r/UNpath

I just recently had my first ever interview with UNICEF for a P2 position. I was genuinely so excited because I've wanted to work for UNICEF for as long as I can remember. I prepped for the interview, practiced for at least four hours after work every day before the interview (the STAR method), read so much about the country I was applying in and the context; yet, when the moment came, I completely flunked the interview. The questions were much more difficult than I expected: I prepped for simple questions related to the competencies but I got several subquestions in each question and at some point I had to even write down the questions as they were saying them because I could not keep up. It was really difficult to come up on the spot with good enough examples so I kept it generic and brief (which I feel so bad about because in hindsight I could have elaborated more but my brain froze). Then we had to change language in every question: it was one in English then in French then in English etc. I'm trilingual and fluent in both English and French but I started mixing languages in my answers and forgetting some words !!! God, it was terrible. I feel soooooooo bad !!!! I am trying to think that at least now I know what the interview is like I can prepare better for potential new ones, it was a learning experience, etc but I also feel like I lost a little bit of self-trust in my ability to think on spot and that maybe I am still too junior for a P2.... I'm trying to not let it get to me but I would really love to get some advice out here. For anyone who's been through the interview process before, what was it like for you? How do you regain trust in yourself if you flunked? For people conducting interviews, do you have any advice for me?

Hi!
I've always had a passion for serving those in need and having a positive impact and contibuting to the well-being of humanity.
I have completed a Bachelor's Degree in Business Admin (with a major in Accounting & Finance) and now im completing my ACCA to better specialised.

Can anyone guide me on how to join the UN with the qualifications i have?
What qualifications and/or experience i need to get in order to join?

Timeline on when it would be achievable?
Just need a bit of advice and a roadmap to follow.

thanks!

Hi! I am a law student aspiring to work with either human rights or humanitarian law in the future. I am very well aware that the field is very competitive and I do have multiple backup plans, but it's still the path I'd like to pursue as the first option.

It's soon time to apply for an exchange year, and I'm a bit puzzled about which country I should pick. I speak three languages fluently, but two of these (my native language and the language of the country I live in) are quite small and likely useless for UN. I also speak French at B1 level, and the natural choice would probably be either France or Switzerland to improve my language skills. However, I have never lived outside of Europe and would love to go to e.g. Namibia, South Africa or China instead. Would the "wider" international experience be beneficial at all for future employment, or is it better to go with the more "boring" choices that will likely help me become fluent in French? Unfortunately my uni does not have any francophone partner universities outside of Europe.

I recently joined the UN system in a P3 specialist role, and I am still trying to understand the shift in expectations.

I come from a background where I often carried entire pieces of work single-handedly. I am trying to understand how this changes in a UN staff role, especially at P3 level.

In your personal experience, how much of a P3 role is about directly producing technical outputs yourself, and how much is about architecture, prioritization, coordination, leadership, quality/evidence judgment, product direction, capacity building, and sustainability?

How do you balance getting your own hands dirty with coordinating others to make things happen?

I work in a team where my manager is in a romantic relationship with one of my teammates, who also reports directly to them. I’m not looking to judge anyone’s private life. My concern is the potential conflict of interest when a manager supervises someone they’re involved with.
I’m wondering:
Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?
How did it affect the team?
If there are signs of favoritism or unfair treatment, what’s the best way to handle it?
Is it better to raise concerns with HR or an ethics office, or only if there’s clear evidence of bias?
I’m mainly looking for advice on how to approach this professionally and fairly. I want to avoid making assumptions or accusations and focus on maintaining a healthy work environment.

I have been invited for an online assessment with WIPO using VidCruiter.

Anyone done this before and can I get any tips/advice.

1. Timing
2. Types of questions

Any advice will be welcome.

Thank you!

I'm a Biotechnology student with little experience in ML. I working on developing a YOLO model currently. My guide sent me the internship details and asked me to apply for it. I don't think I'm qualified enough for this role but still I do want to get selected and learn from it.

I don't know how to create a CV for this specifically or if I even stand a chance against all the qualified candidates and even if my CV gets shortlisted, I don't know how I'll perform in the interview with my minimal knowledge.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks

I got offered a P2 job I have 9.5 years of directly relevant experience including a PhD in the field which does not contribute to the 9.5 years- it’s in addition to. Which step can I reasonably ask for?

Hi All,
I am working at an MNC and rules are very strict here.

