The United Nations Young Professionals Program (YPP) 2022 cohort is now searching for talented young individuals across the globe. Are you one of the standout candidates who are about to experience their big international civil service career break?

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Application deadline: February 13, 2022

Each year, the United Nations invites individuals from UN member countries to take part in a very competitive process to join the International Civil Service. The UN Young Professionals Program painstakingly seeks candidates from nations that are under-represented at the United Nations.





Benefits of the UN Young Professionals Program

The United Nations Young Professionals Program (YPP) is a recruitment initiative for talented, highly qualified professionals to start or advance a career with the United Nations Secretariat. It consists of an entrance examination and involves professional development programs once successful candidates start their career with the UN.

The UN YPP Program holds examinations once a year. It is open to nationals of countries participating in the annual recruitment exercise. They publish the list of participating countries annually, which varies from year to year.

The job openings are found on the UN Careers Portal and on Inspira. Furthermore, the exam areas and their corresponding job openings include:

Social Affairs/Social Policy and Development: job opening #164785
Statistics and Data Science: job opening #164791

Remember to watch the application guidance video to learn more about the process. Keep in mind that submissions to multiple YPP exams will result in an automatic disqualification.

The following benefits are provided to UNYPs:

  • Salary and Post adjustments
  • Rental subsidy if newly arrived at the duty station your rent represents too high proportion of the total remuneration.
  • Dependency allowances if you have an eligible dependent spouse and/or child(ren).
  • Under certain conditions an education grant if you have eligible children in school.
  • Travel and shipping expenses when you are moving from one duty station to another.
  • Assignment grant to assist you in meeting initial extraordinary costs when arriving at or relocating to a new duty station.
  • At some duty stations, a hardship allowance linked to living and working conditions is paid and where there are restrictions on bringing family members, a non-family hardship allowance is also paid.
  • Hazard pay and rest and recuperation break when you serve in locations where the conditions are particularly hazardous, stressful and difficult.
  • Many more benefits.

The United Nations Young Professionals Program shall end after two years and is subject to satisfactory performance, successful candidates may be granted a continuing contract.

Eligibility Criteria for UN Young Professionals Program

In order to qualify for the opportunity, interested candidates must first adhere to the following requirements:

  • Have the nationality of a participating country.
  • Hold at least a first-level university degree relevant for the exam subject you are applying for.
  • Reached age 32 or younger in the year of the examination.
  • Fluent in either English or French.

The UN Secretariat encourages staff members, who work within the General Service and other related categories and that aspire to a career within the Professional and higher categories to apply for the UNYP program.

What to expect: 

  • They screen applications to determine if eligible for the examination in subject area you applied for.
  • A human resources officer (HRO) will further qualify candidates when more than 40 applicants from the same country apply for the same exam area. The HRO will rank each candidate using a points system for the following qualifications: highest level of education completed, knowledge of official UN languages, and relevant work experience.
  • Please be aware that many potential applicants do not pass the screening stage due to incomplete or inaccurate applications.
  • Officials inform Successful applicants that they can move on to the examination stage.
  • Officials also inform unsuccessful applicants that their application is not successful and cannot not move forward.
  • You will be able to check the status of your application by typing your application number in the search section on the Convocation status & Examination centre page 

These countries are eligible to apply for the Young Professionals Program:

Afghanistan, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahrain, Belarus, Belize, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, China, Comoros, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Monaco, Mozambique, Nauru, Norway, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Syria, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam

How to Apply to UN Young Professionals Program

To start your application process, please visit the official scholarship webpage here.


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