UN or World Bank Job

[HopefulMHA]

Hey guys!

So I am currently pursuing my MHA at UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health.
I am an international student here, and my primary focus is to work in International Health.
I was hoping maybe you guys could tell me how difficult it is for an international candidate graduating from a reputed school like UNC to acquire a position with the United Nations organizations (WHO, UNICEF, etc) or even the World Bank. Since they are based in the US/ Geneva, my base office will be one of these and I will need a visa, right? Would they be willing to sponsor a visa?
Also, what kind of classes should I take? If I want to work in strategy/ operations/finance should I take a global health certificate or epi classes as well anyway?

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[Solara]

Hey guys!

So I am currently pursuing my MHA at UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health.
I am an international student here, and my primary focus is to work in International Health.
I was hoping maybe you guys could tell me how difficult it is for an international candidate graduating from a reputed school like UNC to acquire a position with the United Nations organizations (WHO, UNICEF, etc) or even the World Bank. Since they are based in the US/ Geneva, my base office will be one of these and I will need a visa, right? Would they be willing to sponsor a visa?
Also, what kind of classes should I take? If I want to work in strategy/ operations/finance should I take a global health certificate or epi classes as well anyway?

You will get hired if you have the experience and skillset the position requires. Or if you know the right people and have amazing connections, you'll oftentimes get the job even if there are people who can do the job better than you. Connections mean a lot in public health. You would want to first see if you can harness any connections you've made at UNC to get one of those positions.

There are so many international people at these organizations, people from all around the world. I don't think that you being an international student will hamper you at all. What matters is your skillset and experience. You want to shape your education around obtaining that skillset.

 

[MolBio]

Hey guys!

So I am currently pursuing my MHA at UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health.
I am an international student here, and my primary focus is to work in International Health.
I was hoping maybe you guys could tell me how difficult it is for an international candidate graduating from a reputed school like UNC to acquire a position with the United Nations organizations (WHO, UNICEF, etc) or even the World Bank. Since they are based in the US/ Geneva, my base office will be one of these and I will need a visa, right? Would they be willing to sponsor a visa?
Also, what kind of classes should I take? If I want to work in strategy/ operations/finance should I take a global health certificate or epi classes as well anyway?

For Visas to work at the World Bank in DC or UN agencies in New York, you will get a special diplomatic visa (called the G-4) which is a non-immigrant visa specific to that one position. The Bank or the UN should automatically sponsor this Visa for you when you get hired (they do it ALL the time for their various hires - not a problem at all). This also exempts you from paying income tax in the US.

The UN agencies are all extremely competitive and require significant experience (ideally 10+ years but at least 5-10 years) in global health and/or development at fairly senior levels. The good news is you are actually at an advantage if you are a citizen of a low or middle-income country and even more advantage if you speak two or more of the 6 official languages (English, French, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Arabic). You also have a better chance if you do their internship program (World bank is paid, UN is unpaid), OR if you can get hired as a short-term contractor/consultant and do a good a really good job AND get lucky in that the project continues to get funding.

I'm not very familiar with operations, the agency is UNOPS and they aren't very health specific, I always got the sense that this was more of an administrative role less of a technical role (others might provide more insight here)...

 

[hefty]

For Visas to work at the World Bank in DC or UN agencies in New York, you will get a special diplomatic visa (called the G-4) which is a non-immigrant visa specific to that one position. The Bank or the UN should automatically sponsor this Visa for you when you get hired (they do it ALL the time for their various hires - not a problem at all). This also exempts you from paying income tax in the US.

The UN agencies are all extremely competitive and require significant experience (ideally 10+ years but at least 5-10 years) in global health and/or development at fairly senior levels. The good news is you are actually at an advantage if you are a citizen of a low or middle-income country and even more advantage if you speak two or more of the 6 official languages (English, French, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Arabic). You also have a better chance if you do their internship program (World bank is paid, UN is unpaid), OR if you can get hired as a short-term contractor/consultant and do a good a really good job AND get lucky in that the project continues to get funding.