I am filling an application on Inspira and it is asking for Supervisors Name and contact details.
I am confused if I should give my managers contact details without his permission.

And regarding the references,

My managers and colleagues dont get along with me really well. I am scared if they will give positive feedback about me.

What to do.

Please guide

I’m currently a P3 level UNOPS consultant that was just offered a 6 month contract extension and a P2 TA with a different agency. Both are interesting and good options. What’s the better choice in your view?

This organization is so large with many job categories so I’d like to hear from someone who is actually in the organization. I’ve always dreamed of going to developing countries and teaching kids or helping to build things like wells or homes. i want to do the actual hands-on work, not policy or office-work. I have a Masters in Social Work in Ontario Canada and 4 years of experience with mental health and youth at-risk in Canada. Does UNICEF have an actual job position where I can do hands-on humanitarian work or is it more volunteer missions? thanks

Is this common practice ? Can my interview results become null if my language test results are lower than required ?

I need to rant because I can’t say this at work.

My agency only allows approved tools like Copilot (which we have the license). External AI tools like Claude are not supposed to be used for work materials, especially anything internal/confidential. I follow that rule, even though Copilot is honestly… not great😅

I just joined the agency recently and there is this coworker who joined in March 2026, who produced this extremely polished report. At first, I genuinely thought it was objectively impressive! Like, I was reading it and thinking, wow… this is really good. The structure was clean, the headings were sharp, the tone was very executive, and the whole thing looked like an insanely polished strategy memo.

Then my little sister, who knows way more about AI tools than I do, glanced at it while I was reading. I said to her that I cannot be this smart to produce this shit but my sister casually went, “Lol, that’s Claude.”

I was like, what do you mean? Because I never used Claude, hence not familiar with it. She said the phrasing, the section headers, the “data-driven case” style, the “at a glance/what the data reveals/strategic implications” structure, it had the exact same vibe AND format/style. Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it!

My director is very satisfied with her work and repeatedly tells everyone we are lucky to have found her. I used to think she was an inspirational coworker, and I greatly admire her work. On every occasion, my director shows her off like a “prized possession” or “our crown jewel,” even in general meetings with other divisions. Now, once I learned about what possibly contributed to her stellar performance, I’m sitting here thinking: of course her work was fast! They let her use a tool the rest of us are not allowed to use🥲🥲

I’m not anti-AI. I use AI too at work (huhu Copilot), but within the allowed limits. I brainstorm, structure, and polish with it. But there’s a huge difference between using Copilot within policy and possibly using Claude to generate a polished work product from internal material.

And… I can’t say anything because I don’t have hard proof. If I bring it up, I’ll just look jealous or petty. So I’m stuck sitting there watching someone possibly get praised for breaking the same rules the rest of us are expected to follow.

It just feels… unfair. Am I stupid? I know the rational answer is “learn from the format and move on,” and I will. But emotionally? I’m frustrated. I feel bamboozled😭

Just need to let this out of my chest…

I'm an intern at one of the UN agencies and my contract would get over in 2 months. I approached my supervisor to see if I could get a consultancy contract position and if not, at least a short term contract. She replied back to me saying people who did this so and so masters degree gets hired for the consultancy contract in my team and she asked me to go get that degree +said she hasn't arranged any budget. When I further mentioned that I could at least support the tasks of the current consultants on their work as I have been doing now so I at least I get to develop my expertise on the topic. To this, for some reason she related me with her office assistant saying she works independently without my help. Also I would like to kindly note that, I have brought up the consultancy contract with her 1-2 months ago, she didn't mention my master's degree is not linked with the work and even assured that she has to look at the budget and she normally hires someone who has at least 5-10 years of experience even though there was no certainty, I saw a ray of hope.

I arranged feedback meeting with her recently and other employees were invited too. Other consultants spoke about how detail-oriented, proactive, fast learner I am but I fail to communicate on to the point sometimes, so my feedback I think is fairly well. She has budget (as per few of her colleagues) too. Additionally, she also expects me to inform her whatever I does at the office even if its a project done with other interns that doesn't affect work hours, and I have always followed that. And other thing she raised in the feedback meeting was that I don't have to let her know everything that happens but that contradicts to what she told me earlier. She even hated it when I sat in the office after work hours and none of the interns that I asked had supervisors asked them why they sit after office hours. Anyway I have asked her if she could send my cv across her network to see if I could get any short term contract because its been 2 years since I graduated and I don't think having an internship in my CV would help me get better opportunities as I expect so at least getting to write a full-time position in my resume would help me in applying to good firms (I haven't mentioned this to her btw). She has agreed to share my CV anyway but at the same I'm thinking to network within my building but its always better to let her know with whom all I'm approaching in the building right but I'm really scared if she would sabotage my chances somehow. I'm very sorry for such a long rant. Kindly help me here.

