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Development work in Mongolia February 21, 2012

Posted by Jeff Riley in : international development , 1 comment so far


Adrienn Gecse, was a Masters student at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), in London  and is currently completing a PhD.  She has kindly   written  to us about her experiences of finding paid work and volunteering opportunities in Mongolia. Thanks Adrienn

“I hold Master’s degrees in Tibetan, Mongolian and African studies and I did the African studies course at SOAS. My  PhD is  in Tibetan and Mongolian studies at the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary. I am in the final stage now of writing my dissertation. I always get asked why I do both African and Inner Asian studies but it’s not as strange as most people think. I am interested in what’s going on in the world as a whole. To me it doesn’t make much sense to focus only on one country or people, don’t mind me. You can get a much better understanding of a country or a continent if you know those parts of the world too it is connected to historicaly or any other way. You can hardly separate Asia, Africa and the rest of the world nowadays. I have been asked to choose many times in recent years but I wouldn’t like to.

         “I came to Mongolia with the primary aims of doing field work, learning the language and also to gain work experience, preferably within development and ideally within development in research/writing. When I started my research regarding development agencies most people suggested I should wait until I am in the country because there is no chance to find anything through the Internet. However, I decided to  contact people and I got very positive answers. Not from bigger agencies who would have been happy to employ me as a volunteer, but wouldn’t have been able to give me a salary. Because I couldn’t afford to work for free I continued looking.

        ” LinkedIn and the SOAS Alumni Office was a great start. Through the SOAS alumni group I managed to find a gentleman who has worked in Ulan Bator for a while, within development. He was kind to give me his colleague’s contact who I had a little chat with and who offered her very generous help. I have tried to contact the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts in Ulan Bator before but I didn’t get any answer. This lady offered to take my CV to the Museum’s Director, personally. It doesn’t happen every day that you get this kind of help. To my surprise, they were happy to hear from me. My dissertation topic is related to their work and I am starting work for the Museum next week. For a salary! It’s a chance for some crucial  work experience -within my fields it is tough to get the necessary experience. This will definitely help my dissertation as well. I will work part time as a start so I still have time for other things as well as my dissertation.. The work I have been offered will also help to improve my language skills a lot, and this was also one of my aims.

         “At the moment I would have so many opportunities to take that it is difficult to decide. All the other work would be volunteering, but that’s fine now that some basic money is secured with the Museum work. Since I am interested in education, its effect on both the individual and the society, it was obvious that I should contact agencies working within education. They either help street children by giving them a sense of family and trying to guide them back to school.  Others may work with the youth trying to show the disadvantaged they still have  a future despite their background. The majority of organisations I I came across during my research, work within this field in some form. I have been to Mongolia twice before, and my first time was shocking. I saw so many kids on the streets sleeping rough and spending the winter nights in the tunnels of Ulan Bator. That is the only warm place during the harsh winter next to the hot water pipes. Even now, in the middle of February it was -27 celsius this morning. I was here in 2003 the first time. Since that the city has changed a lot, but the issue of homeless children still exists. The city becomes overcrowded, people come here for a better future but turn to alcohol when the city leaves them disappointed. As a result, kids run off home, leave school behind and seemingly they have no prospects for a healthy life. The gap between cities and the countryside is huge. Many NGOs are trying to bridge this gap.

        ” There are also opportunities for English language teaching if you want to earn some money, but as I’m not a native English speaker I won’t do that. Having said that, many people do do, even if they have  a very low level of English themselves. There is a big demand, especially as mining, unfortunately,  is a huge business here. I say ’unfortunately’, because I would not recommend working with mining. I disagree with most forms of mining techniques as they tend to cause irreversible harm., But everyone can make their own decisions about this.

       ” Right now I am deciding between two opportunities.  One is working with children in an orphanage. They have an office in London too, that’s where I know them from. The other possibility would be a chance to help in research and writing articles for another NGO, also within education. Seemingly two different jobs but related in  the sense that they both work for the future of the next generation.

        ” Once you are in Mongolia  you can contact places and organisations easily.  It is really easy to approach anyone. I haven’t experienced this kind of attitude anywhere in Europe. For example one of my friends just asked for directions  in an office and she now might start working  for them doing administration like emailing and secretarial type work.. There are lots of different types of organizations doing environmental or conservation work and if you are interested in this area it is worth looking into as there are  some really interesting projects going on.

         “FinallyI would really recommend finding local agencies. You need to see the reality to get close to a country and to understand its problems. When an organisation is affiliated with a big international agency and you work with other Europeans you might spend more time partying together than getting to know the country you live in, its customs and traditions.  Without this level of knowledge I think it is impossible to do development work properly. I say come here with humility and an an open mind.”

