CAREER GUIDE for UNFPA Staff Members HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT YOUR NEXT CAREER MO
CAREER GUIDE for UNFPA Staff Members HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT YOUR NEXT CAREER MOVE? DO YOU NEED TO BROADEN OR UPDATE YOUR WORK EXPERIENCE? ARE YOU CONSIDERING ADDITIONAL TRAINING? ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT CHANGING JOBS? HAVE YOU BEEN IN YOUR POSITION FOR A LONG TIME? HAVE CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGED? IF SO, PLEASE REVIEW THE NEW… Talent Management Branch (TMB) Division for Human Resources (DHR) UNFPA | 2015 Project Manager: Jenny Pilling Content Expert: Nina Segal Graphic Designer: Jennifer Kakaletris Project Team: Annie Yang and Borui Xiaoyang Much of this is original and reflects specific information useful to UNFPA staff members, but the outline and some of the content has been adapted from work done by our agency colleagues. Thus, UNFPA would like to thank UNESCO, in particular, along with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operation’s (DPKO) Department of Field Support (DFS) and the United Nations Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) for sharing so generously their career materials. This document is the property of UNFPA and is intended for use only by UNFPA staff and only within the office. Although the information is not confidential, some of the content may be proprietary or privileged and must not be disclosed, distributed or copied it by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – to any third party without the prior written permission of UNFPA. Copyright © UNFPA, New York – 2015 Division for Human Resources All rights reserved PART II: CAREER MANAGEMENT TOOLKIT 19 1. Professional Networking and the Job Search 19 How to Begin 19 Create a Focus 19 The Art of Networking 19 Networking Dos and Don’ts 20 Virtual Networking 21 Staying on Track with your Job Search 21 2. Writing your CV and your Cover Letter 23 Introduction 23 CV or Résumé? 23 Making a First Impression 23 Tips for Written Applications 24 Specific Tips for UNFPA Staff Members 27 Cover(ing) Letters 27 References 28 3. Interviewing 29 Interviewing Tips 29 Preparing for an Interview 29 First Impressions 30 Competency-based Interviews 31 Other Interview Types and Follow-up Interview 33 Phone, Skype and Videoconference Interviews 33 Screening and Technology 34 Answering Interview Questions 34 CONTENTS Note to readers: If reading online, press “control” and drag and right click the cursor over the chapter, heading or appendix in question to be hyperlinked directly to the text. FOREWORD 1 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT 2 Delivering as One/UN Reform 3 Boundaryless Career 3 Overview of Career Development 4 Opportunities for Career Development at UNFPA 6 1. Know Yourself and Find Your Direction 10 Self Assessment 10 Professional Accomplishments 10 Skills and Abilities, Working Style 11 Work Values 11 Competencies and Career Development 11 Addressing Development Gaps 12 Reputation Management 12 UNFPA PAD – an opportunity to obtain feedback from supervisors and colleagues 12 2. Manager’s Role in Staff Career Development 14 The Critical Role of the Manager/Supervisor 14 Mentoring & Buddies 16 3. Career Plateaus 17 What is a Career Plateau? 17 Kinds of Career Plateaus 17 Strategies and Avoidance 18 90-Second Introduction 34 Frequently Asked Interview Questions and Suggested Responses 35 Ending the Interview and Debriefing 38 4. Job Offers 39 Decisions 39 Declining a Job Offer 39 Not Getting an Offer 39 Negotiations 39 5. Coping with Change 40 Job Loss/Abolished Posts/ Reprofiling Exercises 40 Create an Action Plan 41 Financial Planning 41 PART III: APPENDICES 43 Appendix 1: Self Assessment – Professional Accomplishments 43 Appendix 2: Self Assessment – Skills & Abilities 44 Appendix 3: Self Assessment – Working Style & Personal Attributes 48 Appendix 4: Self Assessment – Work Values 49 Appendix 5: Curriculum Vitae 50 Appendix 6: Tips for Written Application 52 Appendix 7: Action Verbs 53 Appendix 8: Questions to Ask the Interviewer 54 CAREER GUIDE FOR UNFPA STAFF MEMBERS | 1 Dear Colleagues, I invite you to explore the new UNFPA Career Guide, created specifically for UNFPA staff and managers. This Guide contains information, tips, and resources to help you think through a wide range of career management and career development topics. This publication is part of UNFPA’s Human Resources Strategy to nurture and retain our talent. The Career Guide also contains reflections from several UNFPA staff members, who generously provided their insights on career tools or strategies that proved useful for them, individually. I would like to express my appreciation for their candor, and time, as they shared their stories. As you may be aware, I have devoted the majority of my career to helping several UN organizations better