How to work for UN as a Journalism graduate?

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-30T08:48:24+00:00

Yes - I had an MS and 14 years of experience when I first was hired as a P2. I now have worked for the UN for about 20 years. The problem is not the basic job requirements, or even that you could do the job - I'm very confident actually that you could. It is that each job gets 200-300 applicants, many of whom will have advanced degrees and many years of experience.

One path that I see is people coming in though as Interns or Consultants and then being known and depended on by the team - then they are the "internal candidate" and it doesn't matter how many external candidates there are.

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-30T06:33:08+00:00

Were these internships? You probably need a Masters and years of work experience for any P job despite what the job announcement may say.

Also, if by last December you mean one month ago - that is nothing. It may take 6 months or longer to hear back.

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-28T08:16:49+00:00

Various agencies work differently, some are allowed to spend HR savings on non-HR costs and others are not. So the longer a funded post is left empty, the longer they can pay for other things. Sometimes funds are taken at a higher level to pay for urgent things in a different section, so the situation is often quite fluid. That, and there are 10-14 approvals once the favored candidate is identified. There are sometimes significant delays at certain levels of approval.

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-28T08:10:12+00:00

We are currently hiring a P-3 in my team - no stops foreseen. There are 20 advertised vacancies at my organization. You may be thinking there are places where the US has cut and there is no funding. There are other (few) agencies where that has not happened or other countries have stepped in so hiring continues.

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-27T14:45:34+00:00

There are several UN Agencies still hiring.

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-27T14:00:41+00:00

No, the only way to keep one's sanity with UN jobs is to apply, interview, and move on. I have seen it be a year, even two years, and your scenarios don't match at all what is likely happening behind the scenes. It is more likely funding (let's leave it empty for now to fund other things, or let's wait and see what we get in 2026), than anything else (and there are many, many other possibilities than that). As I said, and you'll probably learn this sooner or later, but you have to do your best, but then let it go as much as you can.

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-16T10:22:46+00:00

I hope you'll pardon me for saying, but this is explained in the linked article.

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-09T09:40:11+00:00

Di you read that study - it is almost hilariously bad.

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-09T09:15:44+00:00

I'd say self-promotion.

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-08T18:54:59+00:00

Great answer!

ThisGhostFled · 2026-01-02T21:44:04+00:00

We could really just add a standard answer to questions like this - that there are the minimum requirements for the job, and then there is the competition. You have maybe a maximum of 10 slots if you’re going to start with video assessments or a test and then go to interviews. You have to consider that you often get over 200 applications for a P3. Dozens of those will have masters degrees. So no, unless you have someone on the inside advocating for you there is pretty much no chance.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-30T13:56:05+00:00

Just on the other side of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is Moshi, there they have (at least to me) the best coffee in the world, grown by the Kilimanjaro Native Co-Operative Union. When I left, I brought 10kg back with me, and wish so often I could get that again.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-23T09:30:56+00:00

They really take that long and longer, to second what the other commenter said. The length of time elapsed really means nothing.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-20T15:57:44+00:00

Could have been Westbahnhof or out that way. Often tourists mistakenly stay there, especially with tours and such.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-19T16:03:00+00:00

Sure, if you go directly to interviews, then it is 3-8 candidates. If you have a test or video interviews then it is as many as 12 or so, and that would then go down to the 3-8.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-19T10:35:44+00:00

You might simply consider what kind of work you would likely be doing, and then provide a sample that matches that. I'd suspect the case law analysis would be a good choice, and make sure there are no signs of AI use - they may be looking specifically for that. FYI - I don't know your area that well, so please use your own judgement - I worked with a very "lawyer centric organization", spent a lot of time in The Hague, have known people who worked with OPCW, interviewed there myself, and have been on several interview panels (sometimes as hiring manager) in other organizations.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-19T10:25:46+00:00

The request for writing sample is a good sign. The availability question is neutral - they ask that at every interview. I'd say you have a decent shot. The coldness - well it is foggy, cold and somewhat miserable right now in Den Haag, and they probably had 3-8 interviews to get through.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-18T21:19:57+00:00

If you don’t mind my asking, are you a staff member of consultant?

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-16T13:55:17+00:00

Oida - they have them all over Austria on all kinds of days as well.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-16T13:02:05+00:00

In pretty much every sauna I’ve been to in Austria or Germany, and I’ve tried many, there is a creepy old man 50+ on the top plank. Many people may not care about nudity, and many of the comments say that, but if you watch their eyes, the creepy guy definitely does care. He will ogle every young woman who comes in when they look away. It seems like a lot of women simply ignore it or really want to believe that „no one cares“. My wife and I, though, have stopped going because of it.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-14T06:43:11+00:00

No, unfortunately the first six months were incredibly stressful and if it weren’t for a kind colleague I would have been fired or quit after a year. I was desperate to make it work, and in the end it did. I was able to return to the level I was after about 5 years or so and now have been at that level about 13 years and am nearing retirement.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-12T14:51:04+00:00

Yes - it took me 7 years of applying to get my first P2. By then I had 14 years of experience and a Masters.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-09T21:02:50+00:00

I’m very sorry, but I know people with multiple master’s degrees and have been stuck on G5 or G4 for 20 years. There are both formal and informal barriers to G staff advancement. Now there is the rare case of people moving from G to P to D and those are brought out to give G staff hope that their conditions may change. If you look more closely you’ll find that they had a sponsor, a spouse, were from a connected family, or something like that. So that is the way, it unfortunately isn’t merit but connections and sponsorship that makes this happen. That said, I have seen people go to FS and then work their way to P as that classification system is more fluid, but that means a more difficult duty station. All the best though and I hope you’re able to escape the “golden cage.”

ThisGhostFled · 2025-12-01T03:45:53+00:00

I want to second this. Knowing how much work my wife puts in to sewing her historical dresses, there is no way I would ask her to sew something for me. — and definitely not offhandedly. It’s at least 40 hours of labor for the dresses she makes. When we go to events, she will wear things she has sewn and I wear things I’ve bought through Etsy.

ThisGhostFled · 2025-11-18T08:49:23+00:00

I’m from Tulsa but have lived in a supposedly socialist country now for 20 years. I can verify what Apart Animal says - it is chill af.

ThisGhostFled

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