I attended plenty of IO career fairs throughout the past years. I even volunteered during the Sciences Po International Organsation Day, hoping it would bring me an incomparable advantage in my job search.
Yet, from my personal experience, the results of career fairs with IOs are very often….
Disappointing, to say the least.
Why?
No specific information.
Most organisations invited to the career fairs bring their HR representatives who re-share information already available on the official websites. No additional insights are shared on the actual workstreams of their organisation - the upcoming projects on specific topics, publications or collaborations. The HR officers will not give you information about the team’s budget (which determines whether you would have a chance to get a job at an IO or not), or even the specific skills that are necessary for specific positions.
No details about the types of contracts.
While the HR officers will present the ‘wide range of contract options’, they will not reveal how bad some of them are. They will not tell you about the average salaries of a temporary contract (as they are often so low they should be illegal!!!) while flashing how much the ‘official’ staff make. They will not tell you what the % of people that manage to land the ‘official’ contracts after being a temporary staff for years is (and how long such exploitation lasts) and will not share to what extent that chance is determined by how much your manager likes you, what is the division’s budget and if you are there at the right time. And no, they will not engage in the conversation about ‘why you do not pay your interns’.
No effective network.
The HR representatives might take your CV, give you their e-mail address, and exchange their LinkedIn profiles with you. And yet…. even if you manage to build a relationship with an HR representative it is not going to be useful for you in your job search. Why? Even if you have a perfect profile, the HR officers do not internally recommend you for internships/jobs. For the 'equality' and 'transparency' reasons, they will not pass on your profile, but even if they wanted to, they are often not well-connected with other departments. They will repeatedly advise you to 'apply through the official portal' and ‘search the current opportunities on the X website’. Which, of course, you can do without networking with them during a career fair.
How to strategise your attendance at the IO career fairs?
So… should you even go to career fairs with IOs?
YES! But manage your expectations. It is not a place for building your network (unless you count fellow attendees!), for getting the ‘first step in the door’, or for ‘having a chance at getting a job’.
What can you use career fairs for?
EXPLORE DIFFERENT ORGANISATIONS. Have you considered working for the International Labour Organization ? International Maritime Organization ? International Telecommunication Union ? Attending career fairs offers opportunities to discover what different employer options you could have with the profile that you bring to the table. For example, the European Space Agency - ESA does not only employ space engineers - there are plenty of policy, communications, and advocacy roles available.
LEARN ABOUT EMPLOYMENT TRENDS. The HR is great at giving you a big picture of how overall employment looks like in their organisations. Are they employing more this year because of a certain political shift? Have they received a big check from your government and therefore, reserved more seats for people with your nationality? Has their overall budget decreased because of the de-prioritisation of an issue they deal with? What types of positions are they struggling to fill in? What types of contracts do they increasingly offer? Take notes!
DISCOVER DIVERSITY FACTORS. Diversity and inclusion are very important for IOs and often, who gets the job is determined by your gender and nationality. The HR will let you know whether they have too many women or Italians working for the organisation, and specify the needs they have for the upcoming years. It will help you identify where your job application efforts should go (or not!). Sneak peek: the European Central Bank is looking for female IT specialists, while UNICEF has statistically too many women working for the organization and struggles to find suitable male candidates.
How will you strategise your next IO career fair?
Written by the IO Ready CEO and Founder, Wiola Stasieluk.
Here at IO READY , we have a no-nonsense approach to careers in international organisations. You get real, honest, up-to-date advice on careers in international organisations provided by IO insider - Wiola Stasieluk.
For more personalised advice, check out the Career Coaching Programme for IOs/NGOs.
Comments