Read another post about Mongolia here http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/blog/development/?s=mongolia&searchbutton=go%21

CV advice for International Development February 15, 2012

Posted by Jeff Riley in : international development , 2comments


Comfort Osilaja was pulling her hair out. It’s a regular experience for recruiters who are looking through CVs for international development internships and jobs.  Comfort has many years experience in the sector and has worked for Anti-Slavery International, Cafod and the Commonwealth Foundation.  One of her current projects is ‘Identity Careers’ which she runs with Kevin Cusack. Identity Careers provides training and coaching for people looking to start in the sector. (www.identitycareers.com/

We spoke to Comfort about the damage she is inflicting on her hair.  “The problem is we do get lots of applications.  For example a recent internship was up on our site and JobOnline for just a week and I had to look through 42 applications. In some ways basic errors make my job easier. For example I can easily set aside applications from people who don’t include a covering letter when asked to do so.  Or applicants who plaster Curriculum Vitae in big bold letters across their CV and have lots of ‘special effects’ – but then don’t include a name. Believe me it does happen.

How can people make a good impression then? One thing lots of students do is automatically start with their education.

Does developing country experience make a difference?  Honestly, its usually more important that people can find their way around an office than around Africa. Certainly for the entry level office work we were advertising recently. It is important that people demonstrate a passion for the sector but that can be done more practically through longer term volunteering in the UK than a six week experience in the summer holiday.

What is Identity Careers?  Kevin and I produce one day workshops and 2-hour CV workshops for small groups of people on getting into development – usually no more than 20 at a time.  It’s different from the one day course The Careers Group, University of London offers because participants will get individual advice and the opportunity for follow up coaching to better develop their cvs and put together an action plan to really get them started on their international development careers, which is really important, as we all know how easy it is to get fired up by a workshop and then do nothing afterwards

Junior Associate at Civitatis International February 13, 2012

Posted by Jeff Riley in : UCL Careers Service News, internships, think tanks , add a comment


Matthew Allison has recently completed an MA in Politics, Security and Integration at UCL.  He is now completing a ‘Junior Associateship’  internship with Civitatis International (www.civitatis.org.uk/) . We talked  to him about his experience

Matthew how did you find out about the programme? Well because I have a fairly clear idea of where I am heading in my career – political consultancy – I knew internships where going to be an important source of  experience.  The key site I use is W4MP and that’s where I found the Civitatis International programme.  I hadn’t heard of them before to be honest.

Was it competitive? Well they take on people for 3 month placements regularly and they told me that they had 100 applications for the three places they had available.  It was competitive but I guess things can be even more competitive than that.

How did you prepare for the interview?  Well they did provide a very clear and thorough ‘job description’ and I did come along for a practice interview with yourself, as you know. They had a lot of information about themselves on the web site as well which made it clear what their ethos and concerns were.

It was a voluntary programme. This is quite an issue at the moment. What did you feel about this?  Well it was my first internship and I was a bit anxious about being taken for a ride. It was clear though from the job spec that they had put a lot of thought into making the internship a mutually rewarding one.  There is a big emphasis on the programme on being trained in global governance and global thinking as well as assisting on  the projects of Civitatis at the secretariat in the City of London.  Even so you can’t help worrying that you were going to end up inputting data on behalf of an admin person who is on maternity leave. 

What was the reality like?  They were as good as their word. I got lots of training on things like ‘how to write briefing papers’ and even stuff on CVs as well as lots of opportunities to do things that I wouldn’t have been able to do just on an academic course. Things like going to conferences, representing  Civitatis at high profile events and meeting some very senior people like the ex-head of Mi5. You are able to claim expenses for things like conferences.

What were you working on? I was assisting with research on things like energy and resources.  Especially resource depletion. One of things we are working on is mapping links between energy revolutions and  societal change historically to see what lessons they have for us today and in the future.  The other research work is focused on ‘European values’ and the extent to which the European Union can be used as a model for global governance.  The research is though only part of what I have been doing.  I have to contact other researchers in academia and industry to create links and gauge levels of interest in our work, I attend conferences  – often writing up reports on the proceedings.

You haven’t completed the programme yet but what have you got from it? Well it has been very worthwhile.  A lot of professional skills such as communications – how to liaise with internal and external  networks including ‘high level stakeholders’.  I have got a lot more evidence and experience of multi-tasking and it has boosted my confidence a lot.  Even my research skills have improved.  I was fairly confident about these being a masters level student but the internship has helped me see that outside of academia you need to be able to work to much tighter deadlines – two days rather than a month that you would typically get for an essay.  Also learning about a briefing style that is less academic than university work.  Authoritative but without ‘opinion’ and presenting facts in a concise way so it can be read quickly over a coffee, for example.

