You’ve made up your mind. Powered up your laptop. Fingers ready on the keyboard. It is time to get that coveted UN internship which will kickstart your career. As you go through Inspira –the UN’s human resources website– you find yourself skimming through an intimidatingly vast range of opportunities in an enormous variety of fields. How do you decide which ones to focus your Herculean efforts on? After a certain point, frustration starts to creep in and you just want to get the ball rolling- what does it matter whether you apply to intern at the Office for Disarmament Affairs or at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs? Why waste your time reading through multiple job descriptions when, at the end of the day, waving the UN name high on your CV is what really counts?

Don’t fool yourself– this point of view is baselessly myopic. Meaningful work opportunities set the stage for vital personal growth. Employers are concerned with what skills you’ve developed and the insights you’ve gained from these experiences rather than simply seeing an organization’s name on your resume. Your propensity to observe and absorb is increasingly heightened when interning at the correct places, where you are doing things that you genuinely care about. Internships that are meaningful add much more value to your thought process, development and resumé. 

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Where to begin?

Start by identifying which economic, political and social issues genuinely interest you. Dig a little deeper into what you are passionate about. Do rising temperatures, shrinking glaciers and more frequent droughts spur you into taking decisive action? Perhaps eradicating child hunger is what drives you.

Whatever it may be, it is imperative that you recognize and keep it at the forefront of your agenda when browsing through the myriad of offices you can apply to. When you are passionate about what you’re involved in, your work imprints a lasting sense of personal satisfaction on you.

Drawing on your past internships and/or volunteering opportunities is a useful starting point. Look back to recall which experiences stuck with you during these periods. You should have a preliminary idea of which UN Offices will be apt for you based on your preferences.

Here are some UN offices that could align with your areas of interest

Recognizing your strenghts

The next step is to identify your strongest skill sets. These are broken down into soft and hard skills. Hard skills are teachable abilities or skill sets that are easily measurable. It may be that you are adept with information management and graphic design (computer skills) or find statistical analysis easier than others. Being bilingual or multilingual is extremely useful too– especially knowing one or more of the six official UN languages (English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and Russian).

In contrast, soft skills are personal habits and traits that shape how you work on your own and with others. People might have told you that you work very well in a team or that you are adaptable to new environments. You may have garnered a reputation for being a problem solver, a skill that has held you in good stead in prior roles.

There are plenty of soft and hard skills apart from the aforementioned that you will discover for yourself. The reason why identifying these is important is that they help you unveil your ideal job description.

Making your UN Internship experience satisfying