Strong references are important for any job search, and in global development, those voices remain an important way to assess skills a recruiter can’t surmise from a CV.
In a Devex webinar on humanitarian aid work, Jessica Alexander, author of “Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid,” spoke about the importance of soft skills in succeeding as a humanitarian aid worker.
A professional can possess all the technical qualifications and education a job requires, but if they don’t have skills like patience, flexibility, resourcefulness — and, as Alexander noted, a “healthy sense of humor” — they’re not likely to be effective on the ground.