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Rank: New-farer Joined: 1/4/2013 Posts: 35
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Do we have members of Wazua working for the UN? How did you get your job? all the people I know have been applying and non has ever been called for an interview....
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,821 Location: Nairobi
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GalMU wrote:Do we have members of Wazua working for the UN? How did you get your job? all the people I know have been applying and non has ever been called for an interview.... I worked there some time back... lets just say the UN is not all its billed to be! I applied for mine via the jobs.un.org (it was one of the many that I had applied for). Sometime later I was called for an interview and then i got the job!  no tricks no foul! when time to nego came - i realized they were very obtuse! I left my jobo at a telco for a 10k increment! thinking... its my way into the UN system. wacha niingie! i discovered what it means to be a General service staff! I made jobs.un.org my homepage during the first week! Let me tell you - Those people you see driving around are not GS! they are professionals (P) and above. I realized that those P positions kumbe are recruited internationally! people with "multicultural experience". When I met a GS who had been in there for 22 years I decided this was not a place for me. My boss was very good and he appreciated my work and after just 6 months I walked to him and handed my resignation letter.... I left the UN job for a 3 months consultancy!! nilikuwa nimechoka!! no fixed JD, Empire building, a sense of entitlement... I had done so many things in those 6 months I got 2 replacements!! Huko sirudi haraka! Advice - Apply for the P positions ukikosa... sawa.. those general service positions pay peanuts ndio hiyo reference link http://www.un.org/depts/...owances/salaries/gs.htm All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 12/4/2009 Posts: 1,982 Location: matano manne
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masukuma wrote:GalMU wrote:Do we have members of Wazua working for the UN? How did you get your job? all the people I know have been applying and non has ever been called for an interview.... I worked there some time back... lets just say the UN is not all its billed to be! I applied for mine via the jobs.un.org (it was one of the many that I had applied for). Sometime later I was called for an interview and then i got the job! no tricks no foul! when time to nego came - i realized they were very obtuse! I left my jobo at a telco for a 10k increment! thinking... its my way into the UN system. wacha niingie! i discovered what it means to be a General service staff! I made jobs.un.org my homepage during the first week! Let me tell you - Those people you see driving around are not GS! they are professionals (P) and above. I realized that those P positions kumbe are recruited internationally! people with "multicultural experience". When I met a GS who had been in there for 22 years I decided this was not a place for me. My boss was very good and he appreciated my work and after just 6 months I walked to him and handed my resignation letter.... I left the UN job for a 3 months consultancy!! nilikuwa nimechoka!! no fixed JD, Empire building, a sense of entitlement... I had done so many things in those 6 months I got 2 replacements!! Huko sirudi haraka! Advice - Apply for the P positions ukikosa... sawa.. those general service positions pay peanuts ndio hiyo reference link http://www.un.org/depts/...owances/salaries/gs.htm @Masukuma, agreed. I once was seconded there as a specialist and from what I discovered getting the P jobs takes more than just what you see on the advert- ni serious kujuana. As for performance I did serious planning and documentation of implementation designs that they still use to this date (since 2009). Then there is the siasa bit at international level sema ukabila international.
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Rank: Member Joined: 1/28/2009 Posts: 353 Location: Cloud
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@masukums well put... all that gliters is not Gold! in my days serious kujuana and in some cases bed/boardroom manouvres for others worked well if not better than the faceless jobs page. If u r a P then consider contracted work sio end month peanuts!The Gym was always a better source of info on openings! "For i am the master and the captain of my fate"
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Rank: Hello Joined: 10/30/2013 Posts: 2
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I work with a UN agency and I concur with Masukuma. It is pretty difficult to ascend into the professional levels and even harder to join the UN at that level. You have to earn your stripes before you get a P contract.
I started out as an intern (the perfect place to start out). After my internship ended, I made about 12 unsuccessful applications. I finally got in as a junior national staff member before moving onto a G6 contract a year later. I worked for two years and left for my post-graduate studies.
I had established a good rapport with my supervisors and upon completion of my studies, I called them up. The recommended me for a position outside Kenya but within Africa. It was not as Professional staff but as a Consultant, I have been doing this for three years now. Like most UN staff members, I aim to hold a proper P contract sometime soon and I can see it coming. I have friends who have broken into the P ranks much faster.
