Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Whilst preferences made at the time of application will be taken into account where possible for all YPP recruits, all successful candidates must be prepared to accept the first position offered to them. Failure to do so will mean that they are removed from the list of successful candidates and made no further offers.

Subject to your supervisor’s approval, staff should be allowed to take the YPP examination without having to take annual leave. Preparation for the examination should be done outside of work hours, or during leave.

During periods of SLWOP, staff members retain their status as international civil servants with all obligations this entails. Therefore, SLWOP is not normally granted to provide staff members with an avenue to pursue employment in other UN or non-UN entities but rather is granted for work-life balance, to accompany a spouse to a different duty station, etc. Should a staff member during the period of his or her SLWOP be presented with an opportunity to engage in outside employment/activities, he or she must request approval to engage in such activity.

Except for sabbatical leave, staff members are required to address a memorandum through their Chief to their Director/ASG for approval. The approved memorandum is then forwarded to the Executive Office for administrative action. Depending on the request, it may be further reviewed by OHR.

Staff on secondment who maintain a lien on their post have certain “return rights” as stated below in the Administrative Issuance on Staff Selection (ST/AI/2010/3 – section 6.7). Please note that OHR is revising this issuance which will address the issue of “return rights”.