The United Nations Competitive Recruitment Examination is a

competitive examination An examination (exam or evaluation) or test is an educational assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). A test may be administered verba ...

, part of three step selection process for a permanent position with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

consisting of: a written examination, interview, and two year probationary post.

Written examinations

The written examination consists of the following two parts: a general paper which tests drafting skills (forty-five minutes); and a specialized paper (three hours and forty-five minutes) which tests the substantive knowledge of the particular occupation that the candidate is applying for. In cases where the number of candidates sitting the written examination is high, the essay section of the specialized paper will be eliminatory. The written examination questions are given in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, the two working languages of the

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is the ninth winne ...

. Candidates must write their answers for the general paper in English or French. However, they may write their answers for the specialized paper in English, French or any of the other four

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

s of the Secretariat, i.e.,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Subjects

Not all the subjects are offered every year, but some are offered more often than others. Here a table of subjects given in recent years, together with the number of persons invited to take the written exam in that subject. {, border="1" , + Number of people invited to take each exam type, by year ! Topic !! 2008 Written Exam !! 2009 Written Exam , - align="center" ,

Finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

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Information Technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

, , 395 , , 322 , - align="center" , Political Affairs , , 844 , , 0 , - align="center" ,

Environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

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Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

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Human Rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

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Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

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Administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

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The interview

On the basis of performance in the written examination, the Board of Examiners will invite selected candidates to the interview, which will normally take place from 6 to 12 months after the exam. The interview will be conducted in English or French, the two working languages of the Secretariat. A modest percentage of those who take the written exam will be convoked to take the interview. For example, of the 395 people who sat for the 2008 IT exam, 39 were convoked to the interview. Of those, 26 were added to the roster of qualified candidates. Successful after the examination: Following the completion of the interviews, the Board of Examiners will recommend the most suitable candidates to the

Assistant Secretary-General An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under- ...

for

Human Resources Management Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

of the United Nations. These candidates will be placed on a reserve roster of qualified candidates. This roster will be circulated among heads of duty stations for selection, further interview, and placement of candidates. The typical time spent on the roster prior to placement in a job with the UN is from 6 months to 3 years. The decisions of the Board of Examiners regarding the results will be final and are not subject to appeal. The Board does not release individual results. Successful candidates may be called upon to serve at the U.N. Headquarters in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

or at other duty stations in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

External links

Page on the UN website

Report of the effectiveness of the UN recruiting examination process
Examinations United Nations documents United Nations posts