What are my chances as mid-career applicant without previous United Nations experience?

This is a quite common question, and in this article, we will try to give you an answer. It is neither easy nor straightforward, but we have some do's and don't's for you who aim at securing a mid-level career job at the UN.

Mid-career in a United Nations career context refers to vacancies requiring 5-10 year’s professional work experience (P3, P4 and for some P5 level roles). If you’re not currently holding a staff contract (Permanent, Continuing or FTA) with the UN, you are considered as external in a UN context. This means that individuals currently working for the UN with other types of contracts (IC’s, SC’s, IICA’s, LICA’s, SSA’s, UNV and in some organization even JPO’s) for several years, are still considered external when they apply. In some organizations (i.e. UNDP) temporary appointments (TA) are also considered external, even though they follow a similar benefit/entitlements package as a staff member of the UN (but for a limited period). This blog post is mainly targeting those of you at the mid-career level who have no previous UN experience.

In this article we explain:

1. The types of external profiles that are often recruited to professional staff contracts at the United Nations

2. What types of vacancies to avoid, and other do's and don'ts for external applicants when your aim is to land a job at the UN

The United Nations recruits professionals from Impactpool's free member base. Make sure to have a complete profile to be visible to recruiters and to receive jobs matched with you.

For job campaigns and insights on how to land them, subscribe to our Newsletter