Xue Yuxue, a former country director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan and Indonesia, delivered a lecture on the United Nations’ operation and its demands on international talents at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) on Oct. 26, 2018.

Xue encouraged SISU students to apply for internship and jobs at the UN and other international organizations, saying that working for the UN and international organizations should not be viewed as remote and unattainable. 

According to Xue, China is currently under-represented in the UN “China has contributed 9.72% of the annual U.N. budget since 2016, ranking third after the United States and Japan,” he stated, “However, Chinese UN employees account for merely 1% of the total staff number.”

“The UN personnel structure needs to be reformed,” Xue concluded.

As for the qualifications for being a UN employee or intern, Xue suggested that SISU students should be well-prepared in three aspects.

First, a qualified international talent should be trained professionally. This can be measured by things like educational background, working experience, language competence and professional skills, according to Xue.

The second aspect is career skills. “Different from the ‘hardcore’ professional skills, career skills are ‘softer’ and all about communication,” he explained, “This includes leadership, creativity, team management, and teamwork.”

Last but not least, individual quality is also a big part of the package. Xue listed life experience, logical thinking, trans-cultural communication competence, judgement and decision making for reference.

“It’s hardly possible to raise students’ awareness and abilities only through a two-hour lecture,” Xue noted in the interview after the lecture , “But what I can do is to arouse their interest and curiosity by sharing my own experiences and ideas.” 

This lecture is one of the events in “International Organizations Week”, which is held by SISU Career Center with the aim of encouraging students to apply for internship or jobs in international organizations.

“Students with an offer from the United Nations can apply for financial support anytime in a year to the state’s scholarship council,” Wu Xulei, a teacher from SISU Career Center, said, “The application used to open only twice a year.”

Wu said that they hope to introduce this new policy to more students through series of interesting events instead of issuing an easily ignored notice. And she hoped more and more SISUers will consider jobs in international organizations when making career choices.