Carol Waites English teacher at the United Nations in Geneva: Careers in the United Nations system

1 Here is a great website with links to many good sites for preparing for a career generally. It comes from the New York UN Staff Development website.

http://www.unejn.org/documents/CareerDevelopment/CareerDevelopmentWebsites.htm

2 Vacancies in the UN System:

http://www.fao.org/VA/vac.htm

http://www.who.int/per/vacancies/ftindex.htm

http://www.ifad.org/job/

http://www.unesco.org/per/vacancies_eng.htm

http://www.unfpa.org – search for ‘vacancies’

http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/vacan_e/vacan_e.htm

http://www.unsystem.org

http://www.undp.org – search for ‘vacancies’

http://www.unicef.org/employ

3 Internships

http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006AC19C/(httpPages)/A422C95289E684DD80256EF300344EFD?OpenDocument

Note interns should be currently enrolled in a Masters and are not paid.

4 How to get started – do a competitive exam for a post. This is the pathway to a career in the United Nations as a young professional.

http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/ncrepage.htm

The National Competitive Recruitment Examinations (NCRE) is held on a yearly basis in countries that are selected on the basis of their representation in the Secretariat.

Every year, the Organization targets the nationals of Member States that are not adequately represented in the Secretariat for recruitment through competitive examinations. The purpose of these examinations is to recruit young qualified and motivated professionals for junior positions (at the P-2 level.)

The deadline for submission of application is now closed (no exceptions), and the written examinations will be held on 1 December 2010. If you have submitted an application within the deadline, you will receive official notification of your convocation status.

For more information about the examination, please download the full text of announcement of the Examination Notice in English and in French.

http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/2010e.pdf

The specialized areas this year (to give an idea) are Administration, Demography, Economics, Human Rights, Legal Affairs, Radio Producer (Arabic, Chinese, French), Security, Statistics, Web Design / Development.

Applicants should hold a first degree and be no more than 31 years old. Fluency in either English or French is required. Applicants should be nationals of the list of member states for that year. This year it included:

2010 Participating Member States

1 2 3 4

Afghanistan
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Belgium
Brunei Darussalam
Comoros
Dominican Republic
Equatorial Guinea
Finland

Grenada
Iran
Japan
Latvia
Liberia
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Liechtenstein
Monaco
Montenegro
Mozambique

Namibia
Nepal
Norway
Republic of Korea
Saint Lucia
Samoa
Saudi Arabia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Spain
Tonga
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States of America
Yemen

Here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions

http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/ncefaq

5 Have a career using languages

http://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx?viewtype=LE

These are the six official languages at the UN: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Posts for which you can take a competitive exam include

· Interpreters

· Translators

· Editors

· Verbatim Reporters

· Proofreaders

However, bear in mind that you will be competing with experienced people, so you need to study and practice these skills.

Here are the current exams open

http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/languageexam.htm

The University of Geneva Translation and Interpreting Department is very famous – it is a good place to study for a career as a translator or interpreter.

http://www.unige.ch/eti/index.html

These careers are very much in demand in Brussels too.

http://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/translation/news/1748

http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm