Working as an international development recruiter is rarely what an aspiring aid worker sets out to do. If you talk to most recruiters in our sector, including myself, they will probably tell you they fell into the role one way or another.
I started my career in international development doing business development and project management for a USAID consulting firm. Like many positions similar to mine, in addition to writing proposals and backstopping fieldwork, I was also responsible for identifying talent for our proposed and existing projects.
As I considered my next career move, I thought about what I enjoyed most about my work. And I realized it was the recruitment. I loved the rush of locating the perfect candidate for a position, even when we thought they would be impossible to find. I loved connecting with a wide range of professionals and hearing about where they’ve been and what their career aspirations are. I also realized how critical the role of recruitment is to international development and thus how rewarding it can be. So I guess you can say recruitment found me.
About the author
Kate Warren@KateDWarren
Kate Warren is the Executive Vice President and Executive Editor of Devex, where she leads a global team of journalists, event producers, and communications and marketing professionals to drive conversations around the most pressing and urgent issues of our time, including climate, global health, food security, philanthropy, humanitarian crises, and foreign aid funding. Through live journalism — via in-person and virtual events — along with insider news, analysis, podcasts, content series, and special reports, Kate and her team ensure the most important ideas, voices, and debates reach an influencer audience to drive impact and make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
