How to network for a United Nations job?

Part I: What is networking and how does it work?

What is networking?

“Networking” is the action or process of interacting with others with the aim to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts.

It’s important to understand that networking is more than exchanging of information with others but about establishing and nurturing long-term, ideally mutually beneficial relationships.

Networking is NOT about begging for favours and/or about selfishly looking after your own interests and pursuing your own agenda.

The key word is ‘exchange’; effective networking is a two-way process! And effective networkers are more likely to be offered opportunities!

What is effective networking?

Networking sometimes has negative connotations ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ and ‘the old boys’ network’ or you may have a picture of someone forcing a business card into people’s hands or bombarding people with self-promotion emails; and these are indeed methods to avoid.

Effective networking starts with thinking about the needs of other person rather than selfishly pursuing your own agenda. Its about thinking what YOU have to offer others, active listening, and sometimes going outside your comfort zone. Its therefore vital to ask yourself beforehand what you want from the relationship and the person you plan to reach out to. This is also important as effective networking requires you to be generous with your time and attention and to stay in touch and regularly nurture those connections. You don’t have to network with everyone. Rather, first research how you can contribute to your new connection’s success and how you can benefit from their knowledge. The difficulty here is that until you actually establish a relationship with another person, it is not always clear and obvious how you can mutually benefit from each other.

The long-term goal is not only trading information, but to create long-term relationships with mutual benefits. 

Is there a cultural difference when it comes to networking around the world?

In the US, the concept of networking is not new at all; most universities actually encourage students to network during their studies. In other countries however the importance of networking seems to be underestimated. Naturally, once you are out of school or university, you learn very quickly that knowing the right people often improves your chances of getting a job or starting a career; especially in a sector like the United Nations that is so mysterious and gives so little insights. One often hears that its not possible to get a job with the UN without networking but isn’t it somehow essential to network for any dream career role, regardless of the sector?

A lot of people will be surprised to hear that even when you are in the UN and you are looking to advance within your own UN organization or another UN agency, you will regularly have to make an effort to meet new people and network.

That’s why accepting an internship with the UN, often works so well in actually landing a job with the UN. There are various events, intern groups, and opportunities to meet fellow interns and UN professionals you can interact with. You can use the time to find out about internal vacancies and areas you are interested in, learn more about them and ask your supervisor to introduce yourself or recommend you for vacancies. By doing so you build your own network within the United Nations.

Interested to learn more? Have a look at all our services or get in touch with one of our professional UN insiders. Our UCC expert UN insider advice is available to everybody.

Part II of this ‘networking’ blog series will focus on the purpose of networking and why networking is so important for a successful career and your career development.