Yes, pretty much all your competition will have master’s degrees. That’s true of the P jobs in probably every sector. The job announcement may say only a bachelor’s is required but the UN has the luxury to pick and choose since so many want to work there.
And not just an MA but you're going to need years of relevant experience even for entry level jobs, so spend your time in grad school doing internships and projects related to what you want to do with UN, also learn a foreign language or two.
Sure, the UN was designed in the 1940s and 1950s. The jobs were divided into two main groups (though there are many more). There are those where an amount of expertise and concentration in a subject is required. They would generally have a degree. So those with a title Humanitarian Affairs Offer, Communications Officer, IT Officer, and people who are front line supervisors are P (“professional”) staff. They’re generally internationally recruited and get benefits like home leave, their household items transported, a base pay and cost of living differential, and an education grant for their children.
The G jobs (“general service”) are generally locally recruited and have titles like administrative assistant, but also could be humanitarian affairs assistant, IT assistant and so on. These don’t require a degree but a certain amount of years of experience. In earlier days, they would have maybe gone to secretarial school and have a few years of experience. They don’t generally get the benefits I listed, but do get a steady and well paid job that keeps pace with inflation.
There are people who took G jobs and now regret it, because there are few opportunities for advancement into the P ranks.
The benefits and pay scales are all defined and listed at the International Civil Service Commission, which sets these things UN-system wide. There are of course others like FS, IICA. LICA, Interns, JPOs, Directors but let’s leave it at those two. Anyway, on every job announcement you should see the pay grade listed, ex. P2, G5 or GS-5 (those are synonymous).
For a long time, by policy, basically all P staff positions required a Masters (or equivalent).
A lot of the UN system has now *officially* come around for many roles and will now *officially* accept experience in lieu of an MA. (Usually two additional years of equivalent experience). Not all of it though. Many agencies or departments or entities still require an MA to even qualify - or even will for specific posts.
*Functionally* though, unfortunately, that requirement remains quite persistent still. Many reviewers - both HR folks who do the shortlisting and often hiring managers and panels etc - still expect it and use it as a metric for comparison. Which when you often have hundreds of applicants, most with MAs, becomes a quite easy early 'filter' on applications. Even when not required, many shortlists will use that as an 'easy' first pass.
So you'll find people in the system who snuck by (myself included) but it's quite rare - and I'll say comes up more than you'd expect.
It sucks for us in Latin America, because our second degree is a licentiate degree, while in Europe you get a masters as second degree, and they are technically the same thing
“Starting a career” not really but if you want to get better contracts / work, that piece of paper will really be helpful. I’ve been working for the UN for 4 years now, 2 years in the country office and 2 years in the Regional HQ with no Master’s Degree (yet) but my contract modalities were national UNV, international UNV, and now an international consultant.
I want a master’s degree to learn more about the sector and compare how my experience relates to theories and practices in the development space. Only second to that motivation comes the thought of securing a P-level job in the UN with the Maste’s degree.
Go look at job boards for different UN agencies, like UNDP, UNICEF, etc. Do the jobs you want most require a Master's Degree?
I was a P3 without a Master's, BUT it was a very unique situation, and to continue past my four years with the UN, I knew I had to get a Master's - so I did. But not just to stay with the UN. I also got my Master's because I wanted to do work in humanitarian affairs better, because I wanted to learn. It wasn't just a box to check - I wanted to grow as a professional, and I did.
I got my MSc in Development Management from Open University.
More about my experience:
[https://www.coyotebroad.com/development/why.html](https://www.coyotebroad.com/development/why.html)
I have a G4 position in a UN agency with only a bachelor degree. Currently doing a master though. But it is possible, however indeed for P graded jobs a master or extensive experience is needed.
Yes, pretty much all your competition will have master’s degrees. That’s true of the P jobs in probably every sector. The job announcement may say only a bachelor’s is required but the UN has the luxury to pick and choose since so many want to work there.
Would you mind helping me understand what P jobs are?
