UN Competitive Examination

UN Competitive Examination

The United Nations Competitive Recruitment Examination is a part of three step selection process for a permanent position with the United Nations consisting of:

  • a written examination
  • interview
  • two year probationary post.

Contents

Written examinations

The written examination consists of the following two parts: a general paper which tests drafting skills (forty-five minutes); and a specialized paper (three hours and forty-five minutes) which tests the substantive knowledge of the particular occupation that the candidate is applying for.

In cases where the number of candidates sitting the written examination is high, the essay section of the specialized paper will be eliminatory.

The written examination questions are given in English and French, the two working languages of the Secretariat. Candidates must write their answers for the general paper in English or French. However, they may write their answers for the specialized paper in English, French or any of the other four official languages of the Secretariat, i.e., Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish.

Subjects

Not all the subjects are offered every year, but some are offered more often than others. Here a table of subjects given in recent years, together with the number of persons invited to take the written exam in that subject.

Number of people invited to take each exam type, by year
Topic 2008 Written Exam 2009 Written Exam
Finance 463 364
Information Technology 395 322
Political Affairs 844 0
Environment 375 0
Statistics 196 172
Human Rights 329 0
Programme Evaluation 353 0
Economics 0 422
Administration 0 420
Public Information 0 305
Security 0 58
Social Affairs 0 554
Total 2955 2617

The interview

On the basis of performance in the written examination, the Board of Examiners will invite selected candidates to the interview, which will normally take place from 6 to 12 months after the exam.

The interview will be conducted in English or French, the two working languages of the Secretariat.

A modest percentage of those who take the written exam will be convoked to take the interview. For example, of the 395 people were sat for the 2008 IT exam, 39 were convoked to the interview. Of those, 26 were added to the roster of qualified candidates.

Successful after the examination: Following the completion of the interviews, the Board of Examiners will recommend the most suitable candidates to the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management of the United Nations. These candidates will be placed on a reserve roster of qualified candidates. This roster will be circulated among heads of duty stations for selection, further interview, and placement of candidates. The typical time spent on the roster prior to placement in a job with the UN is from 6 months to 3 years.

The decisions of the Board of Examiners regarding the results will be final and are not subject to appeal. The Board does not release individual results.

Successful candidates may be called upon to serve at the U.N. Headquarters in New York or at other duty stations in Africa, Asia, Europe or Latin America.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Competitive examination — A competitive examination is an examination angwhere candidates are ranked according to their grades. If the examination is open for n positions, then the first n candidates in ranks pass, the others are rejected. Examples of this type are the… …   Wikipedia

  • competitive examination — A test by objective standards or measures. Where the standard or measure is wholly subjective, it differs, in effect, in no respect from an uncontrolled opinion of the examiners and cannot be termed competitive. Fink v Finegan, 270 NY 356, 1 NE2d …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • open competitive examination — An examination to determine the merits of applicants for a civil service position, open to applicants without reference to whether or not they are already in the service. open concubinage. A concubinage that is plain and aboveboard, without… …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • Examination — • A process prescribed or assigned for testing qualification; an investigation, inquiry Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Examination     Examination      …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • competitive — com‧pet‧i‧tive [kəmˈpettɪv] adjective COMMERCE 1. used to describe situations and behaviour in which businesses are trying very hard to be more successful than others, for example by selling their goods or services more cheaply than others: •… …   Financial and business terms

  • competitive — I (antagonistic) adjective adverse, at issue, at variance, challenging, clashing, colliding, combatant, combative, combatting, competing, competitor/, conflicting, contending, contentious, contrary, counteractive, decided by competition vying,… …   Law dictionary

  • Competitive — Com*pet i*tive, a. Of or pertaining to competition; producing competition; competitory; as, a competitive examination. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • examination — noun 1 (formal) formal test ⇨ See also ↑exam ADJECTIVE ▪ certification (AmE), entrance ▪ final ▪ He has just completed his final examinations at São Paulo University. ▪ …   Collocations dictionary

  • Examination — To examine somebody or something is to inspect it closely; hence, an examination is a detailed inspection or analysis of an object or person. In an academic or professional context, examinations (or exams for short) are tests which aim to… …   Wikipedia

  • competitive — competitively, adv. competitiveness, n. /keuhm pet i tiv/, adj. 1. of, pertaining to, involving, or decided by competition: competitive sports; a competitive examination. 2. well suited for competition; having a feature that makes for successful… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”