Alanna Shaikh’s five tips for getting a job in international development:
1. Get an office job while you’re still in school. As I’ve written, most development work is office work. You need to prove you can handle an office every day. Really, the only way to do that is to have an office job. Do it in the summers if you can’t hack it while in school. Office work is not the most profitable way to spend your time, but it will be worth it later.
2. Study something useful at university. For example, technical subjects like nursing and IT are useful. Epidemiology is useful. A master’s degree is more useful than an undergrad degree.
3. Learn to write. I don’t mean you need to be a novelist, but with practice everybody can write a clear, useful report at decent speed. Have writing samples to prove you can do it.
4. Study a second language. You don’t have to get all that good at it, but making the effort demonstrates you are willing to commit yourself to international and intercultural work. If you are already bilingual, you don’t have to learn a third language. People will assume you are good at intercultural navigation.
5. I think this is the hardest one: have a goal for what you want to do, that’s specific but not too specific. “I am interested in food security and emergency relief” has a good level of specificity. “I want to work for UNDP” is too specific. “I am interested in women’s empowerment, reproductive health, and community development” is too vague. There is kind of an art to this; basically you want to give people a sense of who you are and what you want. Too broad and they don’t have any sense of you. To narrow and you’ve ruled out too many jobs. If you’re having trouble with this, it’s a good thing to talk over with a mentor. (Yes, if you don’t have a mentor, I will help. Within reason.)
I would echo #2 and #3 especially, and add the following:
6. Be prepared to volunteer your first couple of jobs. The paid opportunities will come in droves, but only after you distinguish yourself from the mass of inexperienced undergraduates who want to work abroad. Offer to work for free, and consider paying your own airfare over to look for opportunities. Could be the best investment you make.
7. Pound the less-trodden pavement. Everyone applies through the front door: the UN or NGO internship, the junior professional program at [insert development bank here]. Do that, but also e-mail country offices and program managers directly, or even visit country offices in person to drop off a CV (see above).
8. Consider a private firm. The most exciting and educational jobs in development could be Celtel (growing gangbusters across Africa) or Ecobank (started in Togo–yes, that Togo–and now in 26 countries). Not too many students are e-mailing them looking for an internship.
9. It’s a numbers game. Sit down every day and aim to write just 5 people. After three weeks, that’s 50 e-mails. Forty-five will go unanswered, three will say “thanks, but no vacancy”, two will say “let’s talk”, and one will turn into a job.
10. Be willing to go to uncomfortable places. No worthwhile NGO should send you to a danger zone or challenging emergency on your first go, but many will need staff in secure but less desirable destinations. Express a willingness to work under difficult conditions and it may open up extra doors. So long as you mean it. Travel experience in difficult countries will help.
See all posts on getting first jobs in development and developing countries. Or working in war zones. Or getting a PhD and saving the world.
Funny thing about Ecobank, I did email them to get an internship in their Ghana office back in the summer of 2005. It was a great experience, both for getting to know the country and for understanding that I will never work in a private bank. You are right though about no one emailing them: I was the first white person in their office, ever.
Thanks so much for this post. Fortunately or unfortunately, I am one of those droves of undergraduates,and I have definitely found (as you point out) that emailing organizations directly is one of the best ways to get their attention and get in (not to mention working as a volunteer). Thanks for this follow-up post…I’m trying to navigate the world of international organizations and NGOs and finding it complex, to say the least.
Thanks for the follow-up post, Chris. We’ve linked to you and Alanna on the Working World careers blog (https://digitalcommons.georgetown.edu/blogs/workingworld/).
One question we consistently get at Working World from students and young professionals is: how necessary is a Master’s degree in a career in international affairs? From your perspective, what is the value of a Master’s degree in a career in international development? And if it is indeed necessary, at what point do you suggest pursuing a higher degree? Right after college, or do you need a few years of experience to make the degree more worthwhile?
I propose #11: travel first and find work when you get there. Orgs are much more willing to hire you overseas if you show up at their door, it demosntrates ability and comfort with travel, and you are low cost. This has worked for me several times, even post-Masters as a professional.
#12: go to small, undesirable countries where your relative influence and responsibility will be greater. Advising the head of a development bank sounds interesting, even if it’s the Cape Verde Development Bank.
Thank for your post. Really useful for everyone
Thought you might like this fun quiz.
http://www.humanitarianiq.com/
Any tips for people with a child?
[...] But who has time for a book? You can read career advice from people smarter than me – a compilation of advice for young professionals and students in international aid/development. Or Alanna Shaikh and Chris Blattman’s quick top 10 tips for getting a job in international development. [...]