How to Pursue a Career with the United Nations
or Other International Humanitarian or Development Organizations,
Including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

credits and disclaimer

Introduction

Let's get right to it:

Your good heart, your desire to help others, your desire to travel, your professional ambition - none of these are enough to work for the United Nations or any other international humanitarian or development organization.

For most professions, you have to work over many years to acquire the skills and expertise needed to get to be in that profession. People do not get to be stock brokers, doctors, architects or lawyers just because they want to be any of those things. Getting to work for the UN or any other international development agency is no different.

In addition, you need more than a good heart. People in developing countries need people with hard skills, skills they don't have (but that they want). They want to be paid to build their own schools, clean up after disasters themselves, care for their children, etc. They want foreign helpers only if those foreigners

• can employ them (the local people),
• teach them (the local people) skills so that they can do the work themselves eventually, or
• do work that no one in the area has the skills to do themselves.

(see Five Reasons Not to Join the Peace Corps for more on these themes)

As well, just because you have worked in the for-profit/corporate sector does not mean your skills will translate into the humanitarian sector, or that you will automatically be appropriate for a leadership role at an international NGO. You've run a software company? You've run a law office? You've worked in a corporate HR office? You've run a marketing firm? That's nice, but none of that experience means you are automatically ready to work for the UN or an international aid agency.

There also isn't a magic degree guaranteed to get work with the UN or another INGO. What's the best thing to study? It depends entirely on what you want to do as a UN employee.

And, finally, finding paid work abroad as an aid worker or humanitarian worker is similar to finding a for-profit job: you must network with people working in the humanitarian/nonprofit/NGO industry. Ideally, you want an organization to come looking for YOU, and they will if you have created a robust professional network. The information below will help you with this.

Following the advice on this page is no guarantee you will get to work abroad in international development. But you will greatly improve your odds of working for the United Nations or any other international development organization by following this advice, which is based on the experience of people who have worked for the UN or other international development organizations, including people who make hiring decisions for such organizations. 

Specialization & Focus on Local Hires

The United Nations and other international agencies prefer to hire local people whenever possible for work in a developing country. Even in donor countries that host UN offices, such as Germany or Switzerland or the USA, the UN often prefers to hire people from developing countries whenever possible for office roles in those donor countries. The UN and other international agencies see hiring people from developing countries as investment in those countries. If you are from a developing country, you will have an advantage over other candidates from a developed country IF you also have the exact skills and experience needed for a role. If you do not have the exact match of skills and experience asked for in a job, you are NOT going to be interviewed. If the job requires you to prepare contracts with vendors, and your CV doesn't say explicitly that you have done that somewhere, you aren't going to be interviewed. If the job is for a communications manager, and you have a biology degree but just really, really want to work for the UN, you aren't going to be interviewed. Also, follow the application process for that job exactly - people that don't follow the process exactly are often tossed right out of the consideration process without senior staff ever seeing their credentials.

Of course, the UN and other international agencies do hire people from developed countries, including Europe, Canada, the USA, Australia, Scandinavia, etc. The UN brings in international people for jobs when there is expertise needed that cannot be found among local people, when local people are under too much risk to fulfill such a role, such as after a profound disaster or long-term conflict, or when someone who will be seen as neutral is needed in a role. International candidates must have the exact area of specialization needed for a job. They don't want generalists - having a Master's Degree in International Studies just isn't enough.  If the job requires you to work in Russian, and you can't do that, you aren't going to be interviewed. If the job posting says, "fluency in French", then the hiring company wants applicants who can do the job interview entirely in French, not someone who has had a few years of French classes. If they job says you must know how to communicate in religiously conservative communities, and your CV doesn't say explicitly that you have done that somewhere, you aren't going to be interviewed. If the job is to direct public health education, and you're experience is as a corporate marketing manager, you aren't going to be interviewed.

Here are examples of the HUGE range of specific experts sought by international development agencies, including UN projects. This is NOT a comprehensive list of all of the different areas of expertise sought by humanitarian agencies:

Again, that's just a sample of the kinds of areas of specialization humanitarian agencies are looking for - it's not at all a comprehensive list.