A little help in the UN goes a long way and there is all the usual office politics (most countries have cartels and their people look out for each other). However, I still find it a pretty fair place to work and the working conditions are good. The sacrifices you have to make to hold a P contract are also huge. There are very few P contracts for Kenyans in Kenya, you have to leave your country to be professional. That means you are most likely to end up in a godforsaken location in a strange country where you might not even be allowed to take your family. The toll on family life in the UN is huge. You are likely to move from one duty station to another often and this can destabilise you and your family.
The link that Masukuma has given indicates what the UN pays and their salaries are not negotiable... and yes Masukuma, the average UN staffer has an immense sense of entitlement. And some can whine!
As for the kujuana, off course it will be there. How else would you recommend someone for a job unless you have worked with them?
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,821 Location: Nairobi
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Fezzhappy wrote:I work with a UN agency and I concur with Masukuma. It is pretty difficult to ascend into the professional levels and even harder to join the UN at that level. You have to earn your stripes before you get a P contract.
I started out as an intern (the perfect place to start out). After my internship ended, I made about 12 unsuccessful applications. I finally got in as a junior national staff member before moving onto a G6 contract a year later. I worked for two years and left for my post-graduate studies.
I had established a good rapport with my supervisors and upon completion of my studies, I called them up. The recommended me for a position outside Kenya but within Africa. It was not as Professional staff but as a Consultant, I have been doing this for three years now. Like most UN staff members, I aim to hold a proper P contract sometime soon and I can see it coming. I have friends who have broken into the P ranks much faster.
A little help in the UN goes a long way and there is all the usual office politics (most countries have cartels and their people look out for each other). However, I still find it a pretty fair place to work and the working conditions are good. The sacrifices you have to make to hold a P contract are also huge. There are very few P contracts for Kenyans in Kenya, you have to leave your country to be professional. That means you are most likely to end up in a godforsaken location in a strange country where you might not even be allowed to take your family. The toll on family life in the UN is huge. You are likely to move from one duty station to another often and this can destabilise you and your family.
The link that Masukuma has given indicates what the UN pays and their salaries are not negotiable... and yes Masukuma, the average UN staffer has an immense sense of entitlement. And some can whine!
As for the kujuana, off course it will be there. How else would you recommend someone for a job unless you have worked with them? one can always wait 5 years then do that G to P exam and then get placed on a roster. I decided that its not healthy to come home and whine every night to my wife while wondering why exactly i am doing this job! considering I don't drink the benefits of the commissary were pointless. But if you can get a P position utakuwa juu! All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Member Joined: 10/19/2009 Posts: 671 Location: Nairobi
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@masukuma @fezzhappy, i'm curious, this P level contract you guys talk about, what's their range? when in college, this was one of my dream places to work in..
Life is joy, death is peace, but the transition is very difficult.
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Rank: Member Joined: 11/17/2006 Posts: 143
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UN placement is a dream job for almost every young graduate in this country, mainly driven by prestige and of course the perks.Unlike the lucky few's above, I did some two interviews (G level) in two different UN agencies unsuccessfully. Not sure that I harbor the 'dream' anymore. The salary based on advert I saw on ICC (Yes-What many of us call Hague), for a modest P2 level will be circa Kshs 500K...not too much in a foreign land
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,821 Location: Nairobi
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254.co.ke wrote:UN placement is a dream job for almost every young graduate in this country, mainly driven by prestige and of course the perks.Unlike the lucky few's above, I did some two interviews (G level) in two different UN agencies unsuccessfully. Not sure that I harbor the 'dream' anymore. The salary based on advert I saw on ICC (Yes-What many of us call Hague), for a modest P2 level will be circa Kshs 500K...not too much in a foreign land what people don't understand about P positions are the perks around them. Post Adjustment allowances, Spouse and Children Allowances. School fees for the children (i think upto 6), in Kenya Duty free mafuta, No taxation (per say... kuna kitu inaitwa staff adjustment lakini), a portion of your house rent for a number of years e.t.c. Those are the things that make UN in third world countries a place to work as a P. I know many P's who have pigad kambi hapa and will never leave... those are just too good. For a Kenyan to be A P in Kenya its quite difficult kwanza considering that Kenya is not in the list of under represented countries. Maybe if you were an Uzbekistani or from Laos you would fare much better. All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 12/17/2009 Posts: 3,583 Location: Kenya
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I think it depends on what one considers good pay - I often do some consultancy work for some of the country offices, when my mitumba business is low and the pay of the developers I get to work with ranges 100-200k, of course depending on how good your cv looks.
