Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is the purpose of this site?
A. I run the overseas internship program for a US based international NGO and get asked for my advice on how to get a foot in the door a lot. I’ve also been in the position of being frustrated at not being able to get information on how to break out of the experience catch-22 situation.
This site is my personal opinion as someone who has worked in the field both as a practitioner and on the recruiting side. It is the distilled version of the information that I would give in an informational interview.
I should make clear that this blog is not the view of my employer. It’s not necessarily what I think is best for the humanitarian community, and it’s not how I think the world should work. It’s simply my honest opinion on the best way to get your first job in this line of work.
Q. Can you help me get a job in relief and development work?
A. Not directly. I can tell you what I know about getting your first job, which is the purpose of this site.
Q. What do you know about this subject?
A. I’ve worked for large well-funded international relief agencies and volunteered for tiny locally run non-profits. I’ve run large logistical operations supporting refugee camps in major emergencies, and worked one-on-one with returning refugees in rural communities. I’ve recruited for humanitarian programs, and run an international internships program for a major international relief and development agency based in the US and the UK.
I’ve run programs funded by most of the world’s major donor agencies including a handful of UN agencies, US Federal Agencies, UK, and European funders, as well as private foundations.
More importantly than this though, I’ve been in the position trying to break into this line of work, and successfully navigated the obstacles. In addition to my take on this, throughout this site you’ll find excerpts from interviews from people who have recently found work in this area, and from people who recruit for the industry. You’ll get a range of views on what hiring managers are looking for and how to get their attention.
Q. Don’t you think it is irresponsible to suggest that people should travel to emergencies and look for work?
A. I’m certainly not recommending that anyone do that – that’s a decision that they would have to make for themselves. There are risks both for the individual and problems that unprepared volunteers cause. Having said that, the reality is that a lot of people who end up working in this field get their first job this way, and I think the fairest thing to do is to present the information as best I can. I feel it’s patronizing to say that people shouldn’t do what I and many others have done. People need to make their own decisions with the best information available.
Q. I think you’re wrong.
A. Please do drop me an email, or comment on the blog. I’m very interested in feedback. Even if I don’t agree with you, I will try to find a way to present an alternate point of view.
Thank you for the article, it was very informative and helpful. I am currently looking into grad schools, in an international development degree, and I would love any advice you have on choosing a school. You already mentioned practical experience component, but are there other things you feel are important to have in the experience? As well, do you recommend any particular programs or know of any resources evaluating programs? I’m based in Canada and I’m having a hard time finding good programs in Canada.
Thank you
Hi Matthew – thanks for the feedback, it’s always good to hear this is useful!
I guess the bad news is I can’t tell you which graduate program to choose, partly because I’m not very familiar with the offerings in Canada right now, and partly because I don’t know enough about what you want to get out of the experience, or your experience so far. Drop me an email and we can chat about specifics, but in general, I think that if it isn’t clear to you which school you should go to, you shouldn’t go back to school yet.
What I mean by that is that I don’t think graduate school, in general, helps much in getting your first job. It’s primary value is in making you a better professional, and helping you get subsequent jobs. If you’ve spent a significant amount of time in the field already, I would suggest that you need to look at what drives you, and what areas you find yourself frustrated at a lack of skills in, and find a grad school that matches that. If the answer to that question isn’t clear to you, then I would say go back to the field until it is!
Of course, this is a very personal issue – I know a lot of people who went straight to grad school before they held their first job, and everything was fine.
There’s no one way to do it, but I’m happy to chat on email about your specifics if you like,
Nick
This is incredibly helpful. Thank you SO much! Please keep posting!
Thank you Michelle, I’m glad it’s helpful.
Thank you for the article!It is really helpful.
Yet, I cannot understand one thing: how to discern between the real wish and potential to work in relief and development field, and mere youthful enthusiasm. I’d like to work in this area, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to spend the whole life doing it. I still have time to change my major (it is, by the way, International and Comparative Politics)
Well the good news is that you don’t ever have to spend your whole life in one career these days! There are a lot of people who end up working in this line of work for a few years and then changing careers to go into academia, the private sector, government, pretty much anything. If there is one skill set you will pick up in humanitarian aid it is solving problems with insufficient resources under time pressure, and you’d be hard pressed to find an area of work where that isn’t valued.
The bad news is that I can’t solve your crisis of direction. The best I can offer is to tell you to go spend as much time as you can traveling, living, and, if possible working, in the developing world. College is a great time to spend vacations on internships abroad and independent travel. Go visit some aid agencies in the field and see if you can talk someone into giving you a tour of some project sites, get as much of a feel for it as you can.