A great way to see the huge range of expertise needed in humanitarian work is by looking at the jobs being recruited at ReliefWeb. 

Most (but not all) postings require people with a Master's degree in a specific area, as well as experience in a particular area of expertise. That experience can come from professional or volunteer roles.

If you have the expertise asked for in a job posting, what will increase your chances to be interviewed? Having the following experience and making sure it is detailed in your CV. This experience must be honest; do NOT embellish your skills or experience:

• experience leading, managing or being the primary facilitator of a project. This can be a project that is based in any environment: business, nonprofit, or academic. It can be anything from leading the upgrade of a computer system within a department or company to managing a literacy project to overhauling policies and procedures to introducing a new client support system to facilitating a large-scale community cleanup. Note any particular challenges you faced, such as skepticism from management, dissent among staff, distrust among customers, etc., and what you did to address these challenges.

• experience in training others in a specific area of specialization, such as an activity that could lead to job development for local people, an activity that directly improves local people's quality of life (in a way that will be sustained after the volunteer leaves), or an activity that raises the professional skills of local people so they are better able to administer and manage their own local projects and institutions.

  For instance, teaching an entire department to use a new, complicated database program, teaching motorcycle or tractor repair, training nurses aides, training staff in new accounting standards and best practices, training local government workers in setting policies and procedures for purchasing, training training in tailoring and sewing, teaching elderly people to use the Internet to find information they need (government pension, health, etc.), teaching a community or families about caring for people with HIV/AIDS, teaching children about good sanitary practices or peaceful conflict resolution, teaching adults to read, teaching farmers how to fight pests organically, training teachers to implement a particular teaching tool, etc.

• experience helping or directing a large-scale, highly-specialized local community-transformation projects, such as building a canal, putting all local government public documents into a searchable database, creating a grocery cooperative or farmer's cooperative or artists' cooperative, starting and/or expanding a community technology center, etc.

• experience working with people who are traditionally socially-excluded, such as immigrants, refugees, people with disabilities, people with HIV/AIDS, prisoners, people with low literacy skills, etc. Or, other specific populations who may have special needs, such as women, children or the elderly.

• experience managing or facilitating a capacity-building program, such as a literacy project, or an income-generating program, like a farmer's cooperative, or a training of trainers program.

• experience starting or managing a micro-enterprise that grew into a stable small business, and employed low-skilled people, building up their skills and granting them stable employment.

• experience in high stress, crisis situations, such as a disaster or a conflict situation.

• any experience teaching any subject on a high school, college or university level.

• experience working in another language. For instance, not just that you took two years of high school Spanish, but that you have traveled extensively in Spanish-speaking countries, or that you use at least some Spanish in your job. Language skills most in demand in aid and development? French (by far the most sought-after, IMO), Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, and Farsi/Dari/Tajik, as well as any local language of a particular region in a developing country. More about languages later in this page.

• demonstrated ability to work effectively under pressure and in a highly political environment.

• demonstrated ability to navigate and work with large bureaucracies.

• strong interpersonal skills and cross-cultural sensitivity.

• extensive experience in making presentations and conducting workshops, particularly to diverse or non-traditional audiences.

Having a demonstrated understanding of cross-cutting issues is key. You cannot understand every subject, but focusing on a cluster of areas can build your profile to work, eventually, overseas. For instance, do you understand how, in a water and sanitation project to build a well in a community, an in-depth understanding of gender dynamics in that area and the work of women, and how they are viewed in society, is fundamental to that project's success? Or, if you are focused on a food distribution network after a disaster that religious or cultural differences in a community may affect the success of the project in reaching everyone?

A lot of the experience you need to have a career in international development you would get only through a university degree and on-the-job over many years (three years is not many). Some of the experience and skills can be explored or enhanced via online courses of a few weeks, such as the online courses for humanitarian workers listed at ReliefWeb. But much of the skills you need can also be gained or enhanced locally, right in your own city, by volunteering. For instance:

• volunteering or working for a few years at local nonprofit organizations that serves high poverty areas, people with disabilities, youth, the elderly, abused women, women re-entering the work force, refugees, immigrants, etc.

