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United Nations
Janos Tisovszky
Director,
United Nations Information Service
(UNIS) Vienna
United Nations:
Introduction
What/who is the UN?
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Forum (Member States)
Actor (Staff)
Community - platform/umbrella (other
actors)
Ideal (set of expectations)
UN Secretariat
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Carries out day-to-day work of the Organization
and services its principal organs
Staffed by international civil servants
Headquartered in New York, Geneva, Vienna,
Nairobi, with offices and field missions around
the world
44,000 staff members
United Nations: Areas of Work
Development
 Peace and Security
 Human Rights
 Humanitarian Affairs
 International Law
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Priorities and the way ahead
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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has
outlined five imperatives:
 Five
generational opportunities to shape the
world tomorrow by the decisions we make
today
Five imperatives
Sustainable development
 Prevention
 Building a safer and more secure world
 Supporting nations in transition
 Working for – and with – women and
young people
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Working for the UN
Who we are
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We are international civil servants.
Our work touches lives in every corner of the globe, is
complex and multifaceted, and extends directly and
indirectly to our 193 Member States.
In the last decade, the United Nations has increased its
field-based operations
Over 50 per cent of our 44,000 staff work in field
locations all over the world
Over 100,000 personnel in 16 peacekeeping and 11
political missions
Being part of the UN
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Member States
Staff (including interns, associate
experts, consultants and volunteers)
Civil society players (NGOs, private
sector, academia, creative community,
etc.)
Career Options
Staff categories
 Young professionals programme
 Language competitive examinations
 Associate expert programme
 Volunteer programme
 Internship programme
 Temporary jobs
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Career Options: The different categories
of staff at the United Nations
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Professional and higher categories (P and D)
General Service and related categories (G, TC,
S, PIA, LT)
National Professional Officers (NO)
Field Service (FS)
Senior Appointments (SG, DSG, USG and ASG)
Professional Jobs
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Experience requirements after
obtaining your degree:
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P-2 = YPP or Language recruitment examination
or 2 years without exam
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P-3 = 5 years
P-4 = 7 years
P-5 = 10 years
D-1/D-2 = 15 years
Types of Jobs
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Administrators
Aviation
Cartography
Audit
Conference and Language Staff
Drug Control & Crime Prevention
Demographics
Economic Affairs
Electoral Affairs
Engineering
Information and Communications Technology
Information Management
Library Science
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Logistics
Procurement
Medical
Programme/Project Management
Security
Humanitarian Affairs
Human Rights
Legal Affairs
Political Affairs
Public Administration
Public Information, Radio & TV
Rule of Law
Social Affairs
Statistics
Expectations of UN staff
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For expectations of UN Staff, see:
 Charter
of the United Nations
 Staff Rules and Regulations
Values, Competencies, Mobility
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Core values:
 Integrity,
Professionalism, Respect for
Diversity
Core competencies and managerial
competencies
 Mobility:
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 Functional
and geographic
Staff selection
Positions advertised on
http://careers.un.org
 Open to external and internal candidates
 Exception: entry-level professional
positions (YPP)
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YPP: the Process
Application
 Convocation
 Written Exam
 Oral Examination
 Placement
 Assignment, Orientation and Development
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YPP 2012
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Job families:
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Architecture
 Economic Affairs
 Information System and Technology
 Political Affairs
 Radio Producer (Portuguese + Kiswahili)
 Social Affairs
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Member States Participating: 79
Application
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Important: incomplete and/or late applications will
NOT be considered
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Acknowledgement: applicants will receive by e-mail an
acknowledge receipt of their application
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Application number: Once convoked to the written
exam, candidates will receive an application number.
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Admission
First Screening- Eligibility
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Nationality: Must hold the nationality of a
participating member state at the time of application
Age: 32 years or younger (Date of birth: On or after 1
January 1979)
Education: First-level university degree acceptable
for each job family
Language: Fluency in English or French
Experience: No experience required
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Admission
Second Screening
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If more than 40 qualified applicants from the same
participating Member State in the same job family, a
second round of screening will be conducted
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Criteria for the second screening:
 Language: Fluency in additional official
languages of the United Nations
 Degree: Additional and/or higher-level
degrees acceptable for the job family
 Experience: Length of work experience
acceptable for the job family
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Convokees
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All candidates will receive notification regarding
their admission to the written examination
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Applicants may check the listing of application
numbers on the United Nations Careers Portal
http://careers.un.org
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Members States will be informed on the numbers of
convokees by examination centre
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Written Examination
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Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Overall time for the written examination: 4.5
hours
Structure:
 General
paper
 Specialized paper
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Examinees are fully responsible for any
expenses related to their travel to the
examination centre
General Paper
Summary and several questions in
International Affairs,
 To be answered in either English or
French;
 Eliminatory
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Specialized Paper
 Essays
and short questions in the
substantive area
 To be answered in any of the UN
official languages.
