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How to get a job in international organizations

Posted June. 17, 2017 07:20,   

Updated June. 17, 2017 07:30

한국어

Foreign Minister-nominee Kang Kyung-hwa lectured at the recruiting fair for international organizations held in last July at the Seoul City Hall as a high-level officer of UN. She gave pieces of practical advice such as "read many books," "invest your time in writing." Also, her lesson for life such as "train yourself to be equipped with intellectual frankness and emotional maturity is worth listening even if you are not an applicant to international organizations. It seems that the nominee, who is in trouble during the confirmation hearing at the National Assembly due to false resident registration and other issues, is now counting the cost of her saying, "Do not avoid the moment of making difficult decisions." She said that one year ago.   


Having a chance to meet and hear from someone in international organizations is not enough to be hired. An applicant has to pass through the document examination and written test first. Then, competency based interviews, reference check, and deliberation by the selection committee are remained. Even if you survived from the final round, you cannot get a job without an approval by the secretary general or governor. The cultural and habitual barrier is higher than expected. The World Bank is now led by Kim Yong, and Korea shares 1.4 percent of the contribution. However, Korean employees account for mere 0.35 percent of the total. Such considerably low employment rate is due to Korean education.

In the 2017 Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) annual meeting that was held Friday in Jeju, Kim Dong-yeon, deputy prime minister and finance minister, asked AIIB Governor Jin Liqun to hire more Korean young people to the organization. However, the president witnessed the dismissal of Hong Ki-taek from vice governor of the AIIB in July last year, five months after his inauguration. The governor told that an international organization has a high standard for talents in an interview with a Korean press in the World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2017 that was held last month. Based on this, it appears that he still remembers the resignation of Mr. Hong. It is concerned that the issue of (pro Park Geun-hye) Hong may be unfavorable to young Koreans. 
 

The best way to get a job in an international organization is to be a government employee. The government insists that it deploys public officials to main posts of international organizations for global cooperation but it appears to be used as a way to send its employees to deal with piled up promotions. After three years, they can come back if there is a good position in their office or they can still remain in the deployed organization. Government officials have too many benefits. It’s time for the government to turn its eyes to overseas employment of the youth, even a slight portion of the support provided to public officials.