• taking emergency response courses and volunteering through the American Red Cross (or the Red Cross, Red Crescent Society or Magen David Adom in your local area); this is essential if you want a chance to participate in disaster relief efforts.

• volunteering or working for organizations that help people with HIV/AIDS, or that educate people about HIV/AIDS.

• volunteering or working in a hospice, particularly one that serves people with HIV/AIDS or cancer patients.

• volunteering or working for organizations that provide health-related education, advocacy or care.

• volunteering or working in a literacy program, not only in helping people learn to read, but also helping with the administration of the program and promotion of such a program to low-literate and semi-literate communities

• volunteering or working at a job-training organization or initiative.

• volunteering your business management skills, to help people starting or running small businesses / micro enterprises, to help people building businesses in high-poverty areas, and to help people entering or re-entering the work force.

• volunteering or working as part of a voter-education initiative or local election.

• volunteering in a leadership role at a public Internet access point, like recruiting, scheduling, training and supervising the volunteers who maintain your local library's computers.

• volunteering as a firefighter, and receiving training in specialist areas, like hazardous material cleanup.

• volunteering or working as part of an advocacy effort, such as advocating for recycling, women's rights, indigenous rights, immigrant rights, environmental regulation or education reform, particularly in a highly-political environment.

• volunteering or working at an organization focused on micro-financing and financial education for people from low-income communities, immigrants/migrants, people who are exploited by for-profit banks, check-cashing businesses, payday loan companies and other predatory lenders, etc.

• helping in any initiative that is focused on at-risk young people, and develops positive, worthwhile activities for the youth to engage in

• volunteering with any organization that helps kids, senior citizens or people with disabilities access sports, the outdoors or the arts.

• volunteering as a counselor at a domestic violence shelter

• volunteer with any initiative that manages a local watershed, a wetlands area or other natural area, or with programs with your state fish and wildlife department

• volunteer with a group that not only helps unwanted or stray dogs and cats, but also works to encourage people to spay and neuter their pets and to treat their pets humanely (such as NEVER leaving an animal in a yard on a chain)

• volunteer with various group volunteering events and become experienced enough to lead one yourself, or even to create one yourself, such as creating an IT-related group volunteering activity

• volunteering online - virtual volunteering - with organizations focused on the developing world. 
  

For citizens of the USA: AmeriCorps VISTA is the American national service program designed specifically to fight poverty. VISTA members commit to serve full-time for a year at a nonprofit organization or local government agency, working to fight illiteracy, improve health services, create businesses, strengthen community groups, and much more. A year or two of VISTA service would give you skills and experience that could help get an employer's attention for working abroad. During your service, you receive a modest living allowance, health care, and other benefits. Upon completing your service, you can choose to receive either a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award or post-service stipend. You might also want to look into AmeriCorps.

You can also look for non-university-level classes (and, therefore, much more affordable than university classes) that could help build skills you would need in the field. For instance, in Portland, Oregon, the YWCA has a class in advocating for people who have experienced domestic violence. There a nonprofits and government agencies that have workshops and classes regarding understanding oppression, sexism, transgender children and youth, teen dating violence, dynamics of poverty, dynamics of batterers, sexual assault dynamics, and safety planning, crisis intervention, advocacy skills. Taking any of these classes would look great on your CV. You find these by taking the time to look at web sites of nonprofits and government agencies that address these issues. 

There are also MANY free (or inexpensive) online courses covering specific themes e.g. project management, MEAL, WASH, security risk management, gender etc. Completing these courses will give you a lot of practical knowledge you need for work abroad and listing the completion of such on your CV does make a difference to potential emplowers:

• The Open University Open Learn (I highly recommend these)

• DisasterReady.Org: Humanitarian and development topics, including safety and security

• A variety of topics for humanitarians: kayaconnect.org

• Red Cross Red Crescent Learning platform

• A collection of free human rights courses from humanrightscareers.com/courses

• The Peace Operations Training Institute provides globally accessible self-paced online, on-demand courses on peace support, humanitarian relief, and security operations at little to no cost

• Resources on stress, resilience and humanitarian work: https://headington-institute.org/overview.

• Coursera - tertiary-level short academic and professional development courses.