 The essay part of this paper is
eliminatory
The Examination: Oral Part
 Competency-based
interview and
possibly an oral presentation.
 UN
Secretariat will cover the travel
expenses of examinees invited to the
oral examination
Core values and competencies
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Core values:
 Integrity,
Professionalism, Respect for
Diversity
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Core competencies:
 Communication,
Teamwork, Planning and
Organizing, Accountability, Creativity, Client
Orientation, Commitment to Continuous
Learning, Technological Awareness
Competency-based interviews
“Past, demonstrated behavior is the best
indicator of future performance”
 Questions ask about past professional
experiences that can demonstrate that the
applicant is competent
Successful Candidates
Placement
 To
be placed in positions at the P-1
or P-2 level in any Secretariat duty
station or peacekeeping operation.
Reserve List
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Only those who cannot be placed will be
kept on a reserve list, from which future
vacancies will be filled.
The reserve list has a lifespan of two years
after the conclusion of the examination.
Candidates who refuse one invitation to
interview or one official offer of
employment will be removed from the
reserve list.
Assignment, Orientation &
Development
Initial assignment: Two years
 Second assignment: In a different duty
station
 Two-week orientation programme prior to
first assignment
 Dedicated training budget to ensure
professional development
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Lessons learned and tips
(from participants in the YPP 2011)
Written Exam
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Time-keeping is extremely important
(4.5 hours seems long, but it is a lot of writing. There is a lot to writeyou tend to spend too much time with the topic you are familiar with
or where you know a lot.)
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Practice hand writing ahead of time. Practice time keeping.
(Do a full 4.5 hour written exam with all four parts to check how
much time you need for each, and to get a feeling for it. this helps to
practice handwriting as well.)
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Concentrate on the general part and try to do it really well (It is
eliminatory!)
Lessons learned and tips
(from participants in the YPP 2011)
Written Exam
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Summarizing of texts is tricky
(not because of the content but because of the hand writing normally you use Word and word count on the PC so with
handwriting you do not really know how much you have written)
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For summary writing, practice summarizing UN documents and
time yourself
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Read and check the UN/NY website on a daily basis.
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Judge the value of each question and distribute your time
accordingly.
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Answer every question, even if you don’t know or are not sure.
(Take an educated guess. If you don’t write anything you
automatically get 0 points, but there are no minus points for wrong
answers.)
Lessons learned and tips
(from participants in the YPP 2011)
Oral Exam
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know the UN Core Competencies as detailed as possible
Application Process
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Search for job
openings
Understand the
position and location
Create a profile and
draft application
Apply to a job opening
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Evaluation of the
application
Assessment exercise
Competency-based
interview
Background checks
Selection notification
Personal History Profile (PHP)
Description of Duties
Summary of Achievements
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Duties:
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What you did in your job
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Achievements:
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How well did you do in your job
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Describe your responsibilities with
careful attention to the vacancy for
which you are applying
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Provide specific examples where
you made an impact/contribution in
the positions you have held
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Use
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Current job: present tense
Past job(s): past tense
Cover Letter
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Describe how your experience, qualifications and competencies match
the specific position
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You can distinguish yourself from other candidates by highlighting
what makes you a good match for the position
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Structure
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Open with a statement of interest
Summarize your qualifications, experience and competencies
relating to the specific positions
Close with a brief recapitulation
Make it impressive and customize it
Additional Tips
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The UN will first get to know you through your
application/PHP
Be truthful, accurate and specific
Make your words count
Prepare application/PHP offline using a word
processor application (e.g. MS Word)
Print application/PHP on screen or paper to
proofread and review
Save your applications
The International Working Environment (1)
 Realization
 and
that challenges are truly global
interdependent (nexus approach)
 Need
for engaging all possible actors
 Need
for predictable/permanent mechanisms
 Need
for certain principles to be in place for
legitimacy.
The International Working Environment (2)
 UN
has a comparative advantage in all
 UN
role and necessity is less questioned
 Increase
 The
in operational tasks
issue is to prove its effectiveness (not vis-àvis other actors but as regards getting the job
done)
UN Working Environment:
Demand on Results
Results orientation means need for:
 more
capable organization
 better operating structures
 better management and
 ultimately more capable staff
 more accountability – down to the level of the
individual
How will those changes impact on your
work and possible career (1)?
 More
operational → more stress on delivering
 Mobility
 Flexibility
 Versatility
 Integrity
 Accountability
How will those changes impact on your
work and possible career (2)?
 At
times also dangerous with more operational
tasks (as UN has become a target for terrorists
and insurgents)
 Frustration
(bureaucracy + want to do results +
judged against ideals/expectations)
also offers more variety – more interesting
things to do – a real chance to make a difference –
also be part of a unique community
 BUT:
Thank you for your
attention!
www.un.org
careers.un.org
www.unis.unvienna.org