Welcome!
This site is about getting your first job as a humanitarian aid worker. Whether you want to run refugee camps, micro credit programs or health programs, this is my personal opinion (not my employer’s) about ways to make the transition to international relief and development work.
My take on getting a job as a humanitarian aid worker is organized by chapters (on the right-hand side under the heading Book chapters) – and is supposed to be read top-to-bottom more or less like a book. Book reviews, practitioner interviews and other pieces are posted below. Find out more about this blog here.
Please read the disclaimer, and understand that this line of work is not risk free. You need to do your own research, make your own decisions, and take responsibility for them.
If this site is as useful to you as a book you might have paid for please consider buying my new Kindle eBook, which contains much of the content from this site, thoughtfully formatted for off-line reading on a Kindle, iPad, laptop, or other e-reader. It’s $6, and honestly, what can you get for that these days? Get it here
One more thing – I would love anyone who likes this site to go to Amazon and review the e-book – it really helps me to recover some of the costs of hosting this site – thanks!
Hi there,
I could not find a contact email for you. I would like to ask you several questions and advice. If you have time i would appreciate if you contacted me via email so i can send through my thoughts.
Thank you!
You can find my email on the ‘about’ page – here http://humanitarianjobs.wordpress.com/about/
Dear Nick,
What an excellent blog – I’ve had many of the same questions asked to me over the years and you have really summed it up well. I’ll be pointing people to your blog in the future. Thank you and keep up the good work!
Dane Fredenburg
Catholic Relief Services
Thank you Dane!
Hey Nick,
Thank you for the fantastic blog about humanitarian jobs and beginning a career with them. I had so many questions and your blog was able to answer most of them. With your site and some others I have been able to get much better direction on what I should do in order to work with humanitarian organizations in the Middle East.
Best wishes,
Jeff
Thanks for the feedback Jeff!
Absolutely needed! This blog is what I have needed. As an international retired athlete and almost graduate student with some unofficial background in volunteering and humanitarian work, I can say I have struggled with getting into the field. I have begun making my personal notes from your interviews and I am now carefully and strategically chartering my course. Thank you for the valuable tips from your blog. I will be posting and advertising your blog to my friends within the field.
Gratefully,
Judyth
Thank you for the feedback Judyth, I appreciate it!
Folks – I have no idea what this organization is like, and can’t vouch for them in any way – if anyone has any feedback on them I’d love to hear about it!
Nick
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GVI has loads of jobs around the world, in a variety of fields. If you are passionate about helping people & enjoy a bit of hard work while having fun on the job then ‘Global Vision International’ may be the organisation you’ve been looking for.
Volunteer Work