Again, if you list something on your CV, it must be honest; do NOT embellish your skills or experience. And remember that a liberal arts degree DOES give you skills for humanitarian work!

I've said a few times that there is NOT a magic degree guaranteed to get work with the UN or another INGO. And I've noted that most UN agencies and other INGOs want specialists, not generalists. The best thing to study in your undergrad and master's depends entirely on what you want to do as a UN employee. That said, if you want to be in diplomatic-type positions at the UN, where you do a lot of negotiation and foreign policy research and commentary, etc., where you are in offices more than in the field, where you oversee those field workers, there is a Master's in Global Affairs at NYU that offers several specializations including in the United Nations. The United Nations specialization provides a focus on the operations of the UN, as well as the contemporary challenges it faces, preparing students for a career within the UN system in tandem with their chosen concentration. Students learn practical skills such as policy writing and negotiations, and global mediation. In addition, they gain field experience by working with UN agencies on real-world issues.

Languages

Even if you are a native English speaker, how good are your written and verbal skills? Not only does your CV have to impeccable, with perfect spelling and English, your emails must be as well.

As noted earlier, if a job posting says, "Fluency in French", then they want applicants who can do the job interview in French, not someone who has had a few years of French classes. If the job posting says, "ability to work in French" (or another language), you can expect at least a bit of your interview to be in that language. In either case, you should have a CV in that language that's asked for, to prove your language abilities. In addition, become certified in your second language by the official language body, such as DELE for Spanish.

Language skills most in demand in aid and development? French (by far the most sought-after, IMO), Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, and Farsi/Dari/Tajik, as well as any local language of a particular region in a developing country. That means being able to work in Chinese, Hindi, or local tribal languages also increase your chance of landing a job abroad. I found that most people I encountered in Eastern Europe spoke German, so that's a great second language to have as well. Even if your second language is not something that is in high demand among humanitarian groups (Japanese, Italian, Catalan, Flemish), having any second language listed on your CV says to a potential employer that you can function outside your native comfort zone. Spanish is helpful, but note that, if you aren't a native Spanish speaker, you are going to be competing with highly-trained, very-experienced Spanish native speakers for jobs in Spanish-speaking countries.

It's never too late to pursue a second language or improve your language skills. Take intensive language courses and seek local opportunities to use your language skills.

Your CV

Your CV needs to be explicit about your experience. Just because you worked at an immigration support center, for instance, don't assume multicultural experience is implied; spell it out! Just because you have worked as a firefighter, don't assume emergency response experience is assumed; SAY IT.

If you want a job that requires providing policy and technical guidance, spell out when you have done this. If the job you want is to develop, coordinate, implement, monitor and evaluate anything, show when you have done this, explicitly; agencies don't want to know you can do it, and they won't assume you can do it unless they can see on your CV that you have done it.

As was stated earlier: if the job posting says candidates who have set up HIV/AIDS education programs for teens are what's wanted, then you had better have your experience setting up such a program in your CV. If the program says you have to manage a staff, your CV needs to note when you have managed a staff. If they job posting says, "A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in human rights, political affairs, international relations, development, economics, program management or related area," they really mean that!

Emphasize when you have facilitated inter-agency collaboration and decision-making, when you have successfully navigated or mobilized a bureaucracy, provided leadership and supervision, motivated team members and supported organizational or project excellence.

Use action-verbs and results-oriented-verbs to describe your volunteer and professional accomplishments. If you go to archive.org and cut and paste this exact web address into the search bar:
http://nonprofitprofessionals.com/library/action_verbs.htm
and then, when you get the results, click on the version of that web site for March 2013, you will see an excellent, very long list of action verbs relevant to describing most middle to senior level management jobs.

For an idea on what is looked for in international work, have a look at the job postings on ReliefWeb.

Look at the wording of a job you want; can you find that same wording in your CV?

Also see this free Résumé & Curriculum Vitae (CV) Advice for people looking to work in aid, relief and development.

But Are You Really Ready?

