No doubt, the majority of those placed on the UN roster for employment after the YPP/NCRE exams in 2010 are beginning to understand why my advice has always been to be patient. Some have been lucky and were recruited sooner then others but many remain either frustrated with the pace of things or otherwise simply baffled.
I have had my share of frustrations but my recruitment was an exception rather then the rule. I was placed on the roster in February of 2009 then recruited in June of 2010. Others have had quicker recruitments but to be perfectly honest, this is a rarity.
I offered to help some of my readers by writing this post entirely dedicated to life after a candidates placement on the UN roster.
Firstly, after successful candidates have been identified and placed on the roster they are notified by email and in most instances a formal letter is also sent to the candidates advising them of their successful placement on the roster. It is very important to note that the UN places a disclaimer on these letters saying that your placement on the UN roster is not a guarantee for employment with the organization.
I normally advise people to focus on building their current career because it will help to achieve two purposes. The first is simply that in the event you are not employed by the UN, you would have already been successfully climbing up the ladder in either the private or public sectors in your chosen career. Secondly, it allows you to accumulate experience that will be beneficial to you when you are eventually made an offer to work with the organization.
Secondly, the OHRM (Human Resources) will request that a Personal History Profile (PHP) is prepared and your most current CV is sent to the organization. Two points to note here. Make your PHP and CV as appealing as possible. Use keywords or what I call the ‘UN language’. A great source of this is to look at UN vacancy announcements either interest or suit you and then tailor your PHP and experiences to reflect the requirements in these announcements. I personally spent a lot of time poring over these vacancy announcements to see trends, words, competencies, both technical and managerial, to guage the expectations of the organization. Continually update your PHP. A fellow colleague advised that when you are invited for an interview, it does not hurt to send your most recent PHP and CV directly to the hiring manager as it may bolster your chances if he or she did not have an opportunity to acquire your most recent PHP or CV.
Once this phase is complete, you basically wait in the hope that a hiring manager will be impressed by your PHP/CV and invite you to an interview.
This is the phase that requires a lot of patience. The primary reasons are that the number of P2 positions are more or less fixed and so it must be available before candidates are identified for an interview.
But once a vacant position at the P2 level is available within the Secretariat, hiring managers in liasion with OHRM will look in the roster for suitable candidates. OHRM can also send the PHP’s to the hiring manager based on the requirements he or she has specified for the position.
The hiring manager reviews these PHP’s and then shortlists those candidates that he or she feels is suitable for the position. Once shortlisted candidates are identified, an interview panel must be assembled.
The interview panel will normally consist of 3 people. Out of these 3 people, one must be female and they must preferably be from different regions of the world. Normally, they are required to complete a mandatory competency based interview training.
One of the delays in organizing interviews has always been the difficulty in harmonizing the availability of the panel with the candidates.
The interview is mostly competency based. The hiring manager will also prepare some questions that are geared towards testing your technical ability to fulfill this role. Candidates are given scores by each panelist, these scores are tallied then the panelists will review and decide on one candidate. In some instances an alternate candidate can also be idenitified. In the case of the OHCHR, where I work, the final approval of the hiring is done by the High Commissioner. Of course, the process is different in other organizations within the Secretariat.
Due to the recent reforms in Human Resources, there are now only 3 basic category of contracts that are offered. The temporary, the fixed term and the continuing contract. NCE candidates are normally offered a 2 year fixed term contract which is also the probationary period. Upon the successful completion of this term, an NCE candidate can be offered a continuing contract which like the permanent contract is open ended. The process to convert from a fixed term to continuing is often not simple nor guaranteed.
Hope these information will help candidates still waiting for an interview.
Hello, thank you very much for this interesting article.. I am waiting for the results of YPP 2012.. But I believe I failed. However, I hope to try it again. Can you tell us please how did you do to prepare this exam ? Did you study every day? Thanks again !
Hey there!
I’m a freelance journalist based in New York working on an article about the YPP exam. Would I be able to briefly interview you? Please email me as soon as you can. Thanks so much!
Dear All,
Can any one please help me regrading Un YPP exam details.
I request you all to please contat me since i cannot find any way to contact you all
sagardesai80887@yahoo.com
Thank you
Hi Lynnold, I am Nitin from (Sikkim) India. First of all thanks a ton for taking up the initiative to share your invaluable insight regarding the entire cycle of the YPP exams from your personal perspective/ experience. I was indeed very lucky to find your blog last month on Sept.
Currently, I have applied for the YPP 2012 (Social Affairs) and my application is under review.
Thanks a lot again,
Regards,
Nitin
hi, thank goodness i stumbled upon this blog. it was a lot of help. thank you so much. as time runs out for ypp 2012 can you share any tips about the cover letter please?????
