As one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies employs around 2,500 staffers within its secretariat alone.
With a workforce so large, the organization, which supports the humanitarian activities of 192 national societies, is increasingly moving toward the method of pooled recruitment. This involves a large-scale recruitment campaign, which aims to fill multiple vacancies with the same title to meet IFRC’s long-term needs. This approach, said Dunja Kovac, IFRC’s manager of global mobility, human resources in emergencies, and national society engagement, is exposing gaps in the agency’s workforce.
“As we're moving into pooled recruitment and all of the work and analysis that we're doing to see what kind of workforce we will need in the future, we've realized we're really struggling when it comes to support services,” said Kovac, adding that IFRC has recruiters in all the region it operates and delegation offices with several others focused on recruiting for global roles.