From Colombia to Crisis Zones: A Journey Driven by Purpose
Nieves' path to the UN began with studying political sciences in Bogota, Colombia, where international development and the UN system captured her imagination. An internship at Amnesty International in London researching human rights violations, including cases of disappeared children from Chile's Pinochet dictatorship, opened her eyes to humanitarian work. This led her to pursue a master's in international development in Belgium, where a recruitment visit from Doctors Without Borders changed everything.
"I was completely inspired with that speech and I applied and a few months later I was selected to go for a six month mission to South Sudan," she recalls.
Her assignment in Bor, South Sudan came right after the peace agreement between North and South. She arrived to find a completely empty town as UNHCR helped people return from refugee camps in Kenya and Tanzania. Her role: working on the reconstruction of an old British hospital as the population slowly grew.
"When I first arrived to Bor, there was nothing, nothing in the market, nothing anywhere. But slowly the population was growing and then the hospital was a real necessity," she remembers.
Those six months shaped her understanding of what humanitarian work truly demands: resilience, adaptability, and the ability to work effectively in high-stress, rapidly changing environments.
HR as Creative Expression
Nieves brings an unusual perspective to her HR work, describing life as "an artistic expression of my ideas and emotions." For her, HR isn't just about systems and compliance; it's about creation.
"In HR, we do something similar (to art). We take the policies, the processes, the data, and we turn them into experiences that shape people's lives," she explains. "Every recruitment, every policy that we do is an opportunity to express values like fairness, how to include people, compassion sometimes."
Strategic Recruitment: Beyond Technical Skills
Now working in talent acquisition for the UN, Nieves brings a field-tested perspective to hiring that goes far beyond matching qualifications to job descriptions.
"We're not only hiring skills, technical skills that match the job opening, but we're hiring a team, a team's culture and the capacity also to manage pressure," she explains. "Hiring the right person means selecting individuals who not only meet the professional requirements, but have the emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills to work effectively in complex, high-stress environments."
Her experience recruiting medical staff during a cholera outbreak in South Sudan taught her hard lessons about understanding context. Tribal dynamics meant some nurses wouldn't treat patients from rival tribes, a situation that could have been prevented with better cultural awareness during hiring.
Tackling Bias in Recruitment
One of the biggest challenges Nieves faces is unconscious bias, particularly the tendency for hiring managers to favor candidates similar to themselves.
"Hiring managers always tend to like people that are similar to us," she notes. To counter this, the UN Secretariat now requires geographical diversity on interview panels. "We can't have three Africans interviewing for a position in Africa. We need to have that mix."
Building Inclusive Teams: The Requisite Variety Law
Nieves draws on organizational theory to explain why diversity isn't just nice to have, it's essential for effectiveness. She references Ashby's law of requisite variety: to manage a system effectively, you need as much variety in your team as exists in the system itself.
"To respond to their needs, we need a workforce that reflects that same diversity," she explains. "Inclusion is not just a human rights issue or something nice that we're doing to be good employers. It's actually essential for the effectiveness of the organization."
Creating Psychological Safety Around Stress
As a leader, Nieves believes in modelling vulnerability to create a culture where team members feel safe discussing anxiety and stress.
"When I'm exhausted, my focus and attention to detail decrease. So I choose to be honest with my team," she shares. "When I need a break, I take it. When I'm too tired to think clearly, I will ask my colleagues and my team to please review this and that because I'm not thinking properly."
This transparency creates a mirror effect. "When you are like that, then your team will feel like, okay, it's okay to come and say, like, I have this problem and to solve it, or I need to take some time off."
The Mental Health Imperative
One of the most powerful themes in the conversation is Nieves' frank discussion of mental health challenges in humanitarian work.
"When I was working with Doctors Without Borders 20 years ago, we could not talk about mental health. It was not like a thing," she notes. "I think that there's a lot of improvement already because we are starting to name things that before we couldn't talk about."
But she emphasizes that organizational support must be paired with individual responsibility. "The support structure within the organizations is there, but it's also very individual. What you do in your personal life, you need to make sure that you have a good work-life balance."
For Nieves, personal practices like spending time with family, walking in nature, exercise, and meditation help her stay grounded so she can maintain empathy without burning out.
The Connection Between Hiring and Mental Health
Perhaps Nieves' most valuable insight concerns the direct link between strategic hiring and mental health outcomes. By assessing emotional intelligence and stress management capabilities during recruitment, organizations can build inherently more resilient teams.
"We need to invest time in those assessments upfront to build teams that are healthier, cohesive, and better equipped to handle the emotional demands of this work," she emphasizes.
This includes hiring managers who are inclusive and empowering. "That human behavior is very well needed to avoid frustration in the teams, conflict and burnout."
Achieving Gender Parity
Nieves takes particular pride in her contribution to achieving gender parity across all levels at DCO, a milestone that required deliberate effort and strategic hiring.
"When I started in DCO, the balance was unequal. And then we worked hard, and the day we said. Now we have parity at all levels, it really made me happy," she reflects. "Those are things that maybe they don't make the headlines, but they strengthen the organization and the people who work on it."
Skills-Based Recruitment for the Future
Looking ahead, Nieves sees the UN adapting to attract younger generations by shifting toward skills-based recruitment rather than focusing solely on experience.
"We are redrafting our job profiles based on skills and not only on work experience," she explains. "We have these skills for the future or skills for UN 2.0 that are more related to data and digital transformation."
This evolution opens doors for talented individuals who may have the right mindset and capabilities but lack traditional humanitarian experience.
Advice for Aspiring Humanitarian Professionals
For those considering humanitarian work, Nieves offers encouraging guidance about both opportunities and challenges.
"Humanitarian work is deeply rewarding. You get inspired with the work that you do, but it's also very demanding," she acknowledges. The work offers purpose, cross-cultural learning, and the development of strengths like adaptability and resilience that can't be taught in classrooms.
But she's realistic about the challenges: unstable environments, intense workloads, and the constant need to balance empathy with objectivity.
Her advice? "Come with both passion and preparedness. Passion will get you through the hard times, but professionalism, discipline and balance will make sure you can sustain and contribute over time."
And for those worried about breaking in: "We have a lot of vacancies and we're always looking for these professional people that have the experience and know the work. There are always opportunities for everyone."
The Pride of Daily Impact
When asked about her proudest moments as a UN staff member, Nieves doesn't point to headline-making achievements. Instead, she highlights quieter moments: witnessing weapons from Colombia's conflict being destroyed, but also the daily impact of supporting colleagues.
"When a colleague just comes to me and she needs mentorship or succeeded in a recruitment because I help her, and they come here and talk to me and that daily conversation with them, it makes me very proud to be part of the UN," she shares.
Listen to the Full Episode
To hear more about Nieves' journey from Doctors Without Borders to UN headquarters, her insights on navigating bias in recruitment, and her practical strategies for building psychologically safe teams, listen to the full Impactpool Career Podcast episode.
Whether you're considering humanitarian work, already working in the sector, or involved in HR and talent management, Nieves' experiences offer valuable lessons on building teams that can handle the emotional demands of making a difference in the world's most challenging contexts. As the UN enters its ninth decade, her work reminds us that the organization's greatest asset has always been, and will continue to be, its people.
The Impactpool Career Podcast features in-depth conversations with leaders and professionals working in international development, humanitarian aid, and global organizations. Subscribe to hear more stories from the field and practical career insights from those making an impact worldwide.