Tag Archives: job search

Why Work for the United Nations? & What is Working the for UN really like?

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Three years ago, someone on Reddit wrote on the subreddit UNPath, “Why Work for the UN?” Their post said:

What is the appeal? It seems very difficult to even get in at all, regardless of qualifications. So why try? I am studying a field that would probably be perfect for the UN but I’m not sure why it’s actually even appealing or worth trying to get in.

Here’s my reply from then, with some edits for clarity:

A lot of people want to work for the UN because they believe all sorts of myths – UN employees get to travel the world, you get paid a huge salary, you get a special passport, everyone is impressed that you worked at the UN and will want to hire you, etc. In fact, most UN employees don’t travel for work, don’t get a “huge” salary and don’t get that special passport. And some people, including employers back in your home country, view working at the UN as some weird thing – or will say to you, “But you worked at the UN, so why are you now applying for a boring normal job?”

Spoiler alert: a lot of UN work is really boring and normal.

I’m suspicious of anyone who says, “I want to work at the UN” on this subreddit or in a cover letter and leaves it at that. It’s like saying, “I want to work for a mega huge software company.” It doesn’t tell me anything about what work you actually want to do. It sounds like you just want a certain company on your CV. But what kind of WORK is it you want to do?

The nature and atmosphere of work for a UN employee in Bonn, Germany working on government policy recommendations for climate change is nothing like the nature and atmosphere of the head accountant that’s been brought in from abroad to work in the UNICEF office in Afghanistan. They might as well be working on different planets. Most UN jobs are administration – you’re sitting at a desk, not driving orphans to safety.

Why do I like working for the UN as a communication professional or project manager? Because the work feels very much like it matters and is making a difference on a scale far bigger than just in one community. Because I love reading country strategies and program strategies and interviewing a diversity of staff to try to represent their work. Because I love taking photos of the work my colleagues are doing and then sharing those photos in a variety of communications materials. Because I love helping people understand the benefits and impact of development projects, from earthen dams to repaired bridges to work training programs to HIV AIDS education programs to micro loans and on and on and on. Because I love working in multi-cultural environments or in an environment filled with local people staffing most of the posts in a developing country and getting to help build their capacities. And, indeed, the pay is competitive, far more than doing that exact same work for a nonprofit.

My UN job in Bonn, Germany was mostly at a desk. I met a ton of interesting people from all over the world, but I rarely traveled for work. Most of my colleagues didn’t travel for work. My jobs in Afghanistan and Ukraine were spent mostly at a desk, trying to rapidly prepare material for very demanding funders from various foreign governments – in one I had to be taken to work in an armored car and couldn’t leave the work campus except to leave for the day, nor leave my home except with approval. In the other, I could walk to work, go out with colleagues after work, go to street markets and live life like anywhere – except on the days when there were potentially violent protests. But even on “boring” days, the work always, always felt like it mattered. But note: a lot of colleagues, doing very similar work, didn’t feel energized by it – it was just a job.

As for it being difficult to get in – I have to say, most of the people I see here wanting a job in the UN don’t offer anything to show any qualifications at all for working at the UN. They seem to think there’s some sort of magical master’s degree or PhD that gets you “in”. Or some magical way to phrase things in a cover letter. And as a person that often was the person who went through a stack of CVs to pick who would get interviewed, it was soooo easy to disregard 80% of applicants, because they so clearly did NOT have anything in their CV that showed they had all – and I mean ALL – of the skills and experience asked for in the job description.

End of my reply on Reddit.

A lot of this could be said for why I prefer working for nonprofits or government agencies, rather than in the private sector: because it feels like the work matters, even if it’s at a desk most days. I like helping a specific community, including the one that’s all around me currently. And the differences between rural Oregon and rural anywhere else aren’t as great as you might think.

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List volunteering on your job history? Maybe, maybe not.

