How to get a job with IFAD

The food crisis in the Horn of Africa in 2011 illustrates the importance of finding sustainable solutions to feeding the world’s poor. One relatively small United Nations agency is working hard to position itself as a leader in this field. The International Fund for Agricultural Development was established in 1977 in response to a series of food crises. It aims to improve access of poor rural women and men in the developing world to land and water, agricultural technologies and production services, as well as transparent and competitive markets. Roughly half of IFAD’s resources are allocated in Africa, but the agency supports approximately 860 programs and projects in more than 100 countries. Its staff — 548 in total as of February 2013 — work in the field and at headquarters in Rome. Competition for IFAD jobs is stiff: The agency receives 250 responses, on average, for each job ad. Devex spoke with IFAD Human Resources Officer Ama Brandford Arthur about hiring trends for entry- to senior-level positions, what skills and experiences make candidates stand out, and how to ace each step of the hiring process. Talk about hiring trends at IFAD: Where is the agency expanding or cutting staff? There’s always a recognition of the type of work that we do, and the fact that IFAD’s main mission is to work with the rural poor, small-holder farmers and women to improve their lot. Then, of necessity, the people that we would select would come from that area: People [who] have worked on projects in developing countries. The most advanced, as it were, the most active recruitment that we’ve done recently has had to do with our strategy of moving more into the field to be able to better speed the development agenda within the countries. We’re also moving to strengthen the local capacities: We are hiring people in the countries, [and] we are expanding our reach thereby. We are outposting staff also to the countries in which we have programs or projects – all in the bit to ensure that we reach our target group, which is, again, the poor rural people. What skills and experiences are you looking for most now and in the near future? What we are looking [for is] people who have got the experience to work with people at the grassroots level — NGOs work with them at the very basic level — but who also have experience at the policy level. So, they are able to speak to a government and speak to people that make the change. Besides the operational people, you have the whole slew of expertise that you can think about. You’ve got public relation people [who use] communication to help us put our messages across, human resources to make sure that we get the best mix of people possible, accounting to ensure that the loans and grants are properly disbursed and we keep track of everything that needs to be paid and how we’re getting our payments, auditing to ensure that what we are doing is right and it is in conformity with the best standards acceptable. And so, each person has their niche. We do try to ensure that we have the best mix. What are the most common ways for entry-level professionals or recent graduates to join IFAD? If you are talking about entry-level graduates, then it’s probably either through internships, which would be the first kind of exposure that people have — recent graduates or people who are still between completing one degree and moving on to another — to come and get a first-hand experience of the development world. Then, there’s also the associate program officers, who effectively are sponsored by their countries and who come in also having graduated with a background of at least two years of experience. What are the most common mistakes applicants make in preparing their resumes? How can they make their CVs stand out in a positive light? Before you apply for a position, you need to ensure that you do have the background and qualifications for it. I think that’s the basic consideration: That you must make sure that what you are applying to fits your skills, your academic qualifications and your background. Once you have got that sorted out and you’ve got everything that you need — the basic criteria — I am not sure that there’s a particular skill that you need in filling out an application. What you are is what you put there. What are the most common mistakes candidates make in job interviews? Considering that we have a clear and merit-based way of selecting candidates, we ensure that what we are looking for is the best-qualified candidate. It’s a pretty rigorous interview [that’s key to our] selection process. Of course, the basic thing is that the candidate is telling the truth about himself. It will come out, pretty much, if they are not being as upfront as they should be in terms of the experience, because one question very often leads to another [about the candidate’s area of expertise]. The person does have to know what they are talking about. In terms of advice on how best to present themselves: The physical part is important. You really don’t want to walk into an interview looking down [or looking] scruffy. You need to pay attention to appearance, to delivery, to engaging your audience in what you are taking about because often, besides the regular panel, there’s also a group of peers and colleagues — clients — who are listening in on the interview and whose feedback is important to see [if] there’s a good fit with what we are looking for. On academic credentials: Do certain positions always require a graduate degree? The United Nations is pretty clear. … Its classification system moves from the professionals at the P1 level all away up to ASG, which is the assistant secretary general or under-secretary general. And each level has its requirements. The entry level, of course, would not have a master’s as a prerequisite. But many people say now that the master’s is a new first degree and so, it is almost like a given that candidates would have that. But the higher you go, or course, the tougher it gets. Another thing that you need to remember is: In areas like accounting, like communication, like auditing, you don’t have standard ways of getting these qualifications. Not every audiovisual or communication specialist has a first degree, but that doesn’t make their skills any less significant because you can also get a higher national diploma and go on to [gain professional experience]. In an advertisement and in an evaluation of staff, of potential staff, we look at those considerations as well. So, so we don’t limit ourselves to the strict degree system. What languages skills are required and what languages are in high demand right now at IFAD? Recruitment … is in line with our strategic workforce plan, which at the beginning of the year lays out what capacities and skills we are looking for. Essentially, we have English as a main working language. We have three other official working languages: French, Spanish and Arabic. Now, besides that, you can have any number of different languages that will assist you in doing your work, but English is quite important. Does IFAD consider volunteer experience when assessing a candidate? Any previous experience [can be] relevant. If you are looking to work in human resources and you only volunteered to work as an auditor, [that may not count as relevant experience]. Do you think that is better to have broad experience, a very flexible curriculum vitae, or a more specialized profile? In human resources, I think that I would not want to be a specialist, I would want to be a generalist because […] it opens you up for several possibilities. In this division of human resources, we have people in training, in development, we have people who work in the social security area, staff welfare, we have people who work in recruitment and selection of people, who work in general administration and providing services to a dedicated unit. I think it’d be difficult to fulfill all those capacities if you have specializations in only one. But then, that’s my private opinion. IFAD is good in that: We’ve had, in the past few years, people moving even across departments and learning the skills and using what they know already. For example, we had people who moved from Human Resources into Operations and strengthening it because they were able to better help the managers understand what types of things they need to have happen with their staff, help them manage their human resources better. So, that’s a healthy cross-fertilization of skills, as it were. As a small organization, we all work very closely together to ensure that what needs to be done gets done. We do not have any problems consulting one another. What are IFAD’s standard procedures for promotions, rotations, trainings and other opportunities to gain more experience? There’s call for interest that says there’s a vacancy that has arisen somewhere. Anyone is eligible to apply to the temporary filling of it and sometimes that filling of it […] becomes permanent. There’s internal rotations; there are internal transfers both at the requests of staff and as managers think that it would be a good thing for someone to move elsewhere to learn and to broaden their skills set. What personal character traits and attitudes does IFAD look for in its hires? I think it’s an honesty and an openness to engage with all types of people that we look for. It’s people who are not afraid of mucking in and helping out. People who know what they are doing. And honesty, a sense of ethics and a pride in the work that we do. That is also emphasized by management. IFAD has a set of core values that is widely disseminated around the house and that everybody knows. Those are professionalism, respect for others, integrity. Those are values that we openly adhere to. What’s the ratio of women to men at IFAD?, and does IFAD make special accommodation for women? How does IFAD help spouses socially or professionally? IFAD is a member of the Rome-based international agencies network, of course. There’s UNLESA, [which facilitates a speedy integration in Rome]. People are allowed to telework. It’s very flexible, the way that managers work with staff who have children. We have special arrangements for new mothers, special arrangements for mothers who need to work from home. There’s a child care facility downstairs where staff are allowed to place their children and breastfeed them. 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