Why the UN's young talent initiatives are a win-win
Devex talked to representatives from three U.N. agencies with a variety of young professional models. While the cultures vary, one thing is certain: Young candidates aren’t the only ones benefiting from these programs.
By Kelli Rogers // 10 June 2014Today’s young job seekers are looking for challenging and dynamic work environments; gone are the days of staying loyal to one organization for one’s entire career. The United Nations, though, is still known for long career trajectories, where professionals stay for years in order to move up in terms of organization-specific grades, to learn the agency’s lingo and stay up-to-date on U.N.-centric changes. To outsiders, the U.N. system — which houses more than 20 specialized agencies and programs, employing more than 55,000 employees around the world — may seem like a self-contained world, and careers paths may seem like long, one-way streets. U.N. leaders are aware of the potential to lose ambitious young candidates who don’t plan to stay in one job for more than a few years. U.N. institutions are now pushing a variety of new programs to counteract such stereotypes, by bolstering career training, encouraging mobility and giving more young people a taste of what it’s like to work there, even if it’s just for a few years or for one project. In an industry that’s a challenge to enter, there’s no lack of interest in programs that could jump-start a development career, with thousands of applications pouring in at times for what might be just a dozen or so openings. This leaves U.N. institutions to strike a tricky balance of investing in new talent and retaining these employees or gracefully letting them go and welcoming them back later — hopefully with a slew of new skills — if need be. Devex talked to representatives from three U.N. agencies with a variety of opportunities for young professionals. While their organizational cultures may vary, one thing is certain: Young candidates aren’t the only ones benefitting from these programs. A culture of flexibility? Flexibility and mobility are at the core of what people in their 20s and 30s are looking for in work environments, and it’s something many U.N. agencies want to support by creating programs to facilitate the growth of fresh talent. People are looking for “autonomy while still being part of an interesting and challenging work environment,” said Aruna Thanabalasingam, deputy director of strategic talent management at UNICEF. They also want space to innovate, use their own initiative and work with other talented people, she suggested. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, for example, has historically had a preference for internal candidates, and many people continue to be promoted from within. But when there’s an emergency, it’s essential to be ready to staff operations with the right talent quickly, and to be able to avoid relying solely on internal resources, which has the potential to create holes in other operations, Antonio Fidalgo, head of the talent outreach unit for UNHCR, told Devex. Things are changing slowly, he said, and one remedy has been, aside from the long-running junior professional officer program, which offers placement in varying U.N. agencies, to set up a system dedicated to external recruitment to support hiring managers with their staffing needs and to build pipelines of candidates ready for hire in many different functional areas. UNHCR also launched for the first time last year an entry-level program for humanitarian professionals with at least two years of experience in a respective functional area — the average age of those hired was 32. UNOPS, on the other hand, is project-based by nature and conducts recruitment for specific, finite projects — often for three or four years for those with experience in areas like procurement, infrastructure or project management, for example. These short-term, project-specific assignments lend themselves to mobility and flexibility and allow people to gain exposure in different areas, Victoria Campbell, HR advisor for talent management and development, said of the dynamic culture at UNOPS. But the institution also offers an internship program for outstanding graduate and postgraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds, and has introduced the possibility of a stipend and travel grant for international candidates. The unique individual contracts offered by UNOPS are especially attractive to the next generation, she said, the benefits being increased flexibility and possibility to work across international projects. In fact, UNOPS is a relatively young organization, with the average age of its employees now 37 years, down from 43. UNICEF, too, has an entry point for young professionals: The New and Emerging Talent Initiative, a two-year, field-based program focused on attracting, selecting, developing and retaining new talent from entry- to midcareer levels to grow and develop in the organization, which regularly receives more than 8,000 applications for less than 20 openings specified by country offices. Investing in and retaining (or releasing) a young candidate pool It’s clear what attracts young candidates to these programs. The opportunity to gain experience at a reputable organization — and get paid to learn on the job — isn’t something many professionals would pass up. UNICEF’s NETI program, for example, promises two years of support, coaching and mentoring to the approximately 20 people it accepts each year. And, aside from exposure to certification and language training, UNOPS increasingly looks to “find specific projects for interns so they can sink their teeth into something challenging,” Campbell said. Adapting more of a revolving-door policy is one way the United Nations is trying to spur innovation and develop new skills within its agencies, so the navigation of how to be flexible to the desires of younger talent is a worthwhile part of the process. “We are acutely aware of changing context where they might not want to