution
Wellness counsellor (WC19/- - 2020
ASCHP
Courses completed
Course
Date
Hosted by
Sibling loss
2022
online
Bereavement counselling
2021
Nechama
Communication & counselling skills
2020
Nechama
Empathy & emotional intelligence at work
2020
BerkeleyX (Edx)
Personal growth group
2020
Nechama
Neuroplasticity
2020
Brain Academy (Udemy)
Counselling in grief & loss
2019
Hope House
Body language
2019
Coaching with NLP
Unlocking EQ
2019
Six Seconds
Instructional design: Storyboarding
2017
Linkedin Learning
Instructional design: Adult learners
2017
Linkedin Learning
Writing effective learning objectives
2017
Linkedin Learning
Instructional design: Models of ID
2017
Linkedin Learning
The neuroscience of learning
2017
Linkedin Learning
Eco office manager
2014
Terra Firma Academy
Tour guide
2014
Livingstone Academy
First aid
2014
MST
Carbon footprint analyst
2010
GCX
Courses contd.
Course
Date
Hosted by
Mental health
2009
S A College of Applied Psychology
NLP
2009
S A College of Applied Psychology
Coaching I
2009
S A College of Applied Psychology
Interpersonal skills
2008
S A College of Applied Psychology
RPL Assessor
2005
InTuition
Writing skills
2003
Dorian Haarhof
Copy editing & proofreading
2002
John Linnegar
Healing breath
2002
Art of Living
Healing touch level 1
2001
Colorado Centre for Healing Touch
How to run a support group
2000
West Rand Hospice
Counselling skills
2000
West Rand Hospice
Facilitation skills
2000
West Rand Hospice
Depth seeker
2000
Full Circle Encounters
Vision, creativity and intuition
1998
Carolyn Myss
Effective user documentation
1998
Whitehead Morris
Facilitation skills
1998
Rudi Frigenti
Reiki level 1
1998
Sally Rossiter
Employment history
Company
Dates
Job description
Cactus Communications
September 2021 – April 2022
Editing & proofreading
Edge Media
November 2018 – September 2021
Freelance editing, proofreading, rewriting & content creation
LobsterInk
March 2018 –
December 2018
QA Specialist
EY Catalyst
June 2017 – September 2017
Editor
TTRO (The Training Room Online)
September 2016 –
March 2017
QA Specialist
Clur Research International
March 2015 –
Data visualization
Far South Tutors
July 2014
Assistant trainer
Ramsay Media
November 2013 – May 2014
Sub-editor
GCX (Global Carbon Exchange)
November 2010 – March 2011
Instructional designer
Employment history contd.
Company
Dates
Job description
ICG (International Colleges Group)
Aug 2009 –
June 2010
Resourcing & training coordinator
Various
January 2009 –
Freelance editing, proofreading, document formatting
Maskew Miller Longman
June 2008 –
Dec 2008
Managing editor
Pearson publishers
April 2008
Project manager
ICG (International Colleges Group)
July 2005 – April 2008
Managing editor, author manager, publishing trainer
Genealogy & Migration Centre
March 2002 –
February 2005
Project manager
Clacherty & Associates
Jan 2001 –
May 2001
Research and writing of handbook
Foundation for Tolerance Education
June 2000 –
Nov 2000
Programme evaluation
Futurekids
April 1999 –
September 1999
Computer literacy training
SPL
September 1996 – May 1998
Usability testing
Current
Over the past 12 months I have been working in the film industry, sourcing and supplying vehicles for adverts and movies. I am also currently a volunteer bereavement counsellor with a local community-based organisation.
September 2021 – March 2022
I worked for Cactus Communications, editing, proofreading and preparing journal articles for submission in various fields.
November 2018 – June 2019
I worked in a freelance capacity for Edge Media, editing and proofreading educational material, on a project basis. I also researched, rewrote and created new content for existing learning material.
March 2018 – December 2018
I was on a six-month contract at LobsterInk as a QA (quality assurance) specialist from March through September. I then worked in a freelance capacity up until December. The company was creating training material for a major international hotel group. I worked on all training-related material including videos, voice-over scripts, assessments and support materials.
June 2017 – September 2017
From mid-June till the end of August I was taken on at EY Catalyst on a project to proofread and edit consulting material. EY (Ernst & Young) bought materials from CCI, and my task was to edit the material (Powerpoint workshops, web-reader content, MS Word support documents), and remove and reword/rephrase branded wording.
September 2016 – March 2017
I was on a six-month contract at TTRO (The Training Room Online). I was working on a project for a Saudi client to create learning programmes on a variety of topics for the Edx online platform.
My role was to ensure the quality of these programmes through editing and proofreading of all content at each phase (raw content, storyboard, developed solution), check consistency through the courses, check layout and style as per style sheets, check illustrations, animations and voice-over elements, as well as user interface functionality and usability.
March 2015 – ongoing
I worked on Excel-based, retail property research data projects:
entering data into Excel templates, applying formulae, generating and cleaning up scatter diagrams,
creating and updating Powerpoint templates per project, transferring diagrams into templates,
converting Powerpoint documents into PDFs, hyperlinking all pages to menu pages, creating and updating PDF menu pages (working in Adobe Acrobat), and
cleaning up Excel data on an as-needed basis.
July 2014
I was employed as an assistant trainer by Far South Tutors on a project at Big Fish film school. The school had two groups of students who were being taught MS Office products (Word, Excel and Powerpoint), many of whom had no prior exposure to computers and were English second-language students. I drew up and conducted a pre-course skills assessments, assisted in creation of course outlines and curriculum, assisted students in class, and drew up and conducted and end-of-course assessments.
November 2013 – May 2014
In November 2013 I was taken on as a freelance sub-editor at Ramsay Media. I worked in-house on a number of their magazine titles. My tasks here entailed:
proofreading hard copy material and Indesign pages,
fact checking and research,
working closely with design studio on layout,
checking graphic layout (working in Indesign),
ensuring consistency across different titles, according to house style sheets.
November 2010 – March 2011
In November 2010 I was employed on a contract basis as an instructional designer on an
e-learning project for Global Carbon Exchange (GCX).
My responsibilities were:
re-authoring existing text material for a visual, internet-based audience,
creating course structures, learning outcomes and assessments,
conceptualising and briefing graphic and interactive elements,
researching and writing material.
I completed GCX’s Carbon Footprint Analyst course at this time.
August 2009 – June 2010
In August 2009, I rejoined ICG (International Colleges Group). My responsibilities were:
sourcing and training of writing and editorial resources,
finding and making initial contact with potential resources, screening CVs for project suitability,
ensuring that all projects had sufficient and appropriately skilled authors, peer reviewers and editors,
negotiating around project requirements and constraints, and securing agreement.
2009 – 2019
From 2009 onwards I worked in a freelance capacity, editing, proofreading and formatting Word documents on a project basis. My work was generally in the educational environment. I worked for Milpark Business School, Juta, LR Group, CTI Education Group and International Colleges Group. More recently, I worked for LobsterInk and Edge Media.
June 2008 – November 2008
I was employed as a managing editor for Maskew Miller Longman publishers (MML). I worked on a new series of books with strong emphasis on graphic layout. Extensive liaison was required to ensure appropriate photographs and illustrations were sourced and placed, photo shoots arranged and artists commissioned, within tight schedule and budget constraints. This was a project management role and I was responsible for:
scheduling production of books from authored manuscript through to final publishable book,
managing and renegotiating budgets where required,
extensive liaison between production, in-house design studio and outsourced typesetters, ensuring production according to set schedules and budgets,
mediating between publishing and editorial functions,
contracting and managing editors and ensuring delivery according to the schedule.
April 2008
I was employed on a contract basis at Pearson educational publishers in a project management capacity. My responsibilities were:
ensuring delivery of written material from the author according to deadline,
reviewing material from an editing point of view and raising any suggestions or content queries with the author,
sourcing and contracting with an expert in the field to review content, ensuring that this review was done and feeding suggestions back to the editor,
mediating between subject matter experts reviewing the material and ensuring the author responded to questions and suggestions.
July 2005 – April 2008
I was employed in the publishing division of ICG (International Colleges Group), where I was responsible for the production of learning material through authoring, editing, quality assurance and release stages. I held three roles here: as managing editor and author manager I drew up contracts for authors, peer reviewers and editors, set out deadlines for delivery at set milestones, and dealt with invoicing and payment.