One thing your CV won't always reflect, but which you will also need to work internationally, is a very stable emotional and financial state. If you find yourself easily frustrated or having trouble dealing with stress, daily activities or people you view as uncooperative, if you are feeling overwhelmed or depressed, if you find yourself saying "I don't have time to do this or that because of my children or my spouse or my parents," or if you are facing financial problems and debt, working abroad with the UN or another international agency is not something you should consider right now. Even if you are not going to be in a low-infrastructure environment for your work (for instance, say you will be based in Geneva rather than Kabul), work at an agency dealing with humanitarian and development issues is dynamic and often highly stressful. You may not be dealing with a conflict situation or disaster in your physical location, but you will be dealing with people who do regularly, and can't get away from it by going home at the end of the day.

There are very few short-term assignments out there (six months or less). If you want to work abroad, be prepared for at least a year commitment.

Another thing your CV won't reflect, but which you will also need to work internationally, is a knowledge of current international events and the context in which those events are happening. You don't have to have a PhD in history or international relations, and you don't have to know absolutely everything about, say, the entire continent of Africa, but you do have to be up on the latest conflicts and crises. And there's an easy way to get up-to-speed: spend at least three hours a week listening to or watching international news. For instance, spend at least an hour or two watching Al-Jazeera, another hour or two watching or listening to BBC News World Service Radio, and another hour or two watching CNN International (make sure it's the international version, not the USA version!). Just 30 minutes a day, six days a week, will get you up-to-date - and this knowledge will help you write appropriate cover letters and, hopefully, do well in an interview.

Networking

A key to finding a job in ANY profession is networking: meeting people who can influence hiring decisions where you want to work, and will better ensure your candidacy is better ensured. You want these people to know you and what your areas of specialization are. However, note that there's absolutely no guarantee that meeting someone at an organization, even the CEO, will land you a job there.

Networking is a long-term strategy. It takes months, even years, not days or weeks. Networking also involves building your professional reputation, so that when connected people hear your name, they know who you are, or when connected people look you up on the Internet, they easily find information that affirms your expertise.

Ways to network:

• Create a LinkedIn profile and make sure it is complete and up-to-date. Then link to people you have worked, volunteered and studied with over the years.

• Make sure all of your colleagues from your international experiences know you are looking for work abroad and are ready to forward your LinkedIn profile to their colleagues.

• Have business cards. These should have at least your full name, your phone number and your email address. Something else, such as a title or a professional focus, is good too. But not too much "clutter"!

• Look for public events in your immediate area where there is a potential for you to meet people who work in international aid and development. These can be conferences, workshops, lectures and open houses. Don't just walk in, hand around business cards and walk out. Talk to people, listen to the program, discuss with attendees what you are hearing and seeing, and be there primarily as a professional colleague, NOT as someone desperate to work.

• Look for online communities on LinkedIn and Reddit and other fora that are focused on areas you specialize in (human rights, HIV/AIDS education, women's issues, etc.). Read the posts, compliment posts you agree with, ask your own questions, and note your own resources that you think might be helpful and are easily available.

• Participate in online events by UN organizations focused on areas you want to specialize in (human rights, HIV/AIDS education, women's issues, etc.). These are usually text-based, and you find them by subscribing to the email newsletters or RSS feeds of various UN agencies. Read the posts, compliment posts you agree with, ask your own questions, and note your own resources that you think might be helpful and are easily available. Make sure your signature on all posts link to your LinkedIn profile, your professional web site or your blog.

• Consider creating a blog and using it to promote your areas of expertise, by linking to UN resources and events you come across, by talking about your own experience in that particular area, etc. Post about it on places like LinkedIn and online communities focused on your area of expertise.

• When you come across a fantastic report or resource written by someone at the UN, find that person's email, write them and say, "Wow, that's a fantastic report, etc." That's a great way to meet people from the UN -- lauding them for their work. Be sincere. Write as a professional colleague; do NOT mention that you are looking for work, but feel free to encourage them to read your LinkedIn profile, your web site or blog to learn more about you.
• Join your nearest United Nations Association chapter and or your local World Affairs Council chapter., and follow them online (Facebook, Twitter, email newsletter, etc.). Go to events whenever possible - chapters have lectures and events that will both educate you about humanitarian and development issues and bring you in contact with people working in such.

