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.