recruit, retain, develop and manage their talent, and put coherent systems in place to support a skilled global workforce. What some of you may not know is my longstanding passion for helping individuals think through their career options in these complex and often changing organizations. As such, I speak regularly with staff members at all levels about their choices, strategies, and what drives them to do the work that they do. Through my experience, I have developed a holistic career model, which is shared on page 4; it encompasses the factors that I believe are critical to consider when checking the health of one’s career. I hope you will take a moment to study it, and I welcome any feedback that you might provide about its usefulness. The UN system is unique in the way careers can unfold and progress. That said, it is still subject to many of the same pressures that other public and private organizations face – financial, political, and macroeconomic, while trying to be “leaner” and do more with less, and manage a very diverse workforce. As UNFPA looks toward the future, particularly taking into account the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) development paradigm, there are a number of trends that are affecting whom we recruit and select as leaders. Several of them are mentioned at the beginning of this Guide, but each new emergency, economic crisis, or political decision has the power to create the need for a different skill set; this provides both career challenges and career opportunities for those of us working in the multilateral sector and it is incumbent upon us to stay “ahead of the curve” when it comes to managing our own careers. Finally, this Guide is a work in progress. It will be revisited in the future, and amended, to reflect some of the changes described above that are sure to continue to transform the work that we do – and, as a result, the talent that is needed. UNFPA would also like to hear from you, our staff, and gather additional stories about things that have helped you along the way. Feel free to contact me, or any member of the Talent Management Team, if you’d like to share yours. Wishing you all the best, Michael Emery Director, Human Resources FOREWORD CAREER GUIDE FOR UNFPA STAFF MEMBERS | 3 2 | CAREER GUIDE FOR UNFPA STAFF MEMBERS BOUNDARYLESS CAREER The concept of a boundaryless career arose in start-up organizations and those in emerging technologies, which tend to be “weak” environments where the employment situation is ambiguous, of limited duration and under-resourced. It resembles the environment in many international organizations, NGOs (project-based work, elections and humanitarian, in particular), and peacekeeping, where contracts are often short-term, mandates are defined for a set period, which may – or may not – be extended, and where the financing of posts is subject to short-term funding committed by Member States or other donors. Similar trends have taken place in the private sector after years of outsourcing, reorganization, re-engineering and other types of organizational reforms. The following characteristics describe boundary-less careers: ● Reliance on skills, knowledge and reputation rather than formal position or years of service to provide reference points for the career. ● Self-generated career plans reinforced through professional and social networks. ● Continuous learning through on-the-job training, formal education and networked relationships. ● Future goals planned around the redefinition of career interests. DELIVERING AS ONE/UN REFORM Current objectives are to “deliver as one” (DaO) and increase coherence among actors in the UN Common System (and even beyond). On the human resources front, changes that can be expected include: ● Efforts to speed up and improve recruitment and selection in order to have the right staff in the right place at the right time; ● An emphasis on results-based management/budgeting and team-based approaches; ● Enhanced staff well-being; work/life initiatives; ● More cohesiveness and harmonization of HR policies and processes; ● More knowledge sharing, better networks and the promotion of communities of practice; ● Increased emphasis on humanitarian action; and ● More emphasis on rotation and time spent in the field. With the emergence of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is a need, for the UN, in general, and UNFPA, in particular, to accommodate and maximize the potential contributions of an increasingly diverse workforce, including large numbers of national staff and complementary personnel, with different needs and expectations by providing a more flexible workplace and innovative ways to deliver work. Please click uploads/Management/ unfpa-career-guide.pdf
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- Publié le Aoû 15, 2022
- Catégorie Management
- Langue French
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