Working with NGOs to gain valuable experience for future recruitment in field positions

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  • Le 18 novembre 2016
Name: Laetitia Beuscher
Current position: Senior Stabilisation Liaison & Coordination Officer, United Nations
About my company: International affairs, 10,001+ employees
Degree earned at Audencia: GE 02
Nationality: French
Residence: Kinshasa - Congo 
 
“Stay connected to your home country when most of your life happens elsewhere. The key for this is to contact as much as possible, return often and remember that if life is changing for you while living abroad, life is also changing for those left at home. These changes may be less visible but are not less meaningful.”

My work
My role: Liaison and coordination of Stabilisation efforts in DRC with key interlocators based in Kinshasa: the donor community, the national government, the heads of the UN country team (Funds and agencies) and with MONUSCO Kinshasa-based sections while the Stabilisation programme is implemented in the Eastern part of the country.

Soft skills: Open-minded/good team player/drive for results/ability to propose alternative ways to reach the same results / adapt easily to different audiences and protocols as well as to different nationalities and cultures/be very flexible, read between lines and be very patient.
Hard skills: Stabilisation programming / conflict resolution/peace building and UN system, including programme framework and support to the government/good understanding of the difference between humanitarian, development and Stabilisation programming and principles are key.

How it started: After Audencia, when I decided to join the UN, I looked at what was missing in my resume from a UN perspective. I decided to first gain a field experience with NGOs (which was an easy access as I was not looking for long-term commitment nor had high salary expectation) and then to go back to school to get an MA in international relations. Once my MA was obtained I returned to NGOs where I knew my experience could be an added value for future recruitment for field positions. I developed solid relations with UN organisation hiring managers.

My world
Culture shock: To balance personal and professional life. When you change locations every two years it may become challenging to identify where you live. Things may just happen a bit later than for your fellow classmates.

Fun fact: Local expressions are always a fun part of the journey in every country.

Why choose an international career?
Because I love travelling but also because when I decided to start working abroad I found the opportunities in France to be limited.
 
Laetitia's advice
"The top websites to be recommended: Inspira.un.org; unjobs.org and specific organisation websites such as unicef.org"
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