United Nations Young Professionals Job Programme
United Nations Young Professionals Programme is Calling for Applications.
Good News! Good News!!
The long-awaited United Nations Young Professionals Programme is finally open for applicants in its member countries.
Are you interested in this Golden UN opportunity?
I’d advise you to read to the end of this article because we list some key information and some practical application guidelines. We advise that you take a look at the requirements and start preparing your application.
UNDOS – United Nations Department of Operational Support
Application Timeline -Annually
Application Timeline -Annually
Recruited position – Junior level
Eligible Countries for the United Nations Young Professionals Programme
Annually, the Young Professionals Program is open to countries that have low recognition in the United Nations,
These Countries include:
Afghanistan, Andorra, Angola, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahrain, Belize, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, China, Comoros, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Norway, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Turkey, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome, and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Somalia (Federal Republic of), South Sudan, Suriname, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Vanuatu, Venezuela.
About the United Nations Young Professionals Programme.
The Young Professionals Programme (YPP) is a recruitment initiative for talented, highly qualified professionals to start a career as an international civil servants with the United Nations Secretariat. It consists of an entrance examination and professional development programs once successful candidates start their careers with the UN.
Selection Criteria
The Young Professional Program examination accepts applications once a year and is open to nationals of the United Nations member countries. Also, the list of participating countries varies from year to year.
Primary application criteria:
- You must have the nationality of a participating country.
- You must hold at least a first-level university degree relevant to the exam subject you are applying for.
- You must be 32 or younger in the year of the examination.
- You must be fluent in either English or French.
What are the examination subject areas for 2022?
– Social Affairs/Social Policy and Development
– Statistics and Data Science
– Statistics and Data Science
How can I apply for the United Nations Young Professionals Programme
This is a question often found in the FAQs which will be addressed in this section.
Step 1: Confirm your eligibility
Carefully review the basic application criteria on the Young Professional Program’s Home page.
Step 2: Study the job opening
Explore and Study the job openings for the exam subject you desire and make sure you are eligible.
Step 3: Prepare an application
Apply to the selected job opening through Inspira. Additional guidelines on creating applications are available by clicking on the “Manuals and Help’’ link found in the upper right-hand corner of the webpage when you log in to https://inspira.un.org.
Necessary Guide on the Application
- Screening questions: Make sure you carefully read through the screening questions. They are intended to verify the eligibility of applicants. If you cannot answer all screening questions affirmatively you might not be eligible to take part in the YPP.
- Nationality: In the field marked “Country of Nationality”, enter the participating country under which you wish to be considered for the examination. Please note that the fields “Nationality at Birth” and “Other Nationalities” will not be considered in the eligibility screening.
- Education: It might happen that your obtained education does not correspond to any of the given choices. If your exact education is not listed in the drop-down menu, please select the closest relevant option and explain discrepancies under “Additional Comments.” Only if you find no match at all, you may choose“Other” in these two fields. The “Specialization” field will not be considered in the screening process.
- Work experience: Where more than 40 candidates of the same nationality apply for the YPP, relevant work experience will be used to rank candidates. Please be precise and succinct about your work experience.
- Languages: You must be fluent in all four areas (speak, read, write, understand) in English or French. Indicating anything less than “Fluent” in any of the four areas will render you unqualified.
Step 4: Application evaluation
Your application will be screened to determine if you are eligible for the examination in the exam subject you applied for. If more than 40 applicants from the same country apply for the same exam area, those applicants will be further screened and ranked by a Human Resources Officer according to points given for the following additional qualifications: the highest level of education completed, knowledge of official UN languages, and relevant work experience. Please be aware that many potential applicants do not pass the screening stage due to incomplete or inaccurate applications.
If your application was successful, you will be informed that you are convoked to the examination. If determined that you are not eligible to apply or if your application was unsuccessful, you will be informed that you have not been convoked to the examination.
How to write the application for the Young Professionals Program?
To write a strong YPP application we suggest you use CARL/CARI, IPAR, or STAR. These four ways to structure applications are widely common within the UN recruitment system.
If you are seriously applying to a job category, you should tailor your CV with any of these structures in mind. Do not use a one-CV-fits-all approach. For most recruiters, re-using a generic CV template is an indication that an applicant
- is not convincing in her/his interest in the position and/or might not understand what the position entails
- is not genuine to the role or willing to invest in it
- is applying for several different jobs at the same time.
You might want to explore the United Nations Free Online Courses with free Certificates
Tips – DURING the interview
- Notice how the panel is treating the interview (e.g how formal vs. interactive) and respond accordingly. Help the panel manage the flow of conversation.
- Listen carefully; feel free to ask for clarification before answering a question. Don’t be apologetic if you don’t hear a statement, just ask the person to repeat it. it
- Take a moment to formulate your answers before you speak.
- Project energy and enthusiasm in a way that is authentic to you.
- Connect with each person (e.g., by making eye contact).
- Be honest, while focusing on communicating your professional achievements.
- Don’t use the same example for every question.
- Be polite to EVERYONE you meet at the interview.
- Be aware of the panel’s body language and non-verbal cues.
- Appreciate the panel for their time.
