The best way to get United Nations jobs is through gaining experience in other places. People usually start their careers by working with NGOs or government departments and then seek to work for UN agencies after long periods of service.

Immediately after school, only a handful find themselves in the UN. If you want, join a small unknown NGO instead of trying to get directly to the UN. Lesser NGOs usually allow you to explore multiple positions that suit your preference since their application process is not that competitive, and hence have an added advantage of greater involvement in smaller organizations.

There are many methods of getting employed by the UN; this article will explain some essentials towards a career within the UN system.

Various Job Positions In UN

Regular Staff at the UN

The UN’s regular personnel resides in its main headquarters, which also serves the following purpose:

  1. Senior roles (designated as SG, DSG, USG)
  2. Directors and professionals (these categories are P and D).
  3. Administrative officials, sometimes known as G, General Service
  4. Local Officers, sometimes known as National Officers
  5. Staff members “in the field” (field service).

Temporary Staff

These positions offer a chance for people seeking a career change but maybe not quite ready to make the leap to a permanent post or maybe searching for a stepping stone to start a UN career too. These positions are aimed at those with experience and span of contract from as little as three months to a year.

Young Professional Programs, sometimes known as UN YPP

Yearly, the United Nations (UN) calls out talented youth to be recruited; finally, the entire process of application and selection ends up with a professional job title at the P-1 or P-2 level. While a lot of individuals use this method to join the UN, it is advisable to include people from countries with few representatives in the United Nations.

Language based roles requiring an assessment

So, if you are one of them, this path is the best one for starting your career at UN. The UN has an editors and translators program to increase its interpretation skills. The official languages of the UN are English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic but considering that the organization has its headquarters in Vienna (Austria) and Geneva (Switzerland), a German speaker may also benefit.

Volunteer

There two ways one could volunteer at the UN:

  1. UN Youth Volunteer Program accessible to applicants between the ages of eighteen and thirty-nine. This curriculum requires no particular work experience or postgraduate diploma. The particular sets of preferred skills of the different volunteers could mean that your application fits the vacancy you come across.
  2. UN Volunteers accessible to candidates 25 years of age and above. You will need at least two years of experience with linguistic competency in English, French, or Spanish and a postgraduate certificate.

Like other volunteer programs, the chances are more in places like South Sudan or nations in need of relief efforts where demand for help is great.

Visit the UN volunteer website for further details.

Internships

The UN offers a unique chance to self-apply through many different jobs found around the world including its headquarters that are located at Nairobi, New York, Vienna and Geneva. In contrast to several sectors where an internship serves as a launch pad for future employment, organizations like the United Nations don’t usually offer you employment after your internship.

This is an opportunity for establishing your network and finding out more about the place you want to occupy someday so that you can develop your skills and send applications for their future career.

Junior professional officer scheme (previously the Associate Expert program)

Qualified graduates looking to utilize their skills in the UN following university graduation and having already acquired notable experience (2 years minimum) would be fit for the UN JPO. The initiative is majorly for people who have studied in the following disciplines:

  1. political sciences
  2. Sociology
  3. Law
  4. Management
  5. Public Policy
  6. Economics
  7. Environmental science

Consultants

Whether your field of expertise is information technology, design, social affairs, maybe medical, then the consultant path is maybe the perfect one for you.

Advice on Landing a Job at the UN

  1. Experience field work

Traveling to get some relevant experience in the field will probably give you a better chance of working for the UN. This is not something that is explicitly stated in their job descriptions, but something that definitely changes one’s perspective while providing learning opportunities.

In other words, if you have been promoted to a desk job straight from university, gaining any kind of outdoor experience later can prove to be quite challenging due to the fact that you might have become accustomed to all its accompanying luxuries and tailored your life around them.

Study Languages

At the United Nations, language ability is clearly very important. At multilingual initiatives, you will work with teams that cover a number of languages. If at all possible, thus learn more than one official UN language. If you are thinking of getting recruited by the UN because of poor linguistics skills, don’t fool yourself because language is important.

Be in the moment and network

Networking is developing significant connections with people in your workplace. Tell them about your ambitions, your passions, your personality, and what you are searching for. Should they get along well with you, they will refer to you and vouch for you should a chance present itself.

Although today networking also occurs a lot in the digital sphere, don’t undervalue the power of being physically there when you go on a networking function.

Let your passion guide you

Pursuing your passion in today’s job market is not a luxury but a must for you to stay ahead of the game. You will be much more creative and quicker at acquiring knowledge if you have a personal stake in it. Remember that there might be other ways than this which can help cultivate and enable one’s desire for something.

For instance, even though working with the UN has been your lifelong dream, it is also possible that you may find another similar position with equal satisfaction in any other field. Do not dismiss other amazing international non-governmental organizations or institutions involved in human rights issues. Their influence is equally significant.

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