Internships

Some international humanitarian organizations and local NGOs will host unpaid interns to work in their offices for three-to-six months. Some have official programs, like these listed at this web page listing Humanitarian and Developmental Internships. Far more agencies have no official internship program, but may be willing to host an unpaid intern.

Internships can be great ways to get work experience on your CV. They can be great ways to network with humanitarian professionals and to learn firsthand about how agencies coordinate humanitarian and development efforts. Note the words can be. Internships can also be exercises in frustration, if the person in charge of the internship is not focused on giving the intern a quality learning experience.

When looking for an internship:

• Write in your introduction letter that you are looking for an internship for at least three months, and no more than six months.
• Be clear if you are looking only for paid internships, or if you would be willing to take an unpaid internship.
• Say by what date you could start if you are accepted as an intern.
• Be clear that you understand you are responsible for your own accommodation, both to find it and to pay for it.
• Say what you want to do as an intern. What department do you want to work in? What type of work are you hoping to do? What kind of activities are you hoping to learn?
• Emphasize the skills and experience you have that the organization might find valuable.
• How many hours a week can you provide? You will need to give at least 20, but no more than 40.
• Do not say you will do anything the organization wants you to, how you will work more than 40 hours a week, more than eight hours a day, for more than six months, etc. In short, don't sound desperate, and don't degrade yourself.
• Do not say that you hope the internship will lead to paid employment at the organization.

• how he or she thinks you might benefit from this internship
• with whom you will work if you get this internship (just one person? several people?)
• if you will get to sit in on staff meetings,
• if you will get to shadow a person during his or her meetings over the course of a day,
• if you will get to get to undertake a project, however small, from start to finish, so that you have an accomplishment to put on your CV
• if they have had interns before and if those interns had a positive experience

Applying for Jobs

The more jobs you apply for, the less time you have to spend on each application. The more jobs you apply for, the weaker each application. In addition, some UN agency HR offices black list frequent job seekers (someone who applies for most every job posting at a duty station). Only apply for jobs where you have a chance, where you meet at least most of the criteria for the job.

Make sure the cover letter does exactly what is asked for. Usually this means saying how your skills and experience match their requirements, and since each job has different requirements, it means EACH cover letter must be different. Keep the letter as short as possible and address the job requirements specifically. One page is nearly always enough for a cover letter. Avoid emotion in your cover letter; if you write something like “I want to use my skills to help people, to make the world a better place” I would not interview you. When you write a sentence think how it would be in the opposite. “I don’t want to use my skills to help people and I want to make the world a worse place.” If the opposite sounds silly, then you are not communicating well.

Do you know what your competencies - your core skills and attributes - are and how to sell them? Are you thinking about them and presenting them in a different way for each application, since each job is unique? What key words are you using to describe yourself and your skills?

Some people try to imply in their applications that because they want to work for an aid agency and because they care and have good hearts, they should be given a job. It really isn’t like that. As one of the authors of this document said, "If I had to choose between a person who cares passionately about poverty etc but is not focused and doesn’t present well and a person who can get a job done dispassionately, without being very concerned about he bigger picture I would nearly always choose the latter." Work hard on selling your skills and abilities, not your desire to help.

Also see:

Starting a Career in International Development, from Development Ex

humanitarianjobs.info, a blog "about getting your first job as a humanitarian aid worker."

Also see: ICT4D Jobs and Career Forum, a series of resources and discussion forum.


Résumé & Curriculum Vitae (CV) Advice: for people looking to work in aid, relief and development (this is from me).


Exactly what it looks like when I offer CV advice to an aspiring humanitarian aid worker (this is from me).


Is it really *impossible* to break into humanitarian work? (this is from me)

Want to work internationally? Get involved locally. (this is from me)

Abilities you need to work in humanitarian development successfully. (this is from me)

Jayne, how did you get to work for the UN?!. 

I keep applying and I'm not getting hired!

I hear and read this comment a lot. There are many people sending CVs and applications for humanitarian jobs they feel they are qualified for and they don't get chosen to be interviewed, and they become angry and feel like the system is "rigged" - that's why they aren't getting interviewed.

