2015: Who are global development employers hiring?

A greater focus on hiring local talent, a continued appreciation for higher education and a call for French-speaking professionals in West Africa. Already these trends have informed organizations’ hiring abilities and patterns in global development. But are these perceptions and assessments valid for the coming year too? In its benchmark “Career Trends in 2015” survey, Devex sought the opinions of recruiters from development consulting firms, international NGOs, international organizations and local NGOs. Consulting firms made up nearly half of respondents, followed by iNGOs, international organizations — including United Nations agencies — and local NGOs. Respondents’ organizations were based in more than 25 different countries, from Colombia to Germany, though the majority are headquartered in the United States. After examining more than 100 responses, here are a few important 2015 career trend findings, along with thoughts from several respondents. 1. The master’s degree in international development still reigns A master’s degree in international development still tops the list of desired educational background, according to recruiters. While a master’s often isn’t necessary for entry-level positions — especially at headquarters — more than 40 percent of survey respondents identified a master’s in international development as the degree type that will be most in demand in 2015. More surprising is that a Master of Business Administration was snapping at its heels — at 38.5 percent, followed by a graduate degree in economics, econometrics and statistics. Celia Kiene, a London-based recruiter for Coffey International, was surprised by the popularity assigned to the MBA. Coffey continues to recruit candidates with specialized skills, but many types of degrees can fit, she said. While Coffey employs more people with a master’s degree in international development than those with MBAs, they’re both in demand, she agreed — with those possessing MBAs tending to work in finance, accounting and risk management divisions. The rising popularity of this degree is also a reflection of development implementers expanding into the financial sector and private sector development. Many companies working with the European Investment Bank, for example, are most likely searching for these kinds of backgrounds. A graduate degree in economics, econometrics and statistics, though, is rising in the ranks as donors become increasingly interested in measuring performance and value for money. Beyond graduate-level education, on-the-job experience is still the most important factor for recruitment. As an organization operating under U.K. employment law, DAI must look at skills someone brings to a position, rather than whether the person has an MBA, for example, according to Benjamin Salt, senior international recruiter for DAI Europe. “A master’s shows an extra level of education and commitment, and that’s always a plus, but I wouldn't say if we've got an MBA graduate versus someone who has been doing the job for 20 years, the MBA would win,” Salt said. Key experts for European Commission projects tend to require master’s degrees. And while entry-level positions at DAI, for example, don’t require one, “our entry-level master’s graduates tend to be more advanced after one year than BA graduates,” Salt said. 2. Parlez-vous Français? Those currently deciding which language to pursue should consider French. A continued, consistent need for development investment in West Africa — in areas such as health, governance, education and Ebola response — means an equally continued, consistent need for French-speaking development professionals. More than half of survey respondents listed French as the most in-demand language, over Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin) and Russian. Arabic came in second at 14 percent, while 13 percent of respondents identified Spanish. Chemonics is most in need of French when it comes to proposals and home office projects, with Arabic a close second, according to Kathryn Erskine, director of recruitment at the U.S.-based implementing organization. French is more often identified as “required” on U.S. Agency for International Development projects in Francophone Africa and Haiti, whereas Arabic is usually “preferred” — which might play into the higher demand. Kiene, on the other hand, thought Arabic would be in greater demand, with so many projects located in sensitive and conflict areas in the Arab world. In this context, Arabic language skills are extremely helpful, she said. One project issued last year by DANIDA, Kiene remembered, covering Yemen and several other countries in the Middle East, expected that at least half of the team were able to speak Arabic, a requirement that was a must for the team leader. The U.K. Department for International Development leaves more flexibility for how to structure the team, she explained. Some of the hardest-to-fill local national positions are in West Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea, according to Katherine Wood, senior international development recruiter for RTI International. And these are also areas of high competition for quality local talent, she explained, adding that it’s difficult to recruit senior-level French speakers for all sectors. Monitoring and evaluation, for example, is a sector in which it has become challenging to identify candidates with both sufficient experience and professionally fluent French-language skills. As far as Spanish being identified as a low-ranking priority, Wood pointed to decreasing U.S. government funding in Latin America and a strong Spanish speaking capacity available in-country. But French and Arabic are not the only in-demand languages. Salt identified Portuguese as a priority for DAI’s work in Mozambique. “We’re looking for Portuguese-speaking experts