International work experience matters: Reflections on the UN internship
Back in 2010, I interned at the United Nations for three months. This experience still creates opportunity today.
Working at the chief institution for peace and internationalism is an oft-quoted goal of many young idealistic people. A part time idealist myself, I got to experience the reality of this, albeit on a smaller scale than say Kofi Annan.
About seven years ago now while I was studying my Master of International Studies, I journeyed from Brisbane Australia to New York City to take up an intern sport at United Nations (“UN”) headquarters. This global mobility experience has altered my life for the better.
What follows is a reflective discussion of my own experience working at the United Nations and how it has changed my professional life.
Some background
I was two ways through my postgraduate studies when the email landed in my inbox. After a months-long process of applications and interviews, I’d been offered an intern position in the Integrated Training Services within the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the UN in New York.
A month after signing the formal offer, I was on a plane, leaving the oppressive heat of the Australian summer for the freezing New York winter.
At the time, you might say I was a cockeyed optimist, looking to be mixed up in the high stakes games of world diplomacy and international intrigue. The reality ended up being much different. Rather than solving the worlds security problems, the UN engaged my skills in information technology and communications to help build an application platform for training UN peacekeepers deployed all over the globe.
Yes, my internship was more administrative work than anything else, but it wasn’t boring and I got to work with some a truly multicultural team, with people from every nook and cranny of the globe working side by side.
I recall working beside a friendly Chinese colleague with building some simple databases to track financials. He would turn up every day in full military garb and later I found out he was a top-ranking army officer doing an offshore stint at the UN. Such diversity in both culture and profession was commonplace at the United Nations.
It wasn’t all administrative work though. I did get to go attend some really interesting things. My fellow interns and I got to sit in on Security Council debates and make regular visits to state missions to talk with high-level diplomats.
I was also lucky enough to help edit and publish the UN internship newsletter and well as run one of the various committees that organised social events for my fellow interns. Also a very multicultural group, the interns would regularly do things like attend ice-skating in Central park, head to rock’n’roll karaoke at Arlene’s Grocery, and even attend mid-morning screenings of English premier league matches in midtown Manhattan.
The internship program was an incredibly enjoyable tapestry of work and social experience, but in many ways its value was only realised after I’d returned to Australia.
Building unique selling points
A few years back, a good friend of mine who happened to be a HR expert was kind enough to review my CV.
“Darragh, you MUST place the fact that you worked at the United Nations in the very first line of your resume!”
“But, it was only an internship and I was only there for a relatively short time”, I responded.
“You do not understand Darragh, this is a key selling point. This is the way you differentiate yourself from other candidates.”
My friend was 100% right (thanks Jo!). I got the job I was applying for, and I’d like to think that my UN experience increased the likelihood of me getting an interview. I realise now that the long-term value of my overseas experience was not really the work experience I developed from turning up every day.
Rather, the value of this experience was that it enabled me to take advantage of the brand-power of the United Nations. I increased my attractiveness to potential employers simply by being associated with such a well-known and respected international organisation.
People recognise that where you work can be prestigious even if they have little direct knowledge of the actual work you do there. Have a quick think, how many people do you know who may have at one stage expressed a desire to work at the United Nations? I guarantee at least one, if not many more.
In many ways, it was as if Ban-Ki Moon himself rubber-stamped my CV.
Be strategic about such experiences, and if you get the chance to build your own unique selling point via work experience with a well-known institution or business, you really should consider it seriously.
The making of a global graduate.
The labour market is increasingly demanding highly-skilled graduates with a global perspective. Rob Lawrence from Prospect Marketing and Research wrote back in 2014:
“Employers are no longer restricting their focus to local, but global. So, employers will not only expect, they will demand something extra, that something which makes students stand-alone as globally networked global ambassadors, who are all global citizens.” (http://www.ieaa.org.au/documents/item/322, p 1)
My time at the United Nations did exactly this. It defined me as a global citizen.
My background is IT with a bit of history and international political thrown in for good measure. I currently work in international education specialising in data analytics.
But my time at the UN showed all my subsequent supervisors and colleagues that I’m not simply an IT graduate looking for a pay check in an industry that typically doesn’t employ many IT people. It flags me as a data-nerd who has a genuine interest in how the world operates.
Being a graduate with a global perspective and the experience to back it up is usually valued in the labour market. Everyone should consider about doing a stint overseas in an appropriate field or institution to improve your employability.
Global mobility creates networks.
In June 2016, I flew to Europe for a long overdue holiday. I was to attend various weddings of families and friends and even managed to pop over to France to catch the first few stages of the Tour De France.
But, I also spent a glorious week travelling through Malta with a couple of top-quality human beings, two over which were my best buddies from my UN internship programs.
I was still travelling the globe and hanging out with people I worked alongside seven years earlier in New York. This wasn’t the first time either.
I’d trekked the jungles of Malaysia and climbed remote volcanoes in Indonesia with UN internship pals. I’ve had former interns stay at my house in Brisbane, Australia while they’ve bene passing through. Hell, I even went to the wedding of one of my intern friends in a castle in Wales!
And it’s not just me. I see many of my former intern colleagues regularly catching up in weird and wonderful places around the world. The bonds formed through these shared global experiences are probably the most valuable gift the UN internship programme gave me.
And many of my former internship colleagues are now kicking some seriously impressive goals in their post-UN careers.
For example, one works at Associated Press as an up and coming specialist in the field of artificial intelligence and journalism. Other is a human rights lawyer in the Netherlands. Another finished his PhD at Cambridge not long after the internship and is now kicking goals in the field of international development*. A few others work in revolutionary tech start-ups in the US and throughout Europe while some stayed at the UN to continue the vital work of this iconic international institution.
These are global graduate, gaining career capital in their respective fields and likely to be future leaders in some way, shape or form (if they’re not already).
And some I haven’t spoken to since my internship, but they’re still a network I can learn from or even lean on from time to time, even if it’s only for inspiration.
This is the power of doing a global mobility experience, it creates long-lasting networks that in turn deepen and improve one’s own personal development.
***
Back in 2010, Australian university postgraduate coursework students undertaking overseas experiences seemed a relatively rare occurrence. Nowadays, it’s becoming more commonplace with both institutions and students alike realising the value of global mobility and its correlation to future employability.
Reflecting on my own experience as an intern at the United Nations, I can say that not only has it proved insanely valuable to advancing my professional career, it was also a cherished turning point in my career as a human being.
If such an opportunity appears before you, for goodness sake, grab it and go.
By the way, back in 2010, I wrote a UN Internship F.A.Q. It’s likely out of date, but you can read it here.
Feel free to drop me a line via twitter if you want to discuss, or comment below.
* Unlike the football team he supports :-D