As author manager, I was responsible for:
managing resources (authors, peer reviewers and assessing editors) during the authoring stage of the production process; each stage is marked by a submission from and feedback to the author, according to set deadlines,
mediating between the author and peer reviewer to ensure the implementation of changes to the manuscript,
contracting with graphic designers to create diagrams and drawings.
As managing editor, I was responsible for:
receiving manuscripts once they had passed through the authoring phase,
marking up the copy with instructions for DTP,
sending the material for editing and facilitating the resolution of any queries,
sending the manuscript for quality checking,
carrying out the release check (a final check for ‘publishability’),
releasing the document for printing.
In addition, as publishing trainer I was responsible for training of authors and peer reviewers.
I also completely revised the author training material.
March 2002 – February 2005
As project manager of the Genealogy & Migration Centre, I was responsible for the creation and day-to-day maintenance of a database of Jewish emigration to South Africa and Jewish communities across the country.
In this capacity, I:
reviewed and structured all data to ensure compliance with set project standards and formats,
managed data capture and collection of new data,
worked closely with UCT’s IT department in the creation and maintenance of a website,
assisted members of the public who were searching for information,
supplied the South African Jewish Museum with data for their computer data bank.
I worked closely with the museum’s web design team and consulted on content and functioning of both their in-house system and website. I also gathered family trees and family histories for the Jewish Museum.
In addition, I initiated a project to gather data on the synagogues of South Africa. I travelled to towns throughout the Western Cape to research the synagogues and gather photographic, documentary and oral data on the history of the buildings and the communities that built and used them.
January 2001 – May 2001
I was employed on a freelance basis at Clacherty & Associates publishers. I was responsible for researching and writing handbooks for a company that creates low and middle-income housing in the Johannesburg inner city. I conducted interviews with role-players, gathered source material from the client and created the draft document. I was involved in all stages of the project including planning, editing and design through to publication.
June 2000 – November 2000
The Foundation for Tolerance Education was an NGO conducting learning programmes at schools. The programmes were designed to teach students about tolerance and acceptance of others, using historical events such as Apartheid and the Holocaust as examples. I was responsible for the evaluation of these education programmes. I created assessment questionnaires, conducted interviews with teachers in government and private schools and developed a feedback report.
April 1999 – September 1999
I trained adults in computer literacy skills at Futurekids, from basic to intermediary level. All participants in the class were English second-language students, most of whom had no previous exposure to computers, as well as those with intermediate experience. I taught the basics of computer operations, Windows functionality, Word, e-mail and internet. I evaluated and revised the training material, and I also drew up skills and progress assessments.
September 1996 – May 1998
I ran a Usability laboratory at SPL (a software development company), which assessed the usability of software applications and assisted the company’s developers to build more intuitive systems. After gathering data about the product, its operation in day-to-day use, and the end user, I ran tests on the system, using typical tasks as would be carried out in the normal course of working with the product. Test samples were drawn from actual users. The tests were fully monitored and documented. These results would then guide improvements for later versions of the product, online system help or user training. I jointly produced a comprehensive working document detailing the process. This document was used as a guide during the tests and also in training new members of the team.
Interests
I have completed several Hospice (West Rand) courses, including counselling skills, facilitation skills and a course on running a support group. I facilitated on a number of personal growth and self-awareness courses run by the Hospice at their centre at Magaliesburg. I also facilitated a youth camp and bereaved sibling support groups in Cape Town.
Together with my family, I helped create a cancer patients’ resource centre which was registered as a non-profit organization in 1998. We set up a website and published a 40-page booklet.
I researched information and assisted in the creation and maintenance of the website. Our guiding principle was to provide patients and their caregivers with access to information about the disease, its treatment and their options, thereby enabling them to make more informed choices.
I also researched issues surrounding loss and bereavement and developed literature relevant to the issue.
I have been involved in a number of environmental projects, covering a broad range of environmental concerns. I was involved in planning and set-up stages and developed strategy and proposals for these projects; I also liaised with role-players in the recycling industry and interested community bodies.