My internship at the United Nations

The “fruits” I mean however, are the fruits of venturing out of my comfort zone and diving into the UN work.

The UN is a HUGE and very hierarchical organization. When you look closely, however, you see that tasks and projects are accomplished at a personal level. The process, on the other hand can be very long and frustrating because of the hierarchical structure. There is a reason for it, and it is that the UN can tolerate no mistakes. I'm not saying it's perfect, but that everything needs to be checked very carefully because anything that has the UN signature is under heavy scrutiny.

We, as a subregional office had to follow the headquarters and our work often got delayed because of this. We had very busy periods and then there were times I didn't have anything to do. I wanted to make the best out of my internship and during such a "stagnant" day I shared my disappointment with my supervisor, the administrative officer. He was a very helpful, humorous and easy going person and his attitude helped me a lot.

After he passed YPP (Young Professionals Programme) Exam, during orientation they were told that 50% of UN civil servants resign within the first 2 years. Of the remaining 50%, most go to peacekeeping missions and the rest question their sanity everyday. OK, kidding, it's not that bad. But not easy either. Most of the people who entered through YPP enjoyed bright careers atrelatively high levels at a quite young age, so becoming a mere officer within the UN is not easy.

Short notes about my observations:

-UN people are "international civil servants", in other words, no different than civil servants in a country.

-Office work is... office work.

-Team work in a highly multicultural team can be demanding at times.

-Being in a small subregional office, a bigger regional office or main headquarters all have their advantages and disadvantages.

-It depends on your luck, but my office was full of awesome people and they made things easier with their friendliness, laid-back attitude and team-building skills.

(By the way, my presentation was about how people see the UN and what they think of its work).

The original blog: http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-1348685-19806.html