Wanted: Climate experts. Here's what ADB recruiters are looking for

Droughts in Thailand, flooding in Pakistan, heat waves in India, and tsunamis in Taiwan; Asia is the world’s most climate disaster affected region, with almost half of the world’s natural disaster-related deaths taking place here in 2023. It’s against this backdrop that the Asian Development Bank wants to become “Asia’s climate bank,” financing a range of projects across infrastructure, energy, transport, and urban health to support adaptation and mitigation, said Paul Houston, the bank’s senior human resource specialist. To do that, it needs staff with relevant expertise and experience. “The impacts of climate change are being really felt quite heavily in the region,” he said, speaking to Devex from the bank’s headquarters in Manila, the Philippines, where it was 45 degrees Celsius.“Climate skills, climate finance, energy transition, and those types of things will be important.” The ADB’s 2030 strategy prioritizes the bank’s need to “increase their capacity as the region’s climate bank by embedding climate action across their operations and near-doubling our annual climate financing.” Other priorities include spurring greater private sector participation in Asia’s development, sourcing more holistic, knowledge-based, innovative, and integrated solutions, and empowering staff to become more efficient, agile, and collaborative. While the work is meaningful, it’s also challenging, Houston warned, “because the things that we're trying to tackle, if they were easy, then they would have been done.” Sitting down with Devex while trying to stay cool, Houston explained what specific climate skills and other skill sets ADB is seeking, roles the bank is currently hiring for, and what appeals to recruiters in an applicant. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. What kind of climate expertise are you looking for? The reality is that climate change now touches everything. For example, our procurement teams are very keen on sustainable procurement. Sustainability is touching all areas of our organization in the world as we recognize that we need to be more sustainable as a planet in order to try to mitigate the risks of climate change. The energy transition is also important. How do we help the countries to move away from coal-fired power stations? What financing and support is needed to help do that? As populations grow, they need energy. One of the cheapest forms of energy is coal. How do we support countries with huge populations in moving away from it? How do we help countries that have small populations? I think it's probably clear and documented that we're already seeing the impacts of climate change. What can be done to the existing infrastructure? It's not feasible and practical to rebuild everything — so what can be done to adapt, to mitigate against climate change risks? Those are some of the climate-related areas that we look for in terms of skills. What roles does the Bank typically recruit for? We've got [around] 3,800 employees. We've got a number of resident mission offices located across our regions. Probably furthest west is Tbilisi, where the annual general meeting is just about to happen. Then we go right out into the Pacific to the Cook Islands and the countries in between. Traditionally, we were a core infrastructure organization — so road, rail, transport hubs, ports — but over the years we've expanded the portfolio of projects that we work on. … We've got urban health, finance, energy … therefore, experts from those sectors are of importance to us. We also have thematic areas as well. For example, climate change, disaster risk management, good governance, social development, and food security. We tend to see employees who've got very strong academic backgrounds in those either sector or thematic areas, combined with experience. We also tend to recruit people who have quite a bit of experience behind them from a variety of organizations, either in the private sector or in the public sector, like United Nations agencies or other multilateral development banks. They do tend to come to us with experience. We typically see people joining, I would say, at probably aged 35-plus with an average of probably mid-40s. It is common for people to join us with 10 years of experience. Aside from those pertaining to climate, are there other skill sets you really value at this particular time? The other part is that we lend to sovereign nations but we also want to make sure we do more with the private sector. People with private sector skills and people who know how to structure deals with the private sector are important to us as well. At the moment, we've also got economist roles, IT roles, infrastructure roles within green finance, corporate roles, and HR vacancies open. We see corporate roles coming in around procurement and IT, and lawyers are a big part of what we do when we're doing transactions. When an application comes through, what makes it stand out for you? It's a good academic background, so expertise in specific areas. Then the application of that expertise in roles that make sense to us as an organization. We also value people who can fit into the culture of the organization. It's extremely diverse. We've got 68 member countries and we've got representation for those member countries. What advice would you have for people as they try to navigate the ADB recruitment process? The key things are, first of all, making sure that you meet the requirements for the role. Read the job advertisement, which explains what the role is doing [and] what we're looking for in terms of an individual. Then, try to present yourself well in terms of your application, not only with a well-presented CV that demonstrates your experience but also with a cover letter that explains why you want to work for the ADB. I would also advise patience. We get a lot of applications each year, which is great, but it can take us time to make sure we look at applications thoroughly. … If you aren't successful at your first try, and you want to work with the bank, don't give up. If you get through that first stage, try to thoroughly understand the organization because if you got through that first stage, there's an understanding that you've got the background and skills that we're looking for. Then, we’re looking to see how you're going to fit into the organization and for you to be able to demonstrate that in parallel with your skills and experience. The website has a huge amount of information: annual reports, documentation, and information about the strategy. Familiarize yourself with the organization so that when you get the opportunity to present, you almost look like an employee, knowing as much about the organization as the employees do. Ready to stand out from the crowd and get noticed by the recruiters who matter most? Update your Devex profile and start connecting with top global development recruiters now.