By Christa DeLorenzo, Social Media Manager, United Nations Association Southern New York Division - Young Professionals
Finding a sustainable solution to poverty may have been the driving force that led you to study International Relations, enroll in Arabic courses, volunteer for local nonprofits, and advocate for social change in your spare time. With these impressive credentials on your resume, you felt well equipped as you visited job boards such as UN jobs, Idealist, or Devex to realize your dream. You scanned through each job's responsibilities, imagining yourself carrying out each task. However, your excitement halted as your eyes reached the bottom of the terms of reference where the required 7 years of work experience are stated. Yet, knowing the likelihood of receiving a response, you proceeded to spend the next 2 hours crafting a cover letter, tweaking your resume, and polishing your writing samples, only to submit them to the bottomless void of online applications.
Advertised positions in organizations specializing in relief work, peace building, and development aid bring in thousands of job applications. Job searching is frustrating, and applying within a field where the quantity of jobs does not sustain the demand of trained candidates further challenges the process. Although International Development may be one of the most competitive sectors in which to find employment, I would like to reassure you that it is not impossible.
If you have submitted countless resumes and cover letters and received minimal, if any, responses, you may be incorrectly going about the application process. In this field, your qualifications must be accompanied by work experience and networking. Applying for staff level positions in the largest bilateral or multilateral organizations may not be the best use of your time when you are starting out. Starting your career at a smaller nonprofit organization, research institution or think tank, for example, may give you the opportunity to do more hands on work. This might lead you to that staff position in an international organization either through experience or networking. If you have your heart set on working for the United Nations or the World Bank, you may consider working as a consultant, or in a paid training program, which would allow you to get a feel for the way an organization operates before you apply to be an employee. Most of the larger international organizations do not hire staff unless they previously worked with the organization in some capacity, or unless they possess significant field experience.
It takes time to develop yourself and your skills to stand out in the job application process. Becoming a competitive applicant means diversifying your path. While your anxiety may heighten knowing your peers have found jobs in the “real world,” it is crucial to recognize the importance of investing in yourself. In this field, it is imperative that you do not fall victim to the societal pressure of securing a job immediately upon college graduation. Get your master's. Travel. Learn a new language. Seek local volunteer positions or employment whether in developing countries, or closer to home, and spend several years obtaining field experience working within a community. This time will add credibility to your resume and depth to your knowledge of development issues. And, while gaining this knowledge is critical, be sure to simultaneously acquire hard skills such as monitoring and evaluation, fund-raising, data analysis, research, communications, and project management, to name a few. Taking the this time to find out exactly which area you want to dedicate your work and yourself to throughout your career lays the foundation for your next job move.
It also takes time to develop your personal marketing strategy. By focusing your energy on applying to positions for which you are qualified, you will learn how to adapt your skills to the demands of the job in your cover letter. It is vital to network strategically. Go to social events, happy hours, meet with other young professionals in the field to learn about their skills and how they’ve acquired them. Inquire about their job hunt. Get involved with events hosted by your target organization and seek out unadvertised jobs. Make sure that you build an online presence. Create a detailed LinkedIn page, become active on Twitter, and perhaps design your own blog or webpage to display your work samples. Be bold, search LinkedIn for professionals who have your ideal position, and reach out to them. The best advice I can give you is to be persistent and aggressive in your search and to keep your options open. You will learn, and eternally benefit from these invaluable skills that can be applied to your dream job no matter which position you take.
Good luck!
Christa DeLorenzo is the Social Media Manager for the United Nations Association Southern New York Division - Young Professionals, and a Communications Consultant at the World Bank Group in Washington,
D.C. She has done previous communications work for the Inter-American Development Bank in Guatemala
and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center in Thailand.
Advertised positions in organizations specializing in relief work, peace building, and development aid bring in thousands of job applications. Job searching is frustrating, and applying within a field where the quantity of jobs does not sustain the demand of trained candidates further challenges the process. Although International Development may be one of the most competitive sectors in which to find employment, I would like to reassure you that it is not impossible.
If you have submitted countless resumes and cover letters and received minimal, if any, responses, you may be incorrectly going about the application process. In this field, your qualifications must be accompanied by work experience and networking. Applying for staff level positions in the largest bilateral or multilateral organizations may not be the best use of your time when you are starting out. Starting your career at a smaller nonprofit organization, research institution or think tank, for example, may give you the opportunity to do more hands on work. This might lead you to that staff position in an international organization either through experience or networking. If you have your heart set on working for the United Nations or the World Bank, you may consider working as a consultant, or in a paid training program, which would allow you to get a feel for the way an organization operates before you apply to be an employee. Most of the larger international organizations do not hire staff unless they previously worked with the organization in some capacity, or unless they possess significant field experience.
It takes time to develop yourself and your skills to stand out in the job application process. Becoming a competitive applicant means diversifying your path. While your anxiety may heighten knowing your peers have found jobs in the “real world,” it is crucial to recognize the importance of investing in yourself. In this field, it is imperative that you do not fall victim to the societal pressure of securing a job immediately upon college graduation. Get your master's. Travel. Learn a new language. Seek local volunteer positions or employment whether in developing countries, or closer to home, and spend several years obtaining field experience working within a community. This time will add credibility to your resume and depth to your knowledge of development issues. And, while gaining this knowledge is critical, be sure to simultaneously acquire hard skills such as monitoring and evaluation, fund-raising, data analysis, research, communications, and project management, to name a few. Taking the this time to find out exactly which area you want to dedicate your work and yourself to throughout your career lays the foundation for your next job move.
It also takes time to develop your personal marketing strategy. By focusing your energy on applying to positions for which you are qualified, you will learn how to adapt your skills to the demands of the job in your cover letter. It is vital to network strategically. Go to social events, happy hours, meet with other young professionals in the field to learn about their skills and how they’ve acquired them. Inquire about their job hunt. Get involved with events hosted by your target organization and seek out unadvertised jobs. Make sure that you build an online presence. Create a detailed LinkedIn page, become active on Twitter, and perhaps design your own blog or webpage to display your work samples. Be bold, search LinkedIn for professionals who have your ideal position, and reach out to them. The best advice I can give you is to be persistent and aggressive in your search and to keep your options open. You will learn, and eternally benefit from these invaluable skills that can be applied to your dream job no matter which position you take.
Good luck!
Christa DeLorenzo is the Social Media Manager for the United Nations Association Southern New York Division - Young Professionals, and a Communications Consultant at the World Bank Group in Washington,
D.C. She has done previous communications work for the Inter-American Development Bank in Guatemala
and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center in Thailand.