Has the programme changed your career ideas? Well it has more clearly confirmed for me that I’m heading in the right direction and given me some concrete evidence to present when I’m going for paid roles.  Having said that it has also helped me land another internship with the ‘Vote For Ken’ campaign.  I think having the evidence from Civitatis helped convince them I could be useful.

Intelligence and Security – increasing demand for graduates January 12, 2012

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Intelligence and security, Political risk , add a comment


I caught up with Luke Vile from BeecherMadden – a specialist headhunting firm that supply expertise to the intelligence and security sector.  We published an interview with Luke last autumn http://bit.ly/zAJhz3 and he wanted to give us an update.   You can contact Luke at  Luke Vile +44 (0) 20 3036 0509  Luke.vile@beechermadden.com

The good news for King’s students with an interest in the sector is that there is an increase in DEMAND.  I asked Luke what was driving this.

“ A number of factors –  *             Crises. For example maritime companies are having to respond to fragile security especially off the horn of Africa.  This is driving demand both for consultancy and physical security.  One of the consequences is that there is a need for more people who are able to analyse the situation in the region.  In fact one of the students we placed from King’s College had done a dissertation on this topic so that was very helpful.

*             Regional  instability. Clearly the Arab spring has shaken things up. Egypt, for example, is no longer the stable country it was. Afghanistan is undergoing change as western forces withdraw.  New regimes demand a revision in the ways organisations and businesses relate to countries.

*             Legislation. Things like the new Bribery Act change the landscape as well as more countries adopt different rules.  Buying a bank in Kenya, for example, requires different considerations  now than a couple of years ago.

*             Economic situation.  While the economic crisis is by no means over there are emerging areas of stability and growth.  So, for example, now banks are finding their feet again they may be able to consider engaging with emerging markets like Turkey.

*             Graduates.  Intelligence and security graduates are becoming a recognised resource in the industry. Employers know that students from colleges like King’s can provide excellent analytical skills, knowledge and a willingness and ability to get stuck in.  Frankly even if they are put on a good starting salary they are going to be cheaper  than an ex-army officer”

I also asked Luke who his clients were and what kind of student he wanted to hear from?

“Our clients include small, niche consulting security firms, the larger intelligence and security outfits and commercial professional services firms who by the nature of their size and range of activities will sometime have a need for the kind of personnel we aim to supply.   Ideally we recruit people who can start work fairly quickly but I would encourage anyone with the kind of background that War Studies implies to get in touch.”

Careers In Public Affairs December 14, 2011

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Uncategorized , add a comment


Weber Shandwick is one of the biggest Public Relations companies in the world and I head its political communications section.  The public affairs industry is under some pressure right now because of the activities of Adam Werrity, the ‘lobbyist’ that attached himself to Liam Fox, the former defence secretary. What Werrity was doing was nothing to do with what public affairs professionals do. 

“So what do we do? Well we work with declared clients.  We help them in different ways.  For some it might be providing a list of stakeholders that are impacted by an issue they are involved. We might suggest an event they could stage to achieve a specific end. Provide template for letters they might use to move an argument forward or outline a campaign they could stage.  Clients usually come us very late in the day to help us easily achieve their aim.

“Or our work might be more straightforward lobbying. Our client, for example, might be a major software house who are concerned with proposed legislation and we would organise a meeting with relevant parties in the government.  This is achieved through being able to point out shared interests rather than handing over cash in brown envelopes as the tabloids would occasionally have it.”

Getting jobs in public affairs

What would be better as the next step? A media internship or more public affairs experience?  “Neither, get some Westminster experience. The UK public affairs sector really values knowing how Westminster works. Other useful organisations to get involved with are those concerned with advocacy, charities and NGOs or experience in think tanks such as Demos or the Centre for Social Justice”

Who gets hired?  “Well we recruit people with journalism experience, people with research backgrounds especially civil servants with backgrounds in defence or health and people who have worked for MPs. Sometimes we also hire ex MPs. ”

What does the work involve? “In addition to the things already outlined entrants should be aware that the work can involve long hours. Breakfast meetings and evening networking with MPs, for example.”