I used to tell people that if they could possibly be talked out of a career in this line of work they should be, and that it was only for people who felt that they could not possibly be happy doing anything else, but these days I am a little more optimistic. You should give it a shot if you seriously think it might be for you – you’re not signing up for life!
Hi Nick – A great resource here for anyone interested in relief work. If possible, I’d like to chat further through email with a few specific questions in regards to mid-career transitions into the field. I have a small amount of previous experience in volunteer relief work both locally and internationally. Look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Jill – glad you found it helpful – please feel free to drop me an email (it’s on the About tab). Nick
Hi,
Firstly thank you, this information has been very helpful and informative. There is a couple of questions that I have though…
It seems to me that some of the main qualities and skills required for a humanitarian aid or disaster relief worker are physical and mental toughness, ability to think clearly and effectively in stressful situations and under pressure, excellent leadership and decision making, and logistical skills. Also important is the experience of having worked abroad in less developed countries.
All of these qualities, skills and experiences it seems to me are obtainable from a military background. In fact I cannot think of a better way to train and develop skills in logistics and management for maximum efficiency, in the sort of environments required for humanitarian work, than with the armed forces.
Is it the case that a previous career in the military (4 to 5 years) would be favorable on the CV of anyone applying for a role within a humanitarian aid agency or NGO? And is it likely that applicants with a military background will be considered for higher jobs than just starting at the bottom as volunteers? How do you think this idea compares with the alternative of starting at the bottom with aid organisations and trying to get your foot in the door and gain experience that way?
Thank you very much for your help.
Hi Duncan – thanks for your feedback!
I’m overdue a post on the issues of translating military experience to the INGO sector, but let me give you my quick observations on this.
I think you’re right in that the key skills of international humanitarians often boil down to being able to get things done in chaotic environments, and I don’t disagree that the military can be a good preparation for those kinds of skills. I know a handful of people who have made the move from the armed forces to the humanitarian world successfully.
The catch is that there are radically different organizational languages, cultures, values and practices, and the NGO world often brings a lot of ‘baggage’ about the military with it. The key is to focus on transferable skills – don’t assume that the person reading your military resume understands anything about what you did or the skills you picked up.
Perhaps the worst case I’ve seen of this are the military style resumes that list certifications and trainings (weapons systems, vehicles, techniques) with a list of activities undertaken. You need to explain in very simple terms why what you did in the military equips you to work in this field.
The other issue is the culture. INGO workers often assume that people with military backgrounds will bring a very hierarchical management style, and be unable to cope with a much more fluid and consultative working relationship with colleagues. It’s often the case that a country director will be utterly unable to ‘order’ his expatriate staff to do anything – they have to depend on being able to win the confidence and respect of their team, not rely on titles or positions on the org chart.
How INGOs deal with issues like decision making and security management are obviously different from the armed forces, but be prepared to deal with values questions too – what do you really believe about the legitimacy of organized violence in these kinds of environments, and how do your personal value systems bridge the differences between military and humanitarian values?
To sum up, I think there’s value there, and I’ve seen people make the transition. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it though, mainly because of the huge amount of prejudice that the humanitarian community carries around about the military. It will be an up-hill struggle to convince colleagues of the transferable nature of the skills you learned.
Good luck!
Hi Nick,
Thanks for your valuable feedback.
The issue I have here is that I am soon to finish Uni with a degree in Conservation and ecology (not international development as would be favourable). As i have read on this website it can often be very difficult getting your foot in the door in the humanitarian sector, in order to work up the ladder and learn the necessary skills. The link I made with the forces was purely as a learning experience; to equip me with the skills and experiences necessary for this sector. Consider for example that I joined the forces today. I could spend three years there and leave with the majority these skills to hand. I may have instead spent this time scratching around for aid work, trying to get my foot in the door, but not yet having achieved the break I needed…(and consequently having learned nothing)
It just seems that the skills learned in the forces are very transferable to INGO work, but by learning them in the forces, you can remove the unreliability and difficulty in trying to get a foot in the door of the humanitarian sector….
Perhaps though this stigma towards the military that you mentioned before may in fact be counterproductive?
Let me just say at this point that I have no particular desire to join the forces, I am purely trying to be as efficient and rational as possible.
Thanks again for your time.
