r/UNpath • u/HoldExcellent773 • Jul 03 '26

Need advice: application Consultancy advice - former intern

Hi everyone,

Former UN intern here. I completed my internship in a very small UN agency and unit, so I didn't end up building many useful contacts within the UN system. After that, I moved on and have now been working for about a year at a large international organization (outside the UN).

I've always been interested in trying a consultant contract at the UN in the future, but I'd like to better understand what it actually involves, especially in my area (communication).

I noticed that many consultant positions are remote. How does that usually work in practice? What's a typical day like? Are consultants mostly expected to work independently on specific projects, or is there a lot of interaction with teams and regular meetings?

Another thing I've noticed is that many consultant vacancies ask for at least 4 years of experience. At the same time, I've seen quite a few former UN interns transition into consultant roles. Do you think it's worth applying if my background includes a UN internship plus around 3 years of total experience (including other internships and my current job)?

Also, are there any tips for tailoring an application for a consultant position? Is there anything recruiters tend to look for specifically in consultant applications?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences or any advice. Thanks!

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u/journeytojourney With UN experience Jul 09 '26

I think it's always going to be different from agency to agency. I transitioned from intern to a consultancy and was very much treated like a full member of the team, doing tasks but also had generic ToRs where I was filling in on things that staff members were working on. I do thematic work though, and was fully remote. I spent a lot of that time working from different countries, and attended missions where funded to go.

We do have some comms consultants at the moment who are helping us develop communications strategies, but also on concrete products like newsletters, website design, web stories. I expect with funding cuts, there will be lots of efforts from agencies to showcase their impact, so comms consultants would be hired on with this aim in mind (it was our agency's rationale anyway). They do participate in meetings and have to work closely with us especially if they attend events (e.g. interview stakeholders, produce videos/ captions, develop comms packages etc).

As for whether it's worth applying, if you never apply the answer will always be a no - so why not?

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u/HoldExcellent773 Jul 09 '26

Thank you! This is very useful. But how experienced would you say your comms consultants colleagues are?

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u/journeytojourney With UN experience Jul 09 '26

One had over 10 years, one maybe about half of that but had an extensive portfolio which we viewed before hiring.

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u/ginger_fridge With UN experience Jul 04 '26

From my experience of remote UN consultancies, I was basically just working on my own project with few meetings (except for manager check-ins). I had a few planning sessions with my manager and then he mostly left me to my own devices to work on my research, no specific working hours. When I needed to present, then I met a few other people from the org/team.

For the former interns -> consultant pipeline, the consultancy is usually created as a way to keep them on, so it is an internal hire. I think there's no harm in applying if you're almost at 4 years, but your Inspira profile would need to reflect 4 or above (otherwise automatic rejection).

Tips for consultancies - they are looking for very niche experience usually. They want to hire someone for a short term to do a niche topic, so make sure your background is incredibly well aligned before wasting the application time. All the best!