In House vs Consultancy.  “Weber Shandwyck is a consultancy but lots of public affairs people work for clients.  Contrary to what you might expect in-house work is paid at least the same and sometimes better that consultancy work.  With the added bonus that you can boss consultants around when they get hired by your firm. In-house also has the advantage of better terms and conditions such as more generous maternity leave”

Any advice for Interns? “In brief – don’t get ill. You have little time to make an impression and taking time off because of illness should be avoided. Also be prepared to make the coffee – really. Everyone has done it.”

Is international experience valued? “Not really though languages can be useful. A good example are talented Americans often with extensive experience in Capitol Hill but for us its a question of who they know in the UK and whether they know how parliament works.  Bigger consultancies may have more scope to use them.”

Writing Security briefings November 29, 2011

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Intelligence and security, Political risk, internships , 2comments


We recently spoke to a  consultant who studies at King’s College War Studies department and now works for a private security company working in high risk and emerging markets such as Afghanistan, Colombia, Gaza West Bank, Pakistan, Iraq and many more, including most recently, Libya.  For the time being I have made the report anonymous.  Part of the discussion focused on what goes into security briefs.

What does your company do?  Mainly we provide physical security mainly but also have an element of analysis to support that function. For example we may be approached by an oil company drilling a new well outside of Basra. They provide numbers of staff, locations, dates and request protection for their operations.

We can provide things like access control, vehicle search, perimeter control, armed guards and cars to protect their staff wherever they need to go.  This does mean there are a lot of ex-military staff on our team.  However, I have no military background. I started as an intern working on Pakistan and Yemen. 

Now I  work with the Commercial Support team. I put together bids to win security work. This brings everything together  - for example how our recruitment works, how our finance works, how we store our equipment. Also pulling in information from our people on the ground – what’s happening in such and such a small town.  Or a high level report about what’s going in Pakistan or Iraq.  I don’t do analysis work as such in this role but  I still need to have a very good idea of what is going on.

What is the difference between this and working as a research analyst.  As an intern  research analyst I was writing more security reports rather than bids for work. For example on a daily basis I produce a short security report – A bullet point list of security related events that that have  happened in the last 24 hours. Produced on a daily basis.  On Pakistan it could be a fortnightly 8 or 10 page brief called ‘Northern Pakistan Explored’. Looking at Peshawar or a larger area which includes a graph that, for example, shows the  number of IED attacks and the number of incidents of small arms fire. A monthly report Pakistan report is also produced.  Similar reports on Yemen would look at security issues in the main cities. I also wrote more specialised  briefs on energy security for a firm’s windfarm resources in an emerging market. 

When writing for commercial clients you have to be brief and to the point. If you are worried about your engineers being blown up they want to know practical things such as where is it physically safe to go and not go. They want numbers and they want to know that you are talking to guys on the ground with military experience. If you throw in a few acronyms they like that.  Essentially though it is just about being straight and to the point.

This work doesn’t involve client contact though your work  does reache clients. My work in the commercial team involves much more client contact. 

This succint approach can also help with applications by the way.  Our senior managers have to read a hell of a lot of information every day and they can get irritated with what they see as long-winded stuff.

The interview for the internship. I think one of the reasons I got the interview was that I was able to include some basic previous work experience with the Canadian High Commission – it was the most boring job processing visas but it looked good on the CV.  In the interview itself I didn’t bluff and pretend I was a world expert. I told them that I knew a fair amount but that  I was also there to learn. Anyone who gives the impression of bluffing or blagging could end up producing unreliable material which could literally be fatal for our clients.  I also had to deal with a really tough question on the difference between a threat and a risk – to be honest I couldn’t answer that then and I couldn’t answer it now.  They questioned me on why I had said certain things in my application but also curved ball questions such as what are main risks of operating in certain parts of Columbia which I didn’t know too much about

Did the Internship impact on your studies?  Yes. A significant impact to be honest but I had a very pragmatic view of it from the beginning and it had always been my intention to get the vital work experience.  On the other hand without a Masters I would not have  been able to get the internship.  There isn’t a single intern I have met that wasn’t doing a Masters at King’s. 

What tips do you have for current students?

*           Intern early.  I started early with the internship and it was crucial in creating a paid opportunity later. 

*           Get career clarity.  If you want to be an academic you are going to need better grades than I was prepared to get. In which case internships wouldn’t be so important. Think tanks also need better grades but also some work experience.  Interning is great. It was very beneficial for me. It is hard to get a foot in the door and the only way to meet people is to get an internship and establish a network.

*           Cold call rather than email to ask about internships.  It is easy to lose an email but a phone call is more direct. The worse that can happen is they say no.  Do something that other people won’t do.  There were loads of networking events at organisations such as RUSI and that’s also a good way to meet people.