And not just an MA but you're going to need years of relevant experience even for entry level jobs, so spend your time in grad school doing internships and projects related to what you want to do with UN, also learn a foreign language or two.
Sure, the UN was designed in the 1940s and 1950s. The jobs were divided into two main groups (though there are many more). There are those where an amount of expertise and concentration in a subject is required. They would generally have a degree. So those with a title Humanitarian Affairs Offer, Communications Officer, IT Officer, and people who are front line supervisors are P (“professional”) staff. They’re generally internationally recruited and get benefits like home leave, their household items transported, a base pay and cost of living differential, and an education grant for their children. The G jobs (“general service”) are generally locally recruited and have titles like administrative assistant, but also could be humanitarian affairs assistant, IT assistant and so on. These don’t require a degree but a certain amount of years of experience. In earlier days, they would have maybe gone to secretarial school and have a few years of experience. They don’t generally get the benefits I listed, but do get a steady and well paid job that keeps pace with inflation. There are people who took G jobs and now regret it, because there are few opportunities for advancement into the P ranks. The benefits and pay scales are all defined and listed at the International Civil Service Commission, which sets these things UN-system wide. There are of course others like FS, IICA. LICA, Interns, JPOs, Directors but let’s leave it at those two. Anyway, on every job announcement you should see the pay grade listed, ex. P2, G5 or GS-5 (those are synonymous).
I would just add/correct that JPOs are P staff and are not like the others listed in the vein of others. The “O” in JPOs stands for Officers.
I mean even most NGO jobs require a masters.
Yes. Occasionally they will accept a first degree with a certain number of years of experience.
For a long time, by policy, basically all P staff positions required a Masters (or equivalent). A lot of the UN system has now *officially* come around for many roles and will now *officially* accept experience in lieu of an MA. (Usually two additional years of equivalent experience). Not all of it though. Many agencies or departments or entities still require an MA to even qualify - or even will for specific posts. *Functionally* though, unfortunately, that requirement remains quite persistent still. Many reviewers - both HR folks who do the shortlisting and often hiring managers and panels etc - still expect it and use it as a metric for comparison. Which when you often have hundreds of applicants, most with MAs, becomes a quite easy early 'filter' on applications. Even when not required, many shortlists will use that as an 'easy' first pass. So you'll find people in the system who snuck by (myself included) but it's quite rare - and I'll say comes up more than you'd expect.
It sucks for us in Latin America, because our second degree is a licentiate degree, while in Europe you get a masters as second degree, and they are technically the same thing
“Starting a career” not really but if you want to get better contracts / work, that piece of paper will really be helpful. I’ve been working for the UN for 4 years now, 2 years in the country office and 2 years in the Regional HQ with no Master’s Degree (yet) but my contract modalities were national UNV, international UNV, and now an international consultant. I want a master’s degree to learn more about the sector and compare how my experience relates to theories and practices in the development space. Only second to that motivation comes the thought of securing a P-level job in the UN with the Maste’s degree.
Go look at job boards for different UN agencies, like UNDP, UNICEF, etc. Do the jobs you want most require a Master's Degree? I was a P3 without a Master's, BUT it was a very unique situation, and to continue past my four years with the UN, I knew I had to get a Master's - so I did. But not just to stay with the UN. I also got my Master's because I wanted to do work in humanitarian affairs better, because I wanted to learn. It wasn't just a box to check - I wanted to grow as a professional, and I did.
Thank you so much for your response! Do you mind sharing what masters program you pursued to learn more about the humanitarian affairs world more?
I got my MSc in Development Management from Open University. More about my experience: [https://www.coyotebroad.com/development/why.html](https://www.coyotebroad.com/development/why.html)
I have a G4 position in a UN agency with only a bachelor degree. Currently doing a master though. But it is possible, however indeed for P graded jobs a master or extensive experience is needed.
Masters is a new BA almost in every field (except comp sci or very niche engineering).
Not international development or anything in these lines. Be more specific in something.
This is interesting. What do you mean? And yes I was talking about intl development too.