I'm not very familiar with operations, the agency is UNOPS and they aren't very health specific, I always got the sense that this was more of an administrative role less of a technical role (others might provide more insight here)...

You seem to know a ton about these agencies -- would it be alright if I asked a few more questions?

I'm in my first year at UCLA in the health policy and management track (unsure which one to pursue, currently in policy). Could you give me an idea of what a fresh graduate might expect in terms of job responsibility and/or salary? Or, are these the kinds of orgs that won't hire people right out of school? Also, as the health policy content of an MPH is heavily US-focused, would it be wiser to pursue the management track, as I'd imagine that knowledge remains relevant regardless of geography?
Sorry if this was jumbled. I'd be grateful for any insight into life at these orgs, even aside from what I've just asked. Thank you!

 

[MolBio]

Sorry, it's been a while! Yes, you can get an internship at a UN agency fresh out of school or while still in school, but they are not paid. Internships can turn into professional track jobs once upon a time, but it's rare nowadays unless you do an amazing job and get lucky enough to get on a well-funded project. (It's also harder for Americans, Britons, Canadians and Australians). It would be a highly unlikely to get hired right out of school with no experience, you would be better off starting with a consultancy, an internship, or a research project through your school that has UN partner, do a good job, and see where it leads.

Salaries at the UN agencies are all publicly posted on the web, and standardized across the agencies ranging from P-1 to P-5 at the professional level.

On curriculum, policy and management are really different things, so pick the one you really want to do the most. The US healthcare system is highly unique and thus not very generalizable (even more so now with the changes from the ACA)... For global health policy at international organizations, you'll want to show that you have global health policy knowledge and experience on one or more rich areas like international health regulations, globalization and health, health and human rights, migration, health systems, bilateral partnership frameworks, millenium development goals, social determinants of health, the global fund process, etc.

hth,

mb

 

[Solara]

Sorry, it's been a while! Yes, you can get an internship at a UN agency fresh out of school or while still in school, but they are not paid. Internships can turn into professional track jobs once upon a time, but it's rare nowadays unless you do an amazing job and get lucky enough to get on a well-funded project. (It's also harder for Americans, Britons, Canadians and Australians). It would be a highly unlikely to get hired right out of school with no experience, you would be better off starting with a consultancy, an internship, or a research project through your school that has UN partner, do a good job, and see where it leads.

Salaries at the UN agencies are all publicly posted on the web, and standardized across the agencies ranging from P-1 to P-5 at the professional level.

On curriculum, policy and management are really different things, so pick the one you really want to do the most. The US healthcare system is highly unique and thus not very generalizable (even more so now with the changes from the ACA)... For global health policy at international organizations, you'll want to show that you have global health policy knowledge and experience on one or more rich areas like international health regulations, globalization and health, health and human rights, migration, health systems, bilateral partnership frameworks, millenium development goals, social determinants of health, the global fund process, etc.

hth,

mb

You definitely know a lot of your stuff when it comes to tracks in global health. Out of curiosity, have you interned/worked with the WHO/UN before, and if so, which office (Geneva)?

Yea, some people who intern at places like WHO can get full time jobs pretty soon after interning, but it's not very common. Depending on the position, they want to hire people who have years of experience at national and international levels (especially when you get to P4 and P5 levels). I know for people straight out of school, getting a job is very important/high priority, and the UN jobs seem very high on the list and prestigious. At the same time, you'll be able to do more at those places when you have more experience in the field.

Of course, everyone should really think about the type of work they want to do, and not just make their end goal "I want to work with the UN/WHO etc etc." These agencies have important roles in the global health arena, but can certainly be a bit bureaucratic at times. Things can sometimes move slowly, get very political, and you have to be willing to deal with that.

Global health is so broad, but making that distinction between health policy/management with the US health care system vs global health policy (considering transnational health issues like globalization) is good. Again, the type of work you do is important to consider.