What value did the course give you? The course is great and for this sector a Masters is  really an entry level qualification.  It isn’t designed to cover the operations side of the things I also have to deal with. What armoured car formations are proving effective or exactly what kinds of weapons are being used – things like that. Unless you have a military background you have to get that from people on the ground.  I am still learning a lot and I still have to get input from other people. Though less and less as I get more experience.

Is it a male dominated industry?   Yes, most definitely. Though partly this is because a high proportion of our staff are operations based and they are often men (ex-military). We have 70 permanent employees and 2500 contractors.  The vast majority of the contractors are male. It is much more balanced in the area I work in.

Social science in the oil and gas industry November 21, 2011

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Graduate recruitment, Industry Information , 2comments


Piers Moffatt graduated with a BA from the War Studies department in 2007. He came back to meet some of our students to talk about his subsequent career in the oil and gas industry.

 Piers, how did you get started in the sector?  I hadn’t considered what I was going to do that much while I was studying but in 2007 it became pretty clear that the job market was going to get very tight.  I basically got on the phone and chased down everyone in my network – I’d been to an international school so I had a fairly wide reach.  Eventually I got into what I thought was a conversation with an oil and gas startup company who one of my friend’s family had a connection with.  It turned out it was more of a job interview than a conversation.  The job offer though was dependent on me preparing an executive briefing situation report on the Angolan Oil industry.  Having said that I have to admit I had misheard them and they were expecting a piece on the Algerian oil industry but I guess they were convinced I had something to offer.  At the same time I was also preparing my dissertation and choose to focus my paper on something relevant to the potential job.  In the end I decided to look at the geopolitical and social implications of oil and gas exploration and production activities within the Kurdistan region of Iraq.  At the end of the day, the fact that the company was a startup worked very much in my favour as the most important part of my role was to be flexible and hard working as well as demonstrating a good fit into the company’s organisational chemistry. 

That was a very strategic approach to your dissertation.  Well it was a good way to demonstrate an ability to conduct research and analysis relevant to the type of work I wanted to pursue.  I think I’d recommend not just using a dissertation to write about what you just happen to be interested in but think of a way it can align you with the job market.

 What else did you bring to help you land the job?  I think it is worth stressing that getting a real grounding in some of the practical skills that we take for granted can go a long way.  In my case I had to become pretty good with things like Access and Excel in my spare time. These are fairly standard things that lots of students know a little about but I was able to demonstrate that I was fairly fluent – for example knowing about VBA Macros in Excel.  Very early on I was concerned to get across my capacity to work.  Someone asked me what my distinctive quality was and I told them  that I simply worked my a** off! Actually though, I do.  I love my work. Another important thing to stress is always be curious.  When you hear something go off and do some independent research so that you can contribute at a later stage. 

You then moved to Wood Mackenzie your current employer?  Yes, the first company was a startup during a very difficult time.  The massive rise in oil and gas prices in 2007 followed by the subsequent collapse in the financial industry put a lot of strain on the industry.  It become increasingly difficult to access financing and the markets became very uneasy around oil and gas companies because it’s a  highly capital intensive industry with long lead times.  At the same time, it is also extremely risky with huge capital outlays and no guarantee of financial pay-off, particularly around exploration.  Typical drilling success rates are around 30% and it you assume that most offshore wells will cost upwards of $20 million dollars smaller companies can run out of money very quickly.

Was that a formal recruitment process?  Absolutely, I knew the company and they knew me through my work in the industry but given the difficulties in the job market everyone needs to go through the same type of process to ensure that you have the fundamentals.  I had to make sure I prepared myself for the recruitment and assessment centre.  They conducted a numerical and psychological reasoning test early on followed by a case study interview and a final discussion with the head of the unit.  While the maths wasn’t particularly difficult, GCSE level, it was necessary to brush up because the questions are designed to test your numerical reasoning.  Two or three days of locking yourself away with a calculator is what is needed and you have to be prepared to put in the effort.

What do you do for Wood Mackenzie?  I’m a consultant. The kinds of work I do varies.  For example one oil company wanted to know how quickly they could move from discovery to extraction in Kazakhstan and how they could then monetise their resources.  Now they thought about 5 to 6 years but we were able to provide a more realistic estimate 11-15 years and this was evaluated in terms of new transit routes that could likely be developed in that timeframe. I was also recently in Singapore advising an oil company about how they can benchmark themselves against other oil companies in terms of their exploration processes.  Our role was to do an internal diagnostics of the company that hired us, find where their process were weak and then use our networks in the industry and previous experience to provide best practice solutions from some of the world’s most successful companies.  Outside the skills and experience of our team, we also rely heavily on the company’s proprietary database. This is one of the most comprehensive data sources in the industry and captures everything from licensing awards to wells drilled as well as different industries that allow us to forecast energy pricing and demand.  We are then able to leverage this knowledge and provide holistic interpretations about what is happening in the industry and how it could possibly develop.