from rural development to SME lending, and finding it a real struggle to find quality candidates who speak it professionally,” he said. Salt explained that many European Commission framework contracts require French as a standard, but DAI’s strong network has meant that recruiting for French language skills hasn’t been an issue. The same goes for Arabic, he said, where DAI leans on “good, established networks” for its work in Morocco, Palestine, Egypt and throughout the Middle East. If DAI looks to do more European Commission work, though, “we’ll demand more French,” Salt said. 3. The many benefits of local talent The push to hire local or third country nationals continues to pick up speed. Local professionals are increasingly named project manager or chief of party in an effort by implementing organizations to prove to donors that they are cost-effective and working towards building local capacity. Top donors like the Commission, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, DfID and USAID are increasingly looking for locals in many key project positions. Gone are the days of five or more expats on a project; now, there’s often just one. Not surprisingly, 50 to 75 percent of of candidates will be local rather than international hires this year, according to 40 percent of survey respondents, while 24 percent of respondents noted that 25 to 50 percent of their hires would be local, and 21 percent identified 75 to 100 percent local hires. “We still have high demand for internationals leading on particular projects,” Salt said. But regional talent will play a big part in development moving forward, he suggested, as many more DAI projects in Africa are fully staffed by well-educated professionals from that region of the continent. Such local staff often demonstrate better value for money for DfID, he said, in terms of finance as well as increased passion and output. Coffey, which hires approximately 75 percent of its project staff locally, also bids and implements mainly for DfID, which is increasingly advocating that the project team should be local or regional, hiring an international team leader only if the right candidate cannot be found locally. The European Commission, too, is going this way, having modified its Procedures and Practical Guide in 2014, denoting that at least 50 percent of hires should be local. The same goes for USAID Forward, which set the target of funneling 30 percent of USAID’s funding to local organizations by the end of the 2015 fiscal year; 75 to 100 percent of Chemonics’ hiring is local and will continue to be so, Erskine said. In the past, part of the issue of hiring locally had been “recruiter block,” or not being able to access or find the talent. But now, those candidates are on various professional sites — including Devex and LinkedIn — and it’s no longer as difficult as it was in the past to find out whether a conference someone said they spoke at was really a renowned national conference, for example. “As a recruiter, you don’t need to do as much digging,” said Maya Salomon, senior international recruiter for The Asia Foundation. 4. Are you a people person? Someone could be the best technical expert in the world — but a terrible chief of party. Both strong people skills and strong technical skills are rarely found in one person. So when it comes to leading a project, which should be deemed more important? Sixty-nine percent of survey respondents identified strong management and leadership skills and experience as more important, while 30 percent chose strong technical skills and experience. In some of the more challenging environments in which development professionals work, a strong manager who works well with host country nationals and that can build capacity and relationships with clients is much more important than someone with deep-rooted technical skills. Digging deeper, though, the distinction would need to be split by proposal and project, according to Salt. “When we’re writing a proposal, we know the chief of party or team leader is where a lot of the scores are weighted to, so we err more on the technical side in that sense,” he explained. “If there’s a strong team leader with management leadership experience, we would need to somehow justify them in the proposal, if they are maybe not technically as strong.” Recruiters can find themselves in a catch-22. In many cases, that strong rule of law expert, for example, just isn’t a good people manager. It’s about finding a balance between the two, Kiene suggested, since you need both skill sets on the team in some form. “You will go for a pair — team leader and deputy team leader — and if one has every good programmatic experience, you will seek outstanding technical skills for the other.” There are sectors though, such as anti-corruption, when it’s difficult to hire a team leader who doesn't have the understanding of the latest developments in the sector. In these cases, a more technically skilled candidate may be chosen for their understanding of a political topic. People management, though, isn’t subject to trends and is a requirement that is never going to go out of style, according to Salomon. “Program management, understanding funding, having really extensive industry knowledge, paying attention to international development as a field, knowing how to manage people and programs ... if someone is looking to add skills to their personal portfolio, then those are the kinds of things that I would focus on,” she said. Will an MBA ever overtake a master’s in international development in popularity for development work? Leave your thoughts below. Whether you’re a seasoned expert or budding development professional — check out more news, analysis and advice online to guide your career and professional development, and subscribe to Doing Good to receive top international development career and recruitment news every week.