Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
For anyone else that sees this, getting an internship with the UN is also by far the easiest pathway to future paid employment with the UN. At the early career levels, it is really difficult to get a paid job with the UN- they really prefer to hire their former interns for those roles (told to me by UN employees).
so which one did you decide to go for? at least end the story properly.
Well, this internship is actually in Vienna, which isn't really a problem since I'm already in Europe; I'm still waiting to hear back from the office in N.Y. because if I'm gonna do this for free, I'd rather it be back in the states.
In the meantime, I've accepted the offer from the Vienna office.
Congrats on having two internships to choose from.
I had an unpaid internship with the UN in 2004. I had little knowledge of what even went on inside of the building.
The work that I was given was pretty dull; I was a basically an assistant to one of the secretaries who was re-organizing files. However, the access I had was unbelievable. I sulked about the work for about 4 days. Then, I took my badge and went to every meeting I had access to. I networked as best I could and created an orientation for interns after me. The experience would have sucked if I just did my job and went home. There was no one to tell me that a permanent forum with representatives from all over the world coming to speak on an issue. I just went in and figured it out.
I don't know what you will be doing but I hope its something way more involved than my old spot. Only then will it actually hold weight on your resume. On some a couple of my resumes, UN isnt even on there because work Ive done work after that was more impressive. It was on my resume for my fulltime job but research with a judge my boss knew and a good interview got me the position.
Here are are some questions to ask yourself before making your choice.
Will an internship with the UN help land you a job in your desired field? If yes, would it help moreso than the other internship?
You mentioned that can work with the UN for no pay but it would put you in a tight spot afterward. Can you work elsewhere while at the UN (if you choose to work there)?
Prestige means nothing if the experience is not relevant to your career field, trust me. I dont even want to work in that field anymore (I still do, though) so if I could back, perhaps I would have spent that summer doing something else.
Well, this internship is actually in Vienna, which isn't really a problem since I'm already in Europe; I'm still waiting to hear back from the office in N.Y. because if I'm gonna do this for free, I'd rather it be back in the states.
In the meantime, I've accepted the offer from the Vienna office.
Thats what I get for not seeing that there's a page 2 of responses.
Awesome. Best wishes for you.
Totally agree with chillout. I, too, did an internship with the UN in 2004. The work was dull and I didn't learn much. It depends on what department you are going to join and the type of work you will be doing. Life in NYC is also so damn expensive.
If a UN related work is what you want to do in the future, then go for it. If not, then don't waste your time and money.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
at least end the story properly.