stay for too long,” Thanabalasingam said of the young people UNICEF recruits. Any organization grapples with the challenges that come with dual-career couples or the tricky time period in people’s lives where they may want to start a family. Managing expectations and creating support mechanisms are important both for employers and employees. But contrary to what it might seem by the picture often painted of today’s job-hopping youth, there isn’t too much of a problem retaining talent, Thanabalasingam said. Most of the new employees UNICEF hires tend to want to stay, she suggested, which means the investment of time, money and energy spent training new talent is well worth it for the agency. “It’s a huge investment in them; we hope they get picked up for long-term positions,” she said. “The view that they want to seek greener pastures elsewhere … isn’t quite true. Especially with the economy, leaving something that seems quite stable is worrying.” UNICEF staff will happily provide references for stellar employees who do decide to leave, and these professionals will be released with a working knowledge of the organization, which could come in handy should they return later in their career. The view is similar at UNOPS. “As careers develop, some people will naturally move on, but we hope they return later,” Campbell said. “Some get bitten by a passion for it and stay with us, others have a great experience working on a project and join us years later on another.” At the same time, the idea behind these programs is — quite obviously — not to train young people and then release them to be hired by other organizations. But a more preferred track might be for someone to leave for a few years and come back. “If they feel they want to sharpen their skill sets and leave and return back, it’s even better if they come with best practices from different settings,” Thanabalasingam said. “Of course we wouldn’t want 80 percent of our NETI program to do that,” she added with a laugh. Those who contemplate leaving may fear that they will lose out if they try to return in the future because you haven’t kept up with changes within the organization they work with. But while that can be true, the reality is often different, Thanabalasingam suggested, while acknowledging that there may be a few country offices less open to looking at return candidates. What those job seekers should consider, she said, is “the learning curve for the person is going to be shorter.” “We feel that many a time when people have come to UNICEF, they’ve been drawn by the mandate and continue to be passionate about it even after they’ve left,” she said. “It draws them back.” A win-win? Organizations are not just bringing in new talent to do today’s young people a favor; with all the work spent designing, recruiting and then training and mentoring young professionals, there’s a direct benefit for the hiring organizations as well. External recruiting and young professionals programs contribute to new ideas and a diversity of voices within the institutions, including those which are part of the U.N. system. “It’s richer,” Thanabalasingam said of programming. “We are able to better serve the women and children who are our clients at the end of the day. We are a global organization and we should mirror the people we serve, that balance is always key.” For UNHCR and many other agencies, programs geared toward younger professionals help them correct any imbalances that might be showing up in their staff diversity. Sixty-one percent of last year’s humanitarian professional program were women, for example, and hailed from a wide variety of regions. UNOPS, too, is committed to a diverse workforce and sees the value in attracting highly skilled, younger people to the organization. Aside from diversity, organizations also benefit from fresh ideas that are needed to address increasingly complex development challenges, Fidalgo said. How, for instance, do you provide refugees a future while avoiding the perpetuation of lives spent in camps? Similarly, at UNICEF: “We have a view that as we invest in them, we are also benefitting from innovative approaches they bring to the table while they are with us,” Thanabalasingam said. With development jobs as competitive as ever, young talent initiatives offer what seems to be a winning combination of hands-on development experience for professionals, while encouraging those hires to embrace their backgrounds and leverage their own perspectives and ideas for the betterment of the organization. Initiatives to attract “short-term stars” may not be able to capture all of the talent that’s out there — but it may help large institutions like the United Nations to beef up their innovative spirit. What other young talent initiatives act as examples of promoting innovation and fostering flexible careers in development? Please let us know by leaving a comment below.
Today’s young job seekers are looking for challenging and dynamic work environments; gone are the days of staying loyal to one organization for one’s entire career.
The United Nations, though, is still known for long career trajectories, where professionals stay for years in order to move up in terms of organization-specific grades, to learn the agency’s lingo and stay up-to-date on U.N.-centric changes.
To outsiders, the U.N. system — which houses more than 20 specialized agencies and programs, employing more than 55,000 employees around the world — may seem like a self-contained world, and careers paths may seem like long, one-way streets. U.N. leaders are aware of the potential to lose ambitious young candidates who don’t plan to stay in one job for more than a few years.
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Kelli Rogers has worked as an Associate Editor and Southeast Asia Correspondent for Devex, with a particular focus on gender. Prior to that, she reported on social and environmental issues from Nairobi, Kenya. Kelli holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and has reported from more than 20 countries.