By Tselmegtsetseg Tsetsendelger, Director of Communications
and Advocacy for UNA-NCA Young Professionals Program
On Saturday, April 8th the Young Professionals of UNA-NCA
held their bi-annual Career Dinner Series. The event started off with a
reception at the United Nations Foundation where Robert Skinner, Director of
the UN Information Center, was the keynote. Then the attendees of the evening
left for their respective dinner. For this spring season, the Young
Professionals had gathered career topics on the UN, Global Health, Sustainable
Development, Communications and Advocacy, Refugees and Humanitarian Response,
Gender and Advocacy, and International Law, Peace, and Security. Accomplished
senior level and mid-career professionals present at the dinners included Sangeeta
Rana, Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State, Lyric Thompson,
Director of Policy and Advocacy at the International Center for Research on
Women, and Dawn Calabia, Honorary Senior Advisor to Refugees International.
The keynote speech that Mr. Skinner gave, set the tone for
the rest of the night. He emphasized to the audience, a mix of recent
graduates, young professionals, and professionals looking to change fields,
that they should always pursue their interests and reminded everyone that
careers don’t ever really take a straight line, but rather curve with different
experiences and moments. Then Mr. Skinner gave the audience a walkthrough of
his own past jobs and the path his career took. Mr. Skinner ended his talk with
a short Q&A session, which included talking about failure, UNIC, and
working in challenging climates.
I had the opportunity to attend the Careers in the UN
discussion, which was the largest of the seven dinners. By the end of the
event, I felt more inspired and appreciative of the frank and supportive
answers that the speakers provided. The Careers in the UN dinner included Mr. Skinner
as well as Fernando Flores, Program Officer at UNHCR, and Felipe Munevar, Head
of Office of UNOPS. The three gentlemen shared the current hiring climate of
the UN and gave practical advice and specific suggestions for the attendees. I
really appreciated how the conversation was honest, and the speakers tried to be
as transparent as they could about the hiring process in their respective
organizations.
I am a big fan of the YP Career Dinner Series, this was the
fourth one that I attended and every time that I go, it has given me
inspiration and ideas on what I can do in the international field. I look
forwarding to expanding my knowledge further at the fall 2017 career dinner!