@Mariana, Congrats to you ,@Lynnold thanks for writing such a good post , I would like to request you all who is aware about this whole process to provide some tips to people writing YPP this year 2012
Few Details Like below
1.How many questions has to be attempted(sample paper doesn’t say anything like this)
2.What should be length of the short answer questions.
3.When it comes to interview what was your experience , some more insight of CBI (competency based interview)
I know for many of these there may not be exact answers but based on personal experience some more insight will be really helpful.
@Mariana, congratulations on your placement. Hope you get a call soon. I am always happy to be of help since the YPP/NCRE process is not often well documented. All the best and its always nice to see enthusiasm like yours.
Lynnold
Hi Lynnold,
I want to thank you for the inspiration you have been – without knowing – since I found your blog. I have just been rostered in the 2011 YPP/Public information. As the other colleagues said and those on the forum confirmed, the patience will be the key on what is next but I wanted to really thank you for telling everyone about your encouraging experience. Thank you very much. Regards.
Thank you for your response. I have already requested membership to the NCRE mailing list. If you manage to find someone in Geneva please send me their details on my email address (which I hope you can see). Would really highly appreciate.
Thanks and good luck 😉
Hi Marco, congratulations on your placement. Yes, statisticians are more inclined to be recruited quickly. At least from what I have seen. However, each person’s experience is unique and this might be a generalization. I will try and find someone from the Statistics group here in Geneva who will be able to give you a better idea on what to expect while waiting on the roster. You can also join the yahoo NCRE group and ask if there are any statisticians on the list who can answer other specific questions. Thanks for writing. I am happy to help where I can and also happy that this blog has helped introduce me to a lot of new friends in Geneva.
All the best, Lynnold
Dear Lynold,
Thanks for your thoughts on this blog.
I have just passed the 2011 YPP oral examinations and been placed on the roster for Statistics. I guess the waiting has just begun.
Nevertheless, I’d love to know how did last year’s NCRE Statistics candidates do, since I assume it is quite specific for each job category. Do you know any Statisticians around you in Geneva and their experiences? My questions I guess are, did they all get jobs already or is the roster full of candidates from previous years? How long did they wait for the offers?
Thanks again for this inspiring blog 😉
@Oreo, congratulations to you too. I think the simple advise is that there is not guarantee on when you will be called. The truth is while the UN tries to clear the roster quickly some people wait for a long time to get their first offer. In the past, waiting for 5 years is not strange. So “pretend” that life goes on but be alert, be proactive in searching out opportunities to raise your profile and be ready to be called any time. Keep your PHP updated, join the NCRE yahoo group (link provided in earlier comments) as some NCE put out vacancies or temporary vacancies that may be suitable to your interest.
Thank you for this great advice! I found your blog while looking for online discussions on the YPP selection process (2011). I recently received a job offer for a 2 year contract, beginning in September, but I have not yet heard back about the results to the UN YPP examinations. I feel a bit tortured because the UN is my first choice, but if I turn down the offer I could be left without a job. In your experience, do you think it would be realistic to fulfill a 2 year contract while waiting for an offer from the UN (assuming I am invited for an interview and that it proceeds successfully)?
hey all, thank goodness i found this blog!!! I am a 25 year old South African
I want to apply for the programme, but don’t know if i’ll make the cut. i have a law degree and enrolled for a masters in international law, i read through a couple of cover letters that i found on the web, all which sounds so impressive.
Lynnold, thank you for these blogs. I interviewed last week as an NCE for a position in Vienna. How long after your second interview did it take for them to offer you the position? Robert
@Lici, the transition for someone who has grown up all his life amongst coconuts, the sea, untarsealed roads (in the city), laid back life…etc to this is a subject of probably another blog post. But some of my experiences are funny, others required me to unlearn many things and acquire new perspective/approach to things and life in general….in a nutshell, it is a huge, huge contrast to my previous life. Geneva was not my preferred station as I prefered Bangkok (closer to home) or New York (which eventually everyone wants to get to – I believe). But Geneva, as I now find, has been great for my children and I support the idea that it is the perfect station if you have a family with children (especially young ones).
@Hye-won JUNG, thanks for commenting and congratulations on your convocation. I presume that is for this year 2011. All the best in the exams.
Yes, Lynnold. Thank you for your posts. I recently found the others and was so glad to see this most recent posting. Congratulations for making it through! Can you tell us more about your transition to Switzerland? Was it on your original list of preferred duty stations?
Hi, I’m a South Korean convoked to sit for the NCRE exam in the public information category. I find your posting very helpful. Many thanks!:)
Thanks for the vote of confidence Maria. Wishing you the very best as you await an interview. I just noticed that it took me about 2 months to finally publish this entry. Just goes to show, how busy I am these days. So many things of interest to write about, so little time. Glad you found this post useful.
Lynnold
Thanks so much Lynnold. I have been looking forward to reading to such a post so much. It is very clear, detailed and helpful. Keep up your good job as a blogger!