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graphic by Jayne Cravens representing volunteers

I hear a lot of consultants and organizations that promote volunteerism and volunteer engagement say that you absolutely should put volunteering experience on your résumé, period. But consider this: a 2007 study found that a job applicant that noted she was a “PTA coordinator” on her resume – a volunteer – was 79% less likely to be recommended for hire compared to an equally qualified woman without children. I found this statistic via “Getting a Job: Is There a Motherhood Penalty?,” Shelley J. Correll, Stephen Bernard, and In Paik, in the American Journal of Sociology 112, no. 5 (2007): 1297-1339.

Someone who has been a coordinator of a parent-teacher association very likely:

  • Knows how to manage large amounts of email.
  • Has experience managing a team online and onsite, including identifying tasks, delegating tasks, managing various individual team members, accommodating different learning and work styles, etc.
  • Has a great deal of experience in conflict management and customer service.
  • Knows how to juggle priorities.
  • Knows how to negotiate.
  • Probably has a lot of event management experience.
  • And if they did this during the pandemic, knows how to coordinate online meetings.

Yet, all some employers will see is: she has kids and she makes her kids a priority and that might mean she’s distracted on the job or absent. And I bet it’s not the same for a man who puts this on his CV – I bet for him, it’s: wow, what a caring multi-tasker!

Then there’s my own experience: some of my best marketing and public relations experience has been as a volunteer. I have had some substantial accomplishments regarding my outreach activities for a couple of nonprofits in particular. I list these experiences right alongside my paid work – why shouldn’t I? It’s exactly the same work, but some roles were paid, others weren’t. I had one interview become shocked and even outraged when, during our interview, she realized I had treated these unpaid roles with the same importance as unpaid roles, and said, “Wait, these just volunteer roles?” Needless to say, I didn’t get that job. By contrast, in interviewing for my very first job with the United Nations, one of the things the interview panel was particularly impressed with was my volunteering regarding marketing and public relations for the California Abortion Rights Action League – they liked the work experience AND they liked that I had done it as a community volunteer. That volunteering role was crucial to me getting that first UN job, no question.

For the most part, I do believe in sharing volunteering experience on your résumé if such demonstrates skills you think make you, potentially, a more attractive candidate for employment. Experience working with communities different from your own, or experience leading a team, or volunteering that’s given you training to handle stressful or emergency situations are all things that will get a potential employer’s attention. When I’m a hiring manager, I give as much weight to such volunteering as I give to paid work – I don’t care if you got paid to be in a leadership position as much as your having been in that leadership position.

But volunteering experience can also show your age – like volunteering activities with a group dominated by or exclusively for people over 55. I say this as someone both in her 50s and who has heard it from co-workers for decades: people over 45, especially in the USA, are discriminated against for employment because of their age. Be careful in showing it.

If you are a woman, you have to think carefully about what volunteering you share and how you frame it when looking for paid work. I, personally, would see being a Girl Scout leader as a HUGE plus, knowing just how much financial management, conflict resolution, excellent communications skills and customer service is required in dealing with both the girls and their parents. Others might see it as, “Oh, she’s a mom, her kids are going to interfere with her job.” I’m not at all saying not to put it on your résumé, but think carefully how to frame it – show how it makes you a more attractive candidate.

Always note in a role you undertook as a volunteer if it was, in whole or in part, virtual volunteering – where you did some or all of your service online. Note what you did and what you accomplished and, absolutely, use that phrase: virtual volunteering. I have heard it over and over from various folks: in a job interview, at some point, someone on the interview panel says, “Tell me more about this virtual volunteering stuff.” They use that exact phrase, virtual volunteering, when speaking to candidates, and are intrigued by it. It got the employer’s attention, and it made them have a closer look at that candidate’s professional qualifications. Also note what software tools you used as a part of that virtual volunteering role – being a Zoom video conference aficionado will get you far these days!

Have you ever gotten an interview in part because of your volunteering experience? Do you think you have been passed over as a candidate because of a volunteering experience you listed on your application? Do you completely disagree with this blog? Share your thoughts below.

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.