Are you pursuing an international development career or consulting assignment? Devex is a source of job and consulting opportunities, a database used by top international development recruiters where you can post your CV or resumé, and find links to international development consulting firms, government and humanitarian agencies, and NGOs.

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We also provide the following tips for your international development career. These tips were gleaned from communications with our network of more than 100,000 international development professionals from around the world.

Tip 1: Understand the Types of Positions Available

We commonly speak to professionals who are interested in an international development career. But what they envision is often vague and doesn't fit with the types of positions available. It's an oversimplification, but there are essentially three types of jobs in international development. If you understand what each entails, it will be easier for you to position yourself for a job or assignment.

Technical Expert: This is what many professionals think of when they envision an international development career. A Technical Expert is someone with a high level of expertise in a particular technical field, such as irrigation, distribution of medicines and condoms, designing effective environmental policies, building a judiciary from the ground-up, or planning airports, roads, ports, and other infrastructure.

These positions are generally attached to specific projects funded by governmental donor agencies including the World Bank, USAID, and DFID. These agencies normally have tight restrictions on the qualifications for Technical Experts. It is not uncommon for requirements to include 10 years of experience and an advanced degree, plus particular foreign language skills and substantial in-country experience.

If this is the type of position you are seeking, it's important that you have sufficient technical expertise in a particular field or fields; if not, now is the time to build your qualifications toward positions of this kind. In addition, Technical Experts generally work in the country where the project is based. So, depending on your career level and the sector in which you work, be prepared for long-term assignments (1-3 years) in a particular country or region, and/or frequent short-term assignments to multiple locations. Such work often takes place in post-conflict countries or in areas without the comforts of cosmopolitan cities: consider whether or not this is really what you want before investing your time and energy in this career path.

It should also be pointed out that the image of humanitarian relief workers doling out food and medicines in refugee camps is, in many ways, an incomplete picture. Many international relief agencies send abroad mostly Technical Experts with substantial field experience and hard skills. Less skilled work can often be better managed with local talent. Thus even those among you with a strong interest in assisting humanitarian relief efforts around the world should consider the importance of bringing technical expertise to bear (e.g. clinical health capabilities, energy production, water and sanitation, logistics, etc.) in the field where it is needed most.

Project Management: If you want to work on international development projects but don't envision yourself spending so much time in the field or you don't have the qualifications to be a Technical Expert, consider a Project Management position. These jobs typically are located in the headquarters offices of development consulting firms and NGOs, and most of these are in the capital cities of the world's richest countries.

A project management position entails all aspects of coordinating development projects. This begins with basic duties (expense reports, invoicing, and paperwork of all kinds) and, depending on the level of your job, can include project direction, technical advice, coordination with donor agency officials, and publication of project reports.

A project management job is often the first stop for young professionals interested in an international development career. With successful performance and the right projects in your portfolio, some short-term travel is often possible, and this can provide the experience needed, over time, for a position as a Technical Expert.

Researcher: If you are less interested in the operational activities of development projects, but rather are more interested in the underlying issues and policies that relate to global poverty, you may be more interested in a position as a Researcher. These positions typically exist at think-tanks, non-profit institutions (often those that are more engaged in advocacy than in implementing projects), and development agencies such as CIDA and DANIDA.

As with other positions, there is a spectrum of opportunities, from research assistant positions for recent graduates to more senior positions that often require a post-doctorate or other graduate degree. These positions are often based in the capital cities of the world's richest countries, but many researchers engage in field research and thus make short-term visits to developing countries in the course of their research.

Other Positions: Beyond these three broad categories (which together account for most entry, mid-level, and senior-level positions, if not executive-level positions) there are some other types of positions worth noting. Firms and NGOs that receive funding from development agencies such as ADB, IDB, and GTZ need to maintain close relationships with these agencies and to produce proposals to receive funding. As a result, there are typically positions that entail proposal writing and business development at many development consulting firms and NGOs.

In addition, the provision of Technical Experts for projects around the world is an enormous challenge - matching the right expert to the right project is no small task - and there are many positions available for international development recruiters. These positions often require knowledge of how specific development agencies work, as, for example, USAID and EuropeAID may have very different rules and regulations to comply with when it comes to recruiting Technical Experts.

In all, consider these general types of positions in order to help frame your career pursuit. There are many positions that blend various aspects of the job types outlined above, but a clear understanding of each and how you can contribute to these types of positions will be enormously helpful as you position your career in international development.

Tip 2: Promote Your Skills

It is common among international development professionals to have multiple CVs or resumés. Each version highlights and emphasizes a different core skill area to best position you for the wide range of positions available.

As you seek to promote your skills, consider the many job opportunities available by carefully searching the job listings on www.Devex.com. Select only those positions for which you are truly qualified, and create multiple versions of your CV that directly address specific positions. A general CV is much less likely to be successful, particularly if you are seeking a Technical Expert position.

To best promote your skills, it is also useful to visit the websites of our Executive Members to better understand the wide array of sectors touched upon by international development projects. (You can find a listing of their websites by logging into www.Devex.com and clicking on the Executive Members subtab).

Ours is a rapidly changing industry and there are new areas of prominence and focus each year; to be best positioned to promote your skills, it is critical that you remain aware of the latest sectors of prominence, funding trends, and activities of the world's leading NGOs and companies.

Tip 3: Networking Still Matters

Even in an age of online job postings and CV databases, networking makes an enormous difference. At Devex, we host more than 50 events each year and participate in dozens of international conferences and seminars; these in-person meetings help enormously to build relationships with a wide array of international development professionals, and we recommend job-seekers follow a similar strategy. To facilitate these kinds of connections, Devex also provides an online networking directory where international development professionals can connect with colleagues, find old friends, and make first-time introductions to professionals working at donor agencies, NGOs, and companies.

Wherever you live in the world, make an effort to get to know donor agency officials, academics working on international development research, local NGOs, and companies that engage in international development work. Personal networking of this kind can be enormously helpful in navigating the complex and ever-changing and growing international development industry.

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