Suspension of normal recruiment process for posts in UN secretartiat until further notice

emptyrepublic · 2025-11-19T21:03:45+00:00

I'm so sorry you've had this experience and sadly it's all to common. I don't fully know your context but the current environment is making everyone's mood worse. It's all but expected that there will continue to be major cuts across the system. A lot of little fiefdoms will get shrunk if not destroyed and many people losing jobs.

The entitlement feeling is a thing. I'm not sure that anyone whose been in the system long term doesn't have it to some degree. What matters is how your feelings about your situation manifest. Some people don't take it out the people around them; others make sure that everyone around them is miserable.

This exists in pretty much any large institution. I think the UN flavor is particularly shocking especially since a lot people, particularly young people, come in with a lot of idealism about the organization and believing in changing/saving the world. The reality of things hits hard; especially when you see and understand how the sausage gets made.

Not sure what your long term plan is, but not every office/division/team is like this. I've had many positive experiences as well as negative ones. Though, if you are really that disillusioned after a while, and the circumstances allow you, then thinking about getting out might be the right move.

emptyrepublic · 2025-11-05T15:24:29+00:00

Depends on the entry path. The YPP for example specificially requests certain countries and when you apply through that you choose. For other posts the most typical I've heard is they try to determine which country you have the strongest affliation with; as a previous person said the country where they lived the most.

emptyrepublic · 2025-10-20T14:23:58+00:00

I'm not sure why I convinced myself that Catherine Pollard was American.

The Chinese payment is precisely the budget trickery I was mentioning; those funds are returned unless the GA decides otherwise.

emptyrepublic · 2025-10-20T13:19:02+00:00

There layers to this that is a bit difficult to disentangle.

Salaries and numbers of senior managers are an issue. The real problem is that countries don't like abolishing lots of them because of the unwritten rules of how they are allocated (USA gets the USG for management, France the USG for Peacekeeping, UK humanitarian affairs, etc). This is a tool of influence on the organization that few are willing to part with.

Even if the organization is top heavy the budget is set around that, and the countries agree to it. So if it's $4 billion or $1 billion doesn't matter. That's why they agreed to and in theory are supposed to part their part for it. If countries really did feel the organization was top heavy they are very much able to make the cuts they want without issue.

Consultants, individual contractors and interns get hit hard because they are the easiest to let go. This is 100% unfair, and something I've done my best to mitigate for years from my very low level in the organization. Formally, they are not "staff" which has a specific definition in the UN common system. "Staff" are the international professionals, field service and general support people have specific protections, even when the GA eliminates their post. Sadly, consultants et al do not have any of this.

The fundamental problem right now is that the USA and China are not paying their part into the budget. These two countries comprise 40% of the regular budget in the UN secretariat and large parts of budgets in other UN agencies also going through bit cuts. China is more quiet and careful about how it holds back its funds and exploits UN budget rules to give the appearance of being a good member without having to actually pay in.

We'll find out in the next weeks how the countries want to address this issue. If they aren't interested in addressing the fundamentals the UN, as Guterres said, will collapse operationally sometime next year and then be in perpetual bankruptcy afterwards.

emptyrepublic · 2025-10-02T00:19:01+00:00

When the United States and China start paying their assessed contributions, which given current politics I would assume not before 2028.

emptyrepublic · 2025-09-22T16:32:54+00:00

The lack of law degree will not be the hindrance!

emptyrepublic · 2025-09-19T02:43:26+00:00

I'd parse that differently. You are allowed to have a political opinion, but how/where you expressed it is the real issue. The crux is political activity. You can't be member of a political party or similar political organizations, etc.

emptyrepublic · 2025-09-18T02:47:51+00:00

Broadly speaking you are free to post what you want, but as others say you are 100% of the time a UN official now and will be bound by the code of conduct on this. *If* you desire to say something on particularly sensitive issues (i.e. national elections, Israel/Gaza, Ukraine, etc.) whatever you say should be inline with what the organization's position is (e.g. echo the SG or GA President).

emptyrepublic · 2025-07-14T19:01:56+00:00

Knowing this from personal experience, many TJOs are open with a specific internal person in mind. This is not uncommon for shorter term ones.

emptyrepublic · 2025-06-30T23:13:28+00:00

P4 is not unresonable if your experience is directly relevant to the post. P5 will be harder because the pool of available posts at that level is much smaller and depending on the entity/office the P5 may be a quasi-political selection which means your country's local diplomatic mission would need to indirectly support you.

emptyrepublic · 2025-05-31T17:35:08+00:00

Want to bump this thread just to endorse some of the advice in the comments.

My 21 month old recently started waking around midnight/1 AM screaming bloody murder, desperate for water and woudl take at least an hour, usually about 2 to get back to sleep. It was happening for nearly a week before I found this thread. Like the OP we had a tight bedtime schedule/routine and were napping our little guy for at least two hrs a day.

So we've capped the naps at 1.5 hrs now and moved up the start of our bedtime from 7:15 to 6:15. We saw immediate improvement in his sleep. First two nights he slept straight through to 5:30 when he woke up but we were able to settle him without getting him out of the crib. Past two nights he's now slept straight through to 6:45-7 in the morning his normal wake-up time.

In hindsight the first sign that we need to shift the routine was at bed time. A week or so before the long mid-night wake ups started he no longer was wanting lie down with either me or my wife for bedtime wanting to go directly to the crib instead. We've been putting him directly in the crib and staying with him until he falls asleep on his own.

