Get Ready Congratulations on being offered a post in the United Nations Secretariat!
Job offer received Find information here that may help you to decide whether to accept the offer – or, if you have already accepted, to get answers to your questions, and learn how to begin to prepare for your new role. To get to know your duty station, we suggest you follow these five tips. 1. Review the Relocation Guide for your duty station 2. Visit the Visitor Centre website and/or public website of your duty station ESCWA - Beirut, Lebanon 3. List your questions and ask your Buddy 4. Develop your language skills for your new duty station
5. Explore other resources about your new work location Countries | ReliefWeb To help with the relocation of your family and yourself as a United Nations Staff Member, download the Relocation Checklist and follow up on your relocation process. If you have been offered a post in a Peacekeeping mission and have not received it already, please request a copy of the Pre-deployment Information Package from your Human Resources contact or hiring manager. The content in this package is especially helpful if this is either your first time working in a Peacekeeping Mission, or you are moving duty stations. Download the PDF - 2017 (For D1, D2, ASG, USG) (Update under development) To be well prepared for your work in the Organization – and ideally before your first day of work, please aim to complete the first two or three mandatory courses, listed below in priority order. UN Staff members are required to complete all of these by the end of their first three months of work in the Organization. To get started, please do this:
Mandatory Courses
Staff can better understand pay and benefits as per their category by reviewing information found on the HR Portal.
The UN recently celebrated 75 years of serving the world, and we are excited that you will soon be contributing to this work – as someone new to the Organization, or someone taking on a new role.
Identify your appointment type – and related allowances and benefits – as described on the HR Portal. Also, explore the Human Resources policies on the UN Policy Portal
Four weeks before As you continue to get ready for your new post, we encourage you to learn more about your role in the Organization and as an International Civil Servant; and the founding principles of the United Nations. Review the United Nations system chart, and identify where your new role “fits” in the larger Organization. Former Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson always carried the UN Charter in his pocket. Why? To remind himself that this is an Organization built around values and principles. Please read this charter - as signed in 1945 - with these questions in mind:
You may also want to review two other key United Nations Documents: When you join the United Nations, you will sign a Declaration of Office (or Oath of Office), committing to the Standards of Conduct as an International Civil Servant. Specific responsibilities of UN Staff Members are International Civil Servants can be found in the UN Staff Regulations and Rules, ST/SGB/2018/1/Rev.1 and ST/SGB/2016/9, "Status, basic rights and duties of United Nations staff members".
Do you know your primary responsibilities? Take this 5-question quiz to find out. To learn more about the importance of this Oath, watch this interview with former Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Some duty stations have local organizations that coordinate networking meetings and other events for spouses of UN staff. Ask your HR Partner if there is one near you. Some that are well-established include:
The level of salaries for Professional staff are set by reference to the highest-paying national civil service. The level of salaries for General Service staff aims to reflect the best prevailing conditions found locally for similar work. UN official holidays vary according to location. By clicking on the relevant location, please check and note on your calendar which holidays apply to you. Also, keep these different calendars in mind if you later need to plan meetings or events with other UN locations.
Two weeks before Your starting date is just two weeks away! We suggest here a few more tasks to help you to get ready for the privilege of serving in a dynamic, multicultural environment with others of the same motivation and focus.
The Charter established six main bodies of the United Nations. The United Nations family, however, is much larger, encompassing 15 agencies and several programmes and bodies.
Especially if English is not your primary language, we also highly recommend this self-paced course in Learning English through Learning about the United Nations, which includes ten learning units that cover the history and work of the United Nations, writing tips for UN writers, and more. Staff Rules and Regulations provide the legal framework to Staff Member employment with the United Nations. Identify topics in this HR Handbook on the HR Portal that apply to you, and click on those rules to learn more.
If you are completely new to the Organization, you will be asked to complete PENS.A/2 – Designation of Beneficiary for a Residual Settlement for the process of designating a beneficiary for a residual settlement. You may also want to learn more about the UN pension fund, and your rights and benefits. All locally-recruited and international staff have access to UN mandatory Health Insurance and optional Life Insurance. Find and review your options here: Health & Life Insurance Section | (un.org), and please note that:
Questions can be sent via this form: Contact us | Health & Life Insurance Section (un.org) For staff in New York Every UN staff member makes time for learning with the goal of at least five days per year dedicated to activities that strengthen your skills and knowledge. More information on planning your learning efforts is found on the HR Portal at Learning and Development. The Manager's Toolkit is a series of pages on the HR Portal that are designed to be “just-in-time" self-study resources for UN managers. The pages include things you need to know, links to learning programmes, other UN web pages, and in some cases, links to free external resources. If your contact with your new duty station hasn't shared this already, ask if they can share advice related to finding apartments, hotels, or residences in the duty station - either UN approved, or examples to help you understand what costs to expect. All staff will need to share these documents:
General Service (GS) staff will also need to show:
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