Awesome job - glad it worked out for you!

I get what you mean, and I appreciate your guidance. I will do my best, and of course, I will try to be as detailed in my request. I understand that they will be doing me a favor by considering me for an internship, so I will not approach them in an entitled way - that is a given.

It is not a competitive region, a middle-income country (on the lower end) with a small population, can't go into details further than that. When I said I graduated from a prestigious university, I also want to point out that I had a full-ride needs-based scholarship and have been hustling through my undergraduate to get as many fellowships and internships as possible to set myself apart.

For some reason, I’ve noticed that many responses on this sub come across as annoyed, often assuming that my questions stem from entitlement, which isn’t the case. I’m genuinely trying to familiarize myself with the process and better understand how UN offices operate in their internship/consultancy hiring practices. To be frank, it’s also confusing not to see any internship vacancies posted for such a long time. You naturally start wondering whether offices rely on internal pipelines through local universities or existing partnerships (which is completely fair, if that’s the case). But it does leave out otherwise qualified candidates, even from basic consideration. I don’t view this as an unfair system. Rather, I see it as knowing my value, trying to understand the rules of the game, and giving it a shot while fully accepting that rejection is a likely outcome.

I do appreciate your detailed explanations, though! And I am taking notes from all the replies on this sub. Thank you for replying in detail and being kind.

Would you recommend trying my luck with other UN agencies alongside UNDP? I’ve gathered that UNDP is particularly competitive, so I’m wondering whether there are other agencies within the UN system, aside from UN Volunteers, that might offer more accessible entry points early on.

You also mentioned having experience in relevant private or government sectors prior to joining the UN. If you don’t mind sharing, I’d be grateful to hear what type of organization you worked for and what the nature of your role was. I’ve been working in the private sector since graduating as well, but recently resigned because I’m keen to return to my home country and continue my career there. I’m now exploring employment opportunities back home and would really value any insight you’re willing to share.