Positions at the United Nations are coveted by many, which means that competition is high. There are likely both internal and external candidates filing an application, which means that for many roles simply meeting the requirements won’t be enough. Candidates need to stand out if they want to be successful, experts say.
“I'm surprised, as a recruiter, when I go into the recruitment process, easily half of the applicants, you can just tell that they're irrelevant for the position,” said Veronika Ambertson, a coach and human resources consultant who worked in HR at the U.N. Development Programme for over a decade. “You’ve got to customize, but that's not so easy for people to do.”
Current advertised roles are wide-ranging, requiring a variety of experience and skills. There is a call for a roster human resources officer for the World Health Organization in Manila; a chief of field office for UNICEF in Somalia; and a policy and best practices officer with the U.N. Mission in South Sudan.