We don’t find many of our students going into this sector. Well, if history is anything to go by you typically need to be an engineer, geologist or geoscientist to get into it.  Once you have the grounding, you are then trained up in commercial aspects and can either follow a more technical or managerial position.  However my belief is that the industry has so much to offer and I aim to make sure we don’t exclude people just because they come with a social science background.  I have to say I think it’s a great sector to work in. So many people have opinions and make judgements on the industry, but once you get exposure you can truly appreciate it for what it is. 

So Wood Mackenzie has a graduate programme?  Yes, and an internship programme as well.  The graduate programme goes on year round.  While it doesn’t pay as well as, say investment banking, you can earn pretty good money. On top of this you can earn up to 30% of your salary as a bonus.  As well as consultants we recruit researchers. No matter what role you have you will need good personal interaction skills.  If you are a data genius but can’t get along with people it’s not going to work.  This is something that has become increasingly important during the hiring process.  Finding the right people is key. 

http://www.woodmacresearch.com Wood Mackenzie is the most comprehensive source of knowledge about the world’s energy and metals industries. They analyse and advise on every stage along the value chain – from discovery to delivery, and beyond – to provide clients with the commercial insight that makes them stronger.

Working in Peacekeeping and the UN November 10, 2011

Posted by Jeff Riley in : UN, international development , 1 comment so far


Thanks to a guest blogger for this entry.  They are  working in the UN, currently in Afghanistan.  You can read more about the UN by searching for ‘United Nations’ on careerstagged.co.uk and on this blog.

The UN works in the field of socio-economic development, humanitarian aid as well as international relations and peacekeeping.  The various UN agencies are present in over 192 countries in the world, helping  the most vulnerable in times of humanitarian emergencies , delivering basic social services, supporting governments, and  building institutions.

 In countries in, or just coming out of, conflict, UN missions, specifically integrated peacekeeping missions, all the functions of the UN are brought together under one umbrella. In countries where a peace agreement has been reached, a peacekeeping mission helps enforce the agreement and rebuild the nation. In other countries, like Afghanistan, where conflict  reigns, the UN focuses more on human rights, development and humanitarian relief.

The UN system  brings together people from all nations and all disciplines. The UN agencies work in very specific technical areas, where it is necessary to be a technical expert in various fields. The technical staff in the UN agencies comprise medical doctors, agricultural specialists, political scientists, water engineers, teachers, economists etc.  Everyone can join the UN, regardless of your discipline. In addition, there are a number of management and coordination roles that bring the work in the different sectors together to form a coherent and holistic response to complex situations.

Working for the UN in the field is less of a job, and more of a lifestyle. It is dynamic and ever changing by definition, as people who work for the UN move between countries and between different UN entities.  Working in a political or peackeeping mission in a conflict or post-conflict country, in particular, is an even more specific lifestyle choice. Your job very much defines who you are, and you tend to move country every 2-3 years. You work for 6-8 weeks very intensely, and then you are entitled to a week off of ‘Rest and Recuperation’ cycles. In emergency situations, you work non-stop for how ever  long the emergency lasts. You do not stop work in the evening , and  go home leaving the office behind you; your weekends are not respected; you cannot just go away for the weekend or just take a day off.  For six to eight weeks, depending on the country, you live and work within a specific social structure, your life is regulated by UN security rules like curfew or where you are allowed to live, where you are allowed to go out, and often even with whom, you are always ‘one duty’ whilst in your duty station. The impact of such a lifestyle on one’s personall life should not to be underestimated, especially for women.  Partners are not always very accepting of such a career.

At the same time, if you do not want stability, working in a peacekeeping mission is extremely interesting and exciting work. You help shape policy and strengthen institutions, you are part of shaping nations and helping people to live better lives.You are , in many cases, part of history.

Peacekeeping missions have several components: political affairs, civil affairs (governance and rule of law, human rights) and in most cases the military and the civilian police. In an integrated UN  mission, the UN agencies are also part of the UN mission. The Resident Coordinator’s Office, in which I work, is responsable for bringing these threads together.

