Over 150 candidates of the Young Professional Programme (YPP) participated in a YPP Preparation Seminar organized by the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna in cooperation with the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 11 November 2011 at the Vienna International Centre (VIC).
The preparation seminar aimed to brief YPP candidates, primarily those who would be taking the exam on 7 December 2011 in Vienna, on the outlines of the YPP programme, the different steps in the selection/exam process and work opportunities and environment for successful candidates.
In his introductory remarks UNIS Acting Director Janos Tisovszky welcomed the participants and pointed out the unique opportunity the workshop offered for them to take part in such a preparation seminar involving an expert panel with representatives from the Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM), the Austrian Foreign Ministry, and UNIS..
During the opening of the event Ambassador Helmut Böck, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations in Vienna, stressed the importance of the work of the Vienna based Organizations to address global issues and spoke in particular about the possibilities for young Austrians to work in the international field, the rewards such a working experience may have and the experience and skills required to be considered for a job in the UN and/or the Austrian Foreign Service.
The opening remarks were followed by a short briefing on "Working for the United Nations" by UNIS Acting Director Janos Tisovszky giving an overview on how UN recruitment procedures have developed in the past years and on what successful YPP candidates might expect if selected for a UN position. He also presented the variety of other ways and options apart from the YPP to join the UN and also highlighted the skills that potential UN staff members would most likely need in their careers such as to be "versatile, flexible and mobile".
In his presentation about the YPP programme, Gerhard Tripp from OHRM at United Nations Office in Vienna (UNOV) introduced the selection criteria for countries to participate in the YPP examination, explained the different steps in the selection process as well as rules and regulations for the written examination.
Pieter Delcour, Administrative Officer with the United Nations Register of Damage Caused by the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (UNRoD) in Vienna and member of a YPP rating panel, explained the major outlines of the written exam and how best to prepare.
His presentation was followed again by Gerhard Tripp / OHRM who introduced the principles of Competency Based Interviewing and gave value advice on how to prepare and practice for the oral examination.
In addition to the YPP programme, Elisabeth Marschang from the Austrian Foreign Ministry presented the possibility to join the UN as a Junior Professional Officer (JPO) with the focus on the JPO positions funded by the Austrian Government and the selection process at national level.
The close to four-hours workshop was concluded by a long and lively Q&A session where participants had the opportunity to engage directly with the panelists and asked for specific information and advice on their application.
The seminar was highly appreciated by both participants / candidates and OHRM and was part of a series of preparation workshops organized by UNIS Vienna in all four client countries -- Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia -- including in Ljubljana on 26 October for Slovenian candidates, in Budapest on 7 November for Hungarian participants and a final one in Bratislava for Slovakian candidates at the end of November.
