Frequently Asked Questions

The placement of Young Professionals is conducted on a quarterly basis or four times a year. This is a coordinated effort between the Hiring Manager, Headquarters Staffing Section in the Office of Human Resources Management and the respective human resources office in the duty station for which you are selected. The official start date of your new job will depend on the needs of the hiring manager and/or your availability; however, you do have up to 90 days to assume your functions from the date an official offer was made to you.

You will receive detailed information about the practical details of the offer. You will also be given further explanation about the specific instructions relating to the duty station. You will then go through the pre-formalities such as confirmation of reference checks and medical clearance.

While preferences made at the time of application will be taken into account for all YPP recruits, all successful candidates must be prepared to accept the first position offered within their occupational group. Should you decline to be considered for the position, you will be removed from the list of successful candidates unless your decline falls under the exceptional circumstances.

After the initial two years of satisfactory performance and depending on the availability of posts, you may apply for positions you qualify for at the P-3 level through the staff selection system.

Yes. The number of placements from the “YPP internal” roster is subject to paragraph 51 of General Assembly report A/65/305/ Add.4, “…10 per cent of the total pool of positions available for the programme [will] be earmarked for successful G-to-P candidates, who [can] be placed in any available post”. YPP internal candidates will be offered positions on a first come, first served, basis until the quota is met.

Upon receipt of the offer of appointment you will have seven (7) calendar days, to accept or decline any position offered.

P-2 positions advertised online at careers.un.org are extra- budgetary positions available in the United Nations Secretariat and you are free to apply to them. Please note that if you do apply for these positions and are considered suitable, the hiring manager can select you immediately from the roster. However, if you are selected you will not be given a YPP contract.

The placement of Young Professionals will be conducted centrally four times a year through a ‘recruitment campaign’ in the months of January, April, July and October. Should positions be available within your job family, you will receive a notification of the vacant posts via email and you will be asked to rank the positions in order

Hiring Managers review profiles of all eligible successful candidates both internal and external to the UN and choose the most suitable based on merit. Whilst staff members who pass the YPP examination will fill up to 10% of all the YPP positions available, there are no specific posts earmarked for candidates moving from the GS and related categories to the P category.

Passing the examination does not guarantee a job but if you pass the YPP examination, you will most likely be offered a job. The number of candidates that pass is closely linked to the positions that are projected to become available. Hiring Managers select the most suitable candidate for the P-1 / P-2 position in each case. Job offers to successful candidates are made on a regular basis, subject to the requirements of the Organization filling the P-1 / P-2 positions that have become available at that point in time.