I have been working with the UN system for over seven years and am a specialist in development in transition/post-conflict countries in Liberia, Haiti and Afghanistan.  I have worked for the UN Development Programme, the World Bank and the UN Department of Peacekeeping, always within the field of development and humanitarian coordination.  Concretely this means trying to coordinate aid agencies such as DFID, USAID, the Aga Khan Network, etc. in order to make aid efforts more coherent and hence more effective. This includes supporting governments to develop national policies and development strategies, building information management strategies and helping to organise international conferences.  

Currently, I am in Afghanistan, where I have been for over a year and a half.  I am the Deputy Head of the Resident coordinator’s Office, the office which is charged with coordinating the UN system. This entails bringing together all the different UN actors in the country; developing common strategies and policies, as well as bringing different actors together on specific issues of common interest such as the impact of a growing population on a country emerging from conflict or environmental sustainability or employment creation. I focus on communications, information management , monitoring and evaluation, all at the systematic level. Furthermore, I am specialised in all matters concerning gender and women’s empowerment, specifically within peacekeeping.

In my previous positions in Liberia and Haiti, my work included worked very closely with the Government, in particular with the Ministers of Finance and the Planning on developing aid policies, poverty reduction strategies, rebuilding national statistics’ system, etc. 

In short, my job is extremely diverse and no such thing as a routine. It isn’t always exciting, there are a lot of processes and reporting to headquarters. However, all jobs have their boring  sides, which is why it is so important for the rest of the work to be really worth it. The key to the job is to always keep the end game in sight, which is to improve the life of the people and support the  most vulnerable. You need to be prepared to be extremely flexible and keep a clear head in an emergency, because often you really are dealing with life or death situations. You need to be able to react and think extremely quickly. Yet most of all, you have to deal with not always being able to help.  

The hardest part of working in the field for the UN,  is facing the people who are suffering every day, but all too often you can do nothing.   

Getting overseas NGO experience – Nepal and elsewhere October 19, 2011

Posted by Jeff Riley in : NGO, international development, work experience , add a comment


Robert Ordman left King’s College in 2010 with a first class degree in War Studies. As part of his  career development plan he organised an overseas work experience placement in Nepal. We talked to him about his experience.

Robert, why did you go overseas?  Well I realised that for the area of work I was considering – something related to security  and international relations -  employers really value international experience.  Whilst I had seen lots of masters students in the department using their qualifications to get good quality jobs I felt that as a mature student practical experience would be more helpful for me at this point, and that if I did decide to do a masters later the experience might also help me.

How did you arrange it?  It was arranged for me by an organisation called Links4change which I know you are familiar with.  The woman who runs it, Victoria Leat, set it up after he own experience of volunteering in Africa. It cost me £500 flat fee but I then had to find flights and accommodation costs as well living expenses. Fortunately for me the cost of living in Nepal is very low, so overall it cost me less than if I done an internship in the UK instead.

So what was the placement like?  Well I actually had two because the original placement did not match my expectations. I was placed in a regional office of a Nepali peace building NGO, and although the staff treated me extremely well and were as helpful as they could be they had not taken an intern before, and didn’t understand what was involved. As a result there was virtually no work for me to do and within a month I realised that neither of us was benefiting from the experience. I kept Victoria informed of the issues during this period and eventually asked her to find me an alternative, an option that is built into her contract for just such an eventuality. I’m pleased to say that she fully understood my situation and came up with a number of offers for me within a fairly short space of time. Fortunately I took a small netbook with me on the trip so communication by email and Skype was easy.

So where did you end up?  The next placement was with The Asia Foundation (TAF) http://asiafoundation.org , a very large and powerful American NGO which works in areas such as governance, women’s rights, economic reform and development, and international relations.  It is an extremely professional, very prestigious outfit and my placement with them, based in Kathmandu, was exactly what I wanted.

What were you doing? I worked in the Peace Unit, whose role is to build bridges between the various political parties. There was a vicious civil conflict in Nepal 1996-2006, and although there has been democracy since 2008 the peace process has still not been completed and there is a kind of political paralysis which prevents much needed progress from being made. The Peace Unit is designed to help facilitate the peace process in two ways in particular: to give the politicians a safe and private space in which to continue discussions, and to give them practical support in coming to an agreement. For example TAF would bring in international experts on issues such as conflict resolution, electoral systems, or truth and reconciliation processes.  They would  provide examples of best practice and make practical suggestions to help move things forward.

