About the Programme
The UN Young Professionals Programme (YPP) is a recruitment initiative for talented, highly qualified professionals to start a career as an international civil servant with the UN Secretariat. It consists of an entrance examination process and professional development once those successful start their career with the UN.
- The YPP examination is held once a year in different subject areas, depending on the needs of the UN.
- YPP is open to nationals of participating countries. The list of participating countries varies from year to year.
- The application period typically opens in June each year
Who Can Apply?
- Nationality: be a national of a participating country
- Education: hold at least a first-level university degree relevant for the exam(at least a relevant Bachelor’s degree or a 3-year equivalent degree)
- Age: be 32 years old or younger in the year of the examination
- Language: be fluent in either English or French
Participating Countries: Each year, countries that are un- or under-represented in the United Nations, are invited to take part in YPP.
Participation of staff of the United Nations: This examination is also held for staff members of the United Nations Secretariat who work within the General Service and other related categories and aspire to a career within the Professional and higher categories. There is more information available for interested
How to Apply
Application Process
1. Confirm Your Eligibility: Carefully review basic application criteria on the YPP Home page.
2. Review The Job Opening
- The YPP application period typically opens each June.
- The job openings, specific to each exam area, will be found through Inspira or the UN Careers Portal.
- Read carefully to determine if you meet the requirements.
3. Prepare An Application
- Watch the YPP Application Guide Video prior to applying!
- A general UN “Applicant Guide” is available in Inspira by logging in and clicking on the “Manuals” link on the top of the page.
4. Application Evaluation
- Applications will be screened to determine if they meet the basic eligibility requirements (i.e., nationality, age, education, language).
- If more than 40 applicants from the same country are eligible for an exam area, those applicants will be screened and ranked based on highest level of education completed, knowledge of official UN languages, and relevant work experience.
- If the exam occurs in two stages, then 60 applicants per country/per exam area may be invited to the first exam stage, with a maximum of 40 per country/per exam area proceeding to the second stage.
- All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application.
YPP Estimated Timeline
Please note that this timeline is for reference only, as it varies a bit from year to year.
The below provides an overview of the steps and general timeframe of the YPP exams from start to finish
- Application Period
- June – July Review the job opening and requirements Create and submit your application on inspira.un.org
- Applications Screened
- August – October Applications evaluated based on eligibility criteria Candidates notified of eligibility and convoked to the examination
- Assessment Process
- November – March Examinations administered online Examinations marked Verification of exam results
- Interviews & Results
- April – June Candidates notified of results of written examination Interviews conducted Notification of overall results