but one thing about the un system is that one is better off getting in at a starting point on a higher level - moving between levels is very difficult.
What I have never liked about the place is the blame games, you have to be an expert at shifting blame to others for you to survive especially at senior levels.
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Rank: Hello Joined: 10/30/2013 Posts: 2
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@ 254, a P2 is a beginner level (asks for afirst degree and 2 years experience). The person will have little or no managerial roles and in most cases their work will not be very intellectual. In that light, the 500k is a whole lot of money for a person of that profile working in a cheap duty station like Kampala or Addis. Most positions start at P3 and as Masukuma says, the benefits are what keeps people there. Top of that is your kids studying in the best international schools and you only pay 25% of the school fees.
The most lucrative postings are in 'hardship' locations like Iraq, Somalia, Darfur, Chad... where a P2 takes home over $10k per month and a free flight out of there every 6 or 8 weeks.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,821 Location: Nairobi
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nakujua wrote:I think it depends on what one considers good pay - I often do some consultancy work for some of the country offices, when my mitumba business is low and the pay of the developers I get to work with ranges 100-200k, of course depending on how good your cv looks.
but one thing about the un system is that one is better off getting in at a starting point on a higher level - moving between levels is very difficult.
What I have never liked about the place is the blame games, you have to be an expert at shifting blame to others for you to survive especially at senior levels. the UN is a place to build empires. People focus too much on the politics. I also realized that General Service also like working for overtime! Its not a place to work for people who want to add value to this world. I remember talking to a P3 back in 2009 when I joined that place. He was from Sri Lanka or something. He had been incharge of HP data centres somewhere in asia and when he came alikuwa analaza damu tu! there was regret in his voice. All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 12/17/2009 Posts: 3,583 Location: Kenya
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Fezzhappy wrote:@ 254, a P2 is a beginner level (asks for afirst degree and 2 years experience). The person will have little or no managerial roles and in most cases their work will not be very intellectual. In that light, the 500k is a whole lot of money for a person of that profile working in a cheap duty station like Kampala or Addis. Most positions start at P3 and as Masukuma says, the benefits are what keeps people there. Top of that is your kids studying in the best international schools and you only pay 25% of the school fees.
The most lucrative postings are in 'hardship' locations like Iraq, Somalia, Darfur, Chad... where a P2 takes home over $10k per month and a free flight out of there every 6 or 8 weeks. those are very dangerous areas, with the UN being targeted nowadays - lakini somalia ni ngumu kupata if you are a kenyan, the somalia government is really pushing hard to have the jobs given to locals. Unless for short term contracts, hata pesa ikiwa mingi - those are not areas for a long term position, the heat, the culture, being literally imprisoned behind the UN walls ...
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,821 Location: Nairobi
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nakujua wrote:Fezzhappy wrote:@ 254, a P2 is a beginner level (asks for afirst degree and 2 years experience). The person will have little or no managerial roles and in most cases their work will not be very intellectual. In that light, the 500k is a whole lot of money for a person of that profile working in a cheap duty station like Kampala or Addis. Most positions start at P3 and as Masukuma says, the benefits are what keeps people there. Top of that is your kids studying in the best international schools and you only pay 25% of the school fees.