I have been a part of many committees and panels to review résumés or interview candidates for a variety of jobs, including at the United Nations. I have also been told a few times why I got passed over for a job. And all of the reasons I’ve heard first hand about why someone, including myself, aren’t going to be interviewed run counter so many things we hear regularly about job hunting, like It’s easier to get a job when you already have one (this has never been my experience) or you have to know someone at the UN to get a job there (all three of my jobs at the UN came without already knowing anyone at any of the agencies where I was hired). Yes, luck and good connections can have a lot to do with finding a job, and knowing someone at a company you want to work for can absolutely help you get a job. But don’t assume that that’s why most people get hired.

Here might be why you are getting passed over for humanitarian jobs.

Books

Hoping to Help: The Promises and Pitfalls of Global Health Volunteering (The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work) 

The Insider's Guide to the Peace Corps: What to Know Before You Go

Alternatives to the Peace Corps: A Guide to Global Volunteer Opportunities, 12th Edition

Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others

The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life

Volunteer: A Traveler's Guide to Making a Difference Around the World (Lonely Planet)

Exploring Leadership: For College Students Who Want to Make a Difference 

The Most Good You Can Do

Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism 

Jobs Web Sites

These are web sites many aid and development workers use to get jobs at the UN and other agencies - including me. Many of these web sites require you to fill in an online profile, and it takes a long time to do it - but it's worth it if you are serious about working abroad.

ReliefWeb is a favorite among aid and humanitarian workers, and a favorite UN recruitment tool -- as well as a favorite of other agencies looking to recruits.

Dev Ex is a very popular site for senior management and high-level jobs.

Development Aid is another popular site for management-level jobs, as well as paid internships.

Devnetjobs lists jobs and consultancies in the international development, NGO and environment sectors.

The Eldis gateway of development information lists jobs.

InterAction job board. InterAction is an alliance of US-based international development and humanitarian NGOs.

USAID jobs - for USA citizens only.

Global Affairs Canada jobs (formerly Canadian International Development Agency - CIDA).

The Economist newspaper (www.economist.com) includes senior jobs in relief and development organisations (not only for economists).  The UK's Guardian newspaper, at jobs.guardian.co.uk, also frequently lists humanitarian vacancies in its jobs section.

List of 41 websites with International jobs in Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid.

CV Consulting Service
I have screened résumés and served on hiring committees for a variety of aid, relief and development agencies and nonprofits, and with this experience, I have helped many professionals, from people just getting started to seasoned professionals, to improve their résumés and overall presentation, with excellent results. I can use this background to help improve your résumé - for a fee. Using your answers to a variety of questions, a review of your current résumé, and a review of the jobs you feel you are qualified for, I can work with you to greatly improve your résumé -- and, ultimately, improve your chances of being hired.

Details on ethical volunteering abroad (volunteering internationally).

12 Reasons Not to Volunteer Abroad
These are the most common reasons people say they want to volunteer abroad. And they are not good reasons. In fact, they often hurt people and animals in other countries, rather than helping.

Volunteering with organizations that help animals and wildlife.

Using Your Business Skills for Good - Volunteering Your Business Management Skills, to help people starting or running small businesses / micro enterprises, to help people building businesses in high-poverty areas, and to help people entering or re-entering the work force.

Packing Advice For First-Time Humanitarians & Aid Workers
What you should pack before you head out on your first mission trip.


Ideas for Funding Your Volunteering Abroad Trip.

Volunteering To Help After Major Disasters.

How to Make a Difference Internationally/Globally/in Another Country Without Going Abroad

Tips for Long-Term Unemployed People Seeking Jobs, Older Job Seekers and For Those Just Starting Out

How to Find Volunteering Opportunities, a resource for adults who want to volunteer

Careers Working With Animals (for the benefit of animals)

For Teens: Finding Community Service and Volunteering

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  Quick Links 

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Home page for those that want to help
 
Home page for this entire web site, coyotebroad.com / coyotecommunications.com
 
my consulting services  &  my workshops & presentations
 
my credentials & expertise
 
My research projects
 
My book: The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook

contact me   or   see my schedule
 
Jayne's Amazon Wishlist
 

Follow me on social media:

                     

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© 2010-2023 by Jayne Cravens, all rights reserved. No part of this material can be reproduced in print or in electronic form without express written permission by Jayne Cravens.

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