What was your role?  Primarily I was involved in the research and production of various documents covering different aspects of the peace process. My main job was to review 25 peace agreements that had been signed between 2005 and 2010 in order to establish which ones had been implemented, why the others hadn’t been and what was required in order to complete the process. It proved a fascinating task in which I was able to draw on many of the skills I developed whilst taking my degree and writing my dissertation. As well as collaborating with colleagues within TAF I also interviewed political activists, human rights leaders and senior politicians as part of my primary research, and also had to keep well organised and disciplined in order to manage the large amount of data I had to handle. The purpose of the research was to enable the politicians to focus on what needed to be done to resolve the outstanding problems, and it felt really satisfying to know I was making a real contribution to the process.Another document I produced related to how the media in Nepal could make a more positive contribution to the peace process. Amongst the people I interviewed this time were the editor of a leading national newspaper, a development worker at the UN and spokesmen for the three major political parties. I also came up with my own recommendations for a strategy that TAF could adopt to achieve the objectives. In addition to the work I did on these documents I also had the opportunity to attend a number of meetings with different political figures and international experts, which gave me an insight into the complexity of the issues at stake.

What did you learn from your experience?  I gained a huge amount of cultural awareness. This was my first non-UK working experience and it really brought home to me that people from different cultures really do see the world in a different way. At the same time I learned not to take things for granted, and to challenge my own pre-conceptions. I found a practical outlet for my research skills and used what I had learned about writing and providing academically sound  material, which all help increase my confidence in my own ability.  The fact that I had a first class degree and it was from London – some people had even heard of King’s College – really helped me make connections with people.  It also broadened my ideas of what I wanted to do. It sparked an interest in international development and human rights that hadn’t been there before, running alongside my previous interest in security and peace building.

It sounds like an interesting experience. Was it fun?  Enormous fun. Admittedly this was partly down to developing a great social life with other ‘expat’ international workers and volunteers, but there was also something wonderful about living in such a different environment, amongst genuinely friendly and welcoming locals. I admit I found the first month or so fairly tough, partly due to the cold and a couple of health issues, but once the temperature started to go up and my system adjusted to my new diet I really started to enjoy myself. I am so glad I stuck it out and would strongly recommend the experience.

Political Risk Recruitment Agency October 13, 2011

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Political risk , add a comment


BeecherMadden is one of a handful of specialist recruitment agencies that work in the niche area of  business risk and resilience.  We spoke to Luke Vile one of their directors about the kind of people they can help recruit.  

Luke, I haven’t come across agencies operating in this area before?  Well there are only a handful – around four or five agencies in this sector.  It started developing around the millennium when the concerns about the ‘millenium bug’ made business much more aware of issues around risk and what we call resilience. Since then businesses have developed whole divisions that manage these risks, and entire consulting firms have been founded that provide such services.

We proactively identify people to work in areas such as

‘Risk’ as a concept of business management covers all of the above areas.  For example banks may want someone to define who gets access to what layers of their IT or information, and  a company may want to devise protocols for deciding who gets physical access to which parts of their buildings.  It could also involve more policy type work. For example assessing the potential threats for a company’s operations in a particular region through intelligence control.

So who are your clients?  Lots of financial firms (investment and retail banks) consultancies, professional services firms such as auditors, defence consultancies, retailers, consumer goods companies

How do you find people?  Well we proactively search – which is why we approached King’s College.  We have been able to place a number of postgraduates from the War Studies department.  When we meet people we can then be approached by clients or more proactively approach them and suggest they may want to take a look at certain individuals.  It is more common than is thought for jobs to be created for strong candidates, from junior to senior levels.

What do you look for if you are considering postgraduates?  Well  I think of it as a certain ‘X factor’ but what it comes down to is a combination of things:  An excellent academic track record as a foundation.  Some previous experience is important but not always essential.  Though you may not need heaps of experience. Frankly junior people bring a certain energy and freshness, and they are certainly cheaper than senior people.  As well as this they will need to have impeccable communication skills, be able to present well and have a corporate personality.  They should also be able to be convincing and knowledgeable about the industries they want to be develop careers in.  The academic course may be great at giving a global overview of international security but our clients need to know you can see the security implications for their firms and their operations in ‘real world situations;.  Finally a certain element of intrepidness.

What kind of roles have you placed students in previously?  We have had people placed as crisis analysts for investment banks – researching potential crisis points in regions of operations. Others have been placed as security consultants looking at contingency plans if there are natural disasters and providing an audit of current security measures and we have had people become researchers looking at the political issues for a banks operations in a particular region.

How should people proceed if they think they might be suitable?  Well we want to hear from people who might be able to start work within six months so people who have just started their masters should wait a while.  Otherwise people are free to email or phone me for a discussion. No obligation of course.

www.beechermadden.com Luke Vile 020 303 608 22   Luke.vile@beechermadden.com