Hi Duncan – I don’t disagree that it could be a valuable way to pick up a useful skill set, I would just caution that you might have a hard time selling that skill set to an audience that has little understanding of the military training and often comes to the table with a high degree of skepticism.
Having said that I’m not sure I think that int dev would be better than your current degree- there is a lot of talk in the humanitarian sector right now about climate related poverty and disasters – I think your degree could end up being very valuable. I would really encourage you to make a concerted effort to get as much field experience as you can, whichever route you take – good luck,
Nick
thank you
Hi Nick. I’m ridiculously glad that I’ve stumbled upon this extremely helpful and informative site. I’ll definitely be buying your ebook and buying a couple of books from your links as soon as my payday comes in.
I’m absolutely hell bent on finding humanitarian work of some description.But I’m in something of a muddle as to which direction to take my experience. In a nutshell, I have a law degree and ten years experience of working in a lawyer’s office (paralegal criminal work). I have spent 7 of the last 18 months in and out of Tanzania. I initially went there to volunteer for a couple of months as a pre primary school teacher. I returned as soon as I possibly could and I now help run the school with 4 others. I’ve just returned from a 5 month stint there. As well as fundraising for the school, I also recruit volunteers. The school has 50 children and its a free school in an extremely poor area of northern Tanzania. I also have experience of setting up small businesses for some of the children’s families, some of which are thriving (thanks to the hard work and determination of the families involved!). I’ve also managed to secure sponsorship for a lot of the children to go on to a more established English medium school in the area. I’d like to think that I’m pretty adept at fundraising and organising fundraising events, and its something I enjoy doing – especially if I get to see first hand where the money goes. I speak some Swahili and continue to learn it to improve on any future visits (I have Tanzanian friends who are helping me with that!).
At present I’m in a cycle of working seasonally, saving up my cash, fundraising in my spare time and then returning to Tanzania over the UK winter months (usually December to February). My ideal is to break this cycle by using my experience to find relevant full time work in the humanitarian world. being employed at the school is not an option as we employ two teachers and a school manager.
I have also volunteered locally by helping to open up a boxing club and being their fundraiser and secretary and working for the National Trust (rolling up my sleeves and getting dirty!).
Although my work abroad has only taken me to Tanzania so far, I feel drawn to Peru and Ecuador and am learning Spanish with the purpose of going there to work/volunteer if I dont decide to return to Tanzania this winter.
I’ve also been considering doing a TEFL course, but while that may get me a teaching job abroad, it may not be what I really want to do. Would a TEFL qualification look good, do you think?
Any thoughts and suggestions on any part of this message will be gratefully received. I’m just finding it hard to decide where to go from here. I guess I’m hoping that you’ll read this and say “I got just the job for you!”. My apologies for rambling.
Look forward to hearing from you
G
Hi Gee – I’m glad you like the site!
First off, it sounds like you have a really interesting project that you’re working on, and, had you not said that you were hell bent on doing this for a living, I might have suggested that this kind of contribution can be a really positive thing in its own right. But, since you di, let’s look at how to pivot this experience into a paying job…
There are two things I would suggest. The first is network. Network, network, network. Get a list of all the international organizations working in Tanzania, and get meetings with their country director, deputy, or director of operations. Pitch your project to them, and explain what you’re trying to do there and your career objectives. Being there on the ground is huge, and these relationships are very very important, not just for jobs in Tanzania, but because these people will know hiring managers elsewhere too. In fact, while you’re at it go through Kenya and hit up the regional HQs of the big INGOs there – nearly all of them have regional offices in Nairobi. It’s through a connection made with one of these people that you’ll get a job. Use Linkedin, share project reports and things you’re proud of with them. Don’t make a nuisance of yourself, but be graciously persistent. Update them quarterly with something you are proud of and let them know what you’re looking for.
Number 2. Your resume. I haven’t seen it, but you need to break it out so that it’s clear that what you’re doing there is professional, organized, and that you’re being effective. The term ‘volunteer’ carries unfortunate baggage – there’s no need to declare it unless you’re asked – use a titles that play up your fundraising, recruiting, management etc.
Focus on the high level activities, and don’t play up the getting your hands dirty elements.
The humanitarian industry doesn’t value TEFL.
On a personal level I would steer clear of Latin America just because it is SO hard to add value there as an expatriate – there is a hugely skilled domestic development industry there that really doesn’t need a lot of foreign input at this point.
I’m sorry that I don’t recruit any longer, and don’t have the job for you, but please do let me know how you do – good luck!
Nick