I recently came across two open consultant opportunities at a FAO that sit almost perfectly within a fairly narrow niche of mine. I've consulted for FAO before and for a couple of other UN agencies and IFIs, so I feel my chances are genuinely strong on both.

One of the two is managed directly from HQ. The other is tied to a specific country office.

Both are fully remote for me either way, so I'm trying to figure out where I actually have more room to negotiate a solid daily rate. My assumption is that HQ tend to have more standardized and often higher pay bands, while country office consultancies depend heavily on the specific project's budget and can vary a lot. Is that accurate in your experience, or is it more nuanced than that?

Curious if anyone here has sat on both sides and can share how rate negotiation actually plays out in practice for each modality.

I'm 22F sudanese medical student , I don't have previous experiences , to be honest before the conflict I didn't think about volunteering , but now I find that my country needs everyone of us.

Someone sent me a link for an UN volunteering program application, I copied what I found in it; please tell me if it's not fake, and please help me to apply

United Nations Volunteer Program 2026 – Overview

Program Name: United Nations Volunteer Program 2026

Organization: United Nations Volunteers (UNV)

Program Type: Fully Funded

Eligible Nationalities: All Nationalities

Program Locations: Worldwide (UN offices & field missions)

Application Status: Open Now

1. International volunteers.

2. National UN Volunteers

Opportunities are available within the applicant’s home country, ideal for those seeking local UN development experience.

3. Youth UN Volunteers

Designed for young professionals looking for early-career UN exposure and global networking.

4. Online UN Volunteers

Remote volunteer opportunities for individuals who want to contribute digitally from anywhere in the world.

These categories attract applicants searching for remote UN jobs, international volunteer work, and online volunteering with the United Nations.

Genuine question, those who are working in the UN system, are you happy ? By the work you do, the work Life balance, the travel etc Do you find it worth it at the end of the day ? Would you have rather done something else ?

Those who want to work for the UN, in this climate, are you happy Even tho you are not in the system yet ?

I am kinda terrified both by the job opportunities market, but also if I would like my job if I one day get there….

(I am public health médical résident by the way)

Any fellow IPSAs who have recently taken parental leave?
I’m trying to understand the IPSA parental leave policy and I’m a bit confused by the terminology.

The contract states that birth parents are entitled to 16 weeks of parental leave, while non-birth parents are entitled to 4 weeks.

My understanding was that “birth parents” could refer to both parents of a child who is born (as opposed to adoptive parents), but Oracle is only allowing me to register 28 days, which suggests it may be treating me as a non-birth parent.

Has anyone else been in this situation? How did HR interpret the terms “birth parent” and “non-birth parent” in your case? If you’re an IPSA father whose partner gave birth, were you granted 16 weeks or only 4 weeks?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience before I follow up with HR. Thanks!

Spent years applying, took a few assessment tests, some applications randomly closed and some have been open since years — no results in sight.

Final nail in the coffin — connected with a staff member through a friend, they offered me a consultancy assignment in the first interaction (my experience aligned exactly with their requirements), only for them to get back to me a week later telling me they have decided not to proceed after internal discussions. My fault for being naive enough to think it will work out.

I have always received good feedback from my current colleagues and supervisors. I know my profile meets all requirements for the opportunities in my field. Been trying for years to switch to a higher paying role. But the multilateral space has broken me. I have spent too much time chasing this dream and have decided to give up trying. I’m glad it works out for some people I guess it’s not ever going to be me.

I'm an American. I work in finance in NYC. I have an undergraduate degree but no graduate degree. I have applied to jobs at the UN that require either a masters degree or additional years of work experience in lieu of a masters degree. In Inspira, the jobs I have applied to display either "Under Consideration" or "Recruitment Completed." I have not had any interviews.

I have two questions:

1. Does the UN hire Americans?
2. Does the UN hire people who do not have graduate degrees?