The 3 biggest UN job application mistakes

It’s no secret that landing a job with the United Nations is highly competitive. Yet, despite receiving thousands of applications each year, the U.N. has difficulty filling a number of openings in unexpected locations. “Everybody always applies to Vienna and Geneva … [but] sometimes it's surprising … We have our New York positions where nobody applies,” said Eva Maria Jansen, human resource officer at the U.N. Secretariat. In an effort to bridge the gap, Devex spoke with Jansen on how to apply for a position with the agency. Jansen revealed a handful of crucial mistakes made in the initial Inspira online application, which leads to applications being dismissed at the first hurdle, despite many applicants being qualified. “We lose out on a lot of really good people because they are just too humble.” --— Eva Maria Jansen, human resource officer, U.N. Secretariat “With these little things … we lose 60-70 percent of our applicants in the first step. It’s crazy,” she said. Whether you’re currently in the process of applying, or are considering a position with the U.N. for the future, here are the three common mistakes to be aware of before sending off an application. 1. Double-check the location The biggest mistake applicants make is not reading the job description properly, Jansen revealed. As obvious as it may be, a recurring issue is that people “don’t look at the location,” she said. Human resources will go through the entire application process, make the job offer, and only then do some recipient realize where the job is based — turning down the role as a result. “We go through months and months of assessments, interviews … and, in the end, this is the result and we have to re-do the entire thing and then obviously people complain that it takes forever until we have filled our position,” she said. 2. Desired vs required qualifications People are enticed by the job responsibilities but don’t necessarily read the qualification requirements, which include education, work experience, and language skills, Jensen explained. These requirements are an absolute must for the position, she said, adding that “a lot of people apply who are not qualified.” “If it says we need five years of relevant work experience and the person has four years and 11 months, the software will screen that person out because it’s not five years,” she said. Following these requirements, job postings often include “desirable” qualities or “advantages,” which also confuses some people. These elements are not critical for the success of an application but are positive assets. “The software screens for the required elements and then, if we still have a huge pool of applicants, then we look one after one into the desirable elements and we narrow down to a reasonable pool of applicants,” Jansen explained. “But it could very well be that no one has those desirable elements, and then we will go to the next phase. So, this is why we call them desirable: If nobody has them, fine for us.” “Our big advice is to female applicants in particular: The moment you have the required elements please go ahead and apply because we really have an issue with not enough women applying for positions,” she said. 3. Language requirements There are two common mistakes applicants make relating to languages. First, many native English speakers don’t include English as one of their languages in the application form. All applicants need to fill out their fluency in all four areas of speaking, understanding, writing, and reading, Jansen advised. The system screens for languages, and if English isn’t there, the application will automatically be disqualified. Second, applicants are often too modest about their level of English and will select “confident” instead of “fluent” from the drop-down menu, which also results in them being screened out, she explained. “We lose out on a lot of really good people because they are just too humble,” said Jansen. If you’re interested in a job with the U.N., check out the Devex job board with current U.N. postings here.