The most lucrative postings are in 'hardship' locations like Iraq, Somalia, Darfur, Chad... where a P2 takes home over $10k per month and a free flight out of there every 6 or 8 weeks. those are very dangerous areas, with the UN being targeted nowadays - lakini somalia ni ngumu kupata if you are a kenyan, the somalia government is really pushing hard to have the jobs given to locals. Unless for short term contracts, hata pesa ikiwa mingi - those are not areas for a long term position, the heat, the culture, being literally imprisoned behind the UN walls ... its insulting to actually take up a GS position jobo. your title will always be "XYZ Assistant" haijalishi kama uko na PHD mbili! the term "officer" is for P2 and above! P.S going by requirements you really don't need a degree to be a GS (unless it has changed these days). secondly, While a P2 requires a first degree and 2 years experience - you will never get it if just have those two. People go over the moon when it works out for them. All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 12/6/2008 Posts: 3,548
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And who are the ones who are paid for school fees for their kids at Brookhouse school, ama ni world vision?...they usually don't look like level P to me, not judging book by cover, but they look like ordinary people dropping children in proboxes to me. A New Kenya
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,821 Location: Nairobi
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Much Know wrote:And who are the ones who are paid for school fees for their kids at Brookhouse school, ama ni world vision? UN Professionals bwana! the guys who drive red plate vehicles. All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 12/6/2008 Posts: 3,548
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masukuma wrote:Much Know wrote:And who are the ones who are paid for school fees for their kids at Brookhouse school, ama ni world vision? UN Professionals bwana! the guys who drive red plate vehicles. ...they usually don't look like level P to me, not judging book by cover, but they look like ordinary people dropping children in proboxes to me....labda am biased to judging people by their cars.. A New Kenya
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,821 Location: Nairobi
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Much Know wrote:masukuma wrote:Much Know wrote:And who are the ones who are paid for school fees for their kids at Brookhouse school, ama ni world vision? UN Professionals bwana! the guys who drive red plate vehicles. ...they usually don't look like level P to me, not judging book by cover, but they look like ordinary people dropping children in proboxes to me....labda am biased to judging people by their cars.. maybe those are from other 'international NGOs' All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: New-farer Joined: 1/4/2013 Posts: 35
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Thanks for all your inputs my eyes have been opened.
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Rank: Member Joined: 3/18/2008 Posts: 377
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Allow me to share the little I know of UN jobs: 1. As a Kenyan, you stand very little chance of ever being hired as P for Nairobi office unless you hold another passport. This means you will be hired as an International staff member and not locally recruited staff. However, if you have many years of experience with proper professional qualifications, luck and network- you stand a chance to be recruited at NOA/B/C level. The average salary for NOB/C is about 400k depending on entry step. Very few N category vacancies do exist. The other category which nobody seems to like is the famous General services. While it’s not as appealing as most people would like it to be, it has been a stepping stone to most Kenyans working out there as International Civil servants. It calls for patience and career/life ambitions. My understanding is that most guys who are stuck in G category for decades lack ambition, do not have proper qualifications, are poor at fitting in a global diverse team with different cultures or are just poor at networking. As a Kenyan working in Kenya- you are not entitled many allowances such as fees at ISK, Global medical cover, post adjustments etc. You are also not entitled to the red plates you see on the road (I know many guys who got the red plates while on mission to Somalia/Sudan but have declined to surrender the plates on completion of their tours of duty) 2. UN International staff members are hired as either P (Professional) or FS (Field Service). Ideally staffs that are posted to main UN offices such Nairobi, Addis, New York, Vienna, and Geneva are of P category. A decade ago, FS was meant for field services- read UN missions in places such as Congo, Abyei, Sudan, South Sudan, Iraq, Afghan etc. They are the troops for the missions; they literally run the administrative aspects of the missions and most are technical people hired as Logisticians, IT technicians, Generator Technicians etc. However, this is not the trend anymore as P level staffs have been hired for most missions in Middle to senior Management positions. I would estimate the ratio of P to FS as 30-70! For those working in the field missions, the salary difference between FS and P is very minimal. In addition, the salary scale is the same globally; the only difference being allowances which depend on your duty station. The messier it is (read Iraq, Somalia, Afghan, some parts of Sudan) the better the allowances. The entry qualification for FS is Diploma while for P is either Bachelors’ degree and Masters depending on entry grade (P2, 3,4,5 etc). "You've never lived until you've almost died; for those who have fought for it, life has a flavour the protected will never know."
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