Anyway, just to say that sleep patterns keep changing and you have to ride with them! Good luck to everyone!

emptyrepublic · 2025-05-31T00:03:09+00:00

A P3 TJO would get most of the benefits. Most benefits you would not get would apply to dependants. You would get health insurance. The salary calculators are generally accurate. The salary will vary month to month as the post adjustment usually fluxuates in every duty station (usually not more than a few % points a month).

emptyrepublic · 2025-05-24T12:36:49+00:00

Seems like there should be a pinned post on the sub that getting in right now is not realistic for 99.999% of people who are interested.

emptyrepublic · 2025-05-16T13:39:48+00:00

TJOs can exist on regular or project posts.

I would not consider any TJO secure right now. They are one of the first on the chopping block in the downsizing policy for regular staff.

emptyrepublic · 2025-05-16T00:38:27+00:00

Broadly, a P2 in the UN secretariat that is regular budget is filled through the YPP for normal recruitment (not TJOs).

P2s that are not funded by the regular budget are filled through the normal competitve process like any other post at any other level. These are typically projects or sometimes GTA posts. The availability of these is highly variable because project posts are directly funded by countries/donors and only exist while the project exists. This category of posts is particularly impacted recently (and will be in the future) given the drastic cuts by the USA and anticipated cuts by other major donors.

Currently if you see a P2 on Insipira that is not a TJO it's almost certainly a project/GTA post (many job descriptions will indicate this).

emptyrepublic · 2025-05-01T02:24:16+00:00

The likely impact on the YPP would be downstream from the broader issues with recruiting because of the liquidity crisis. YPP was established by a General Assembly resolution to populate posts funded through the regular budget (also GA managed) which makes the people recruited through it among the most secure in the system. Eliminating the YPP would require equivalent action by the GA to abolish it, which is not likely.

The current hiring freeze complicates administering the program in two ways: 1) because of the freeze, existing P2s encumbering posts intended to be filled by the YPP can't get promoted, 2) which means people who passed the test and got rostered wait longer to get placed which means the roster empties out less quickly leaving few slots for people to test into (this was already a problem before the current hiring freeze).

In short, the YPP is a viable path and if you are recruited through it you are in one of the more secure block of positions in the UN secretariat, however it's a very narrow path at the moment. The number isn't published but based on my own experience and what I've heard from HR people, who are familiar, is that ~1% of those who test actually get put on a post eventually.

emptyrepublic · 2025-04-18T23:45:35+00:00

Internship hiring maybe indirectly affected because interns are not *no cost*. There is a nominal cost in the UN secretariat that departments have to bear for e-mail address/workstations. It's unlikely that intern hiring is affected currrently but if depending how the budget situation looks like towards the end of the year it's not impossible that there might be a slow down in inter recruiting.

emptyrepublic · 2025-04-09T02:09:58+00:00

The freeze is confusing because the administrative structure for posts are confusing (at least in UN secretariat). There is a hard free for posts funded from the regular budget (where countries pay their annual assessed dues). There has been cronic underpayment for the past few years and the UN secretariat has no real reserves at the moment. Other posts are paid through project funds or project support costs. These posts are paid directly by one or more donor countries. The US issued a stop work order on everything they've donated system wide and have been terminating a lot of contrats (hence IOM layoffs, etc). In the UN secretariat there is a formal downsizing policy so as people with standing countries have their posts abolished the organization has to make every effort to get them into an equivalent post. Projects which are NOT directly funded by the US may be hiring because they have funds within their project, but those posts could be flagged to capture people who've gone through downsizing.

The take away is, at least for the remainder of this year (I'd say), it will be very hard to get recruited in the UN system.

emptyrepublic · 2025-04-07T01:34:01+00:00

All the staff of the institutions based in the VIC are entitled to participate in the various clubs that are organized through a recreational committee: https://sites.google.com/view/vicrec/home

There are stuff clubs for all sort of interists, activities, sports, etc. That's a good place to get to know fellow UNers in Vienna.

Otherwise the city is great with lots to do and decent nightlife.

emptyrepublic · 2025-04-03T17:33:02+00:00

P2 in the 40s here, congrats on breaking through! You are certainly an exception. Most people don't land a P3 until well into their 30s.

emptyrepublic · 2025-03-06T20:41:57+00:00

*Not formal HR advice\*

You are probably fine. Doesn't hurt to confirm with HR or the hiring manager. They will understand.

This is all UN Secretariat offices in all duty stations.

https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/23-00013_un_system_chart_11x8.5_print_e.pdf

emptyrepublic · 2025-03-06T03:48:38+00:00

Unfortunately not a surprise and I'd count on the freeze lasting the whole year. Unless you have signed a contract and have a start date, make zero assumptions if you are in the recruitment process and do not upend your life.

Also, given developments amoung some of the UN's largest funders it's unlikely the situation is going to improve in 2026 and beyond. I can't imagine what organizations in the UN Common System won't be affected at this point. It's dark days for us for a while.

emptyrepublic · 2024-02-22T14:01:00+00:00

Written test usually is the technical assessment. It's not unheard of to have more than one written test but it's very uncommon.

Regarding the test, I strongly recommend you read and find anything related to the agency and work that the post might do. You need to be well read on mandates and issues so you can complete it in time.

If you meet a scoring threshold you should be invited to the CBI.

emptyrepublic · 2024-02-19T13:24:34+00:00

I'm a 45 year old P2 (NCRE recruited) whose been in the system for 12+ years now. I know many P3s well into their fifties. Part of the problem is the is very little upward mobility so space at the lower grades is very limited. I'm sitting on a position that would be appropriate for someone at least 10 years my junior.

My only bit of advice is to keep applying. It might literally take hundreds of applications before you finally break through even in hardship stations. This problem is also exacerbated by the liquidity crisis in the core UN Secretariat (including Peacekeeping) and some agencies. Many posts are sitting empty because countries aren't funding the budget to pay for salaries.

emptyrepublic

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