United Nations

Janos Tisovszky
Director,
United Nations Information Service
(UNIS) Vienna

United Nations:
Introduction

What/who is the UN?

Forum (Member States)

Actor (Staff)
Community - platform/umbrella (other
actors)
Ideal (set of expectations)

UN Secretariat

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

Priorities and the way ahead

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

Working for the UN

Who we are

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

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

Career Options: The different categories

of staff at the United Nations

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

Experience requirements after

obtaining your degree:
o

P-2 = YPP or Language recruitment examination

or 2 years without exam

o
o
o
o

P-3 = 5 years
P-4 = 7 years
P-5 = 10 years
D-1/D-2 = 15 years

Types of Jobs

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

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

For expectations of UN Staff, see:

Charter

of the United Nations

Staff Rules and Regulations

Values, Competencies, Mobility

Core values:
Integrity,

Professionalism, Respect for

Diversity

Core competencies and managerial

competencies
Mobility:

Functional

and geographic

Staff selection
Positions advertised on
http://careers.un.org
Open to external and internal candidates
Exception: entry-level professional
positions (YPP)

21

YPP: the Process

Application
Convocation
Written Exam
Oral Examination
Placement
Assignment, Orientation and Development

YPP 2012

Job families:

Architecture
Economic Affairs
Information System and Technology
Political Affairs
Radio Producer (Portuguese + Kiswahili)
Social Affairs

Member States Participating: 79

Application

Important: incomplete and/or late applications will

NOT be considered

Acknowledgement: applicants will receive by e-mail an

acknowledge receipt of their application

Application number: Once convoked to the written

exam, candidates will receive an application number.

24

Admission
First Screening- Eligibility

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
25

Admission
Second Screening

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

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
26

Convokees

All candidates will receive notification regarding

their admission to the written examination

Applicants may check the listing of application

numbers on the United Nations Careers Portal http://
careers.un.org

Members States will be informed on the numbers of

convokees by examination centre

27

Written Examination

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Overall time for the written examination: 4.5

hours
Structure:

General

paper
Specialized paper

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

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

Core values:
Integrity,

Diversity

Professionalism, Respect for

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

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

Lessons learned and tips

(from participants in the YPP 2011)

Written Exam

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.)

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.)

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

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)

For summary writing, practice summarizing UN documents and time

yourself

Read and check the UN/NY website on a daily basis.

Judge the value of each question and distribute your time accordingly.

Answer every question, even if you dont know or are not sure.
(Take an educated guess. If you dont 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

know the UN Core Competencies as detailed as possible

Application Process

Search for job

openings
Understand the
position and location
Create a profile and
draft application
Apply to a job opening

Evaluation of the
application
Assessment exercise
Competency-based
interview
Background checks
Selection notification

Personal History Profile (PHP)

Description of Duties

Duties:
o What you did in your job

Describe your responsibilities with

careful attention to the vacancy for
which you are applying

Use
Current job: present tense
o Past job(s): past tense
o

Summary of Achievements

Achievements:
o How well did you do in your job

Provide specific examples where

you made an impact/contribution in
the positions you have held

Cover Letter

Describe how your experience, qualifications and competencies match the

specific position

You can distinguish yourself from other candidates by highlighting what makes
you a good match for the position

Structure
o
o
o

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

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-vis 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)

BUT: also

offers more variety more interesting

things to do a real chance to make a difference
also be part of a unique community

Thank you for your

attention!
www.un.org
careers.un.org
www.unis.unvienna.org