Career Options
Staff categories
The United Nations workforce is made up of different categories of staff. Within each category there are different levels, which reflect increasing levels of responsibilities and requirements. The information in this section will help you decide for which staff category you see a good fit. This will be useful when you start searching and applying for jobs.
These are the different categories of staff at the United Nations:
- Professional and higher categories (P and D)
- General Service and related categories (G, TC, S, PIA, LT)
- National Professional Officers (NO)
- Field Service (FS)
- Senior Appointments (SG, DSG, USG and ASG)
At the United Nations you progress in your career through merit and qualifications. There are, however, restrictions on movement between the different categories. For each category of job there is an assessment process. Moving from one category to another is tied to specific requirements.
Within the professional and higher category, some jobs are filled through global competitive examination processes, including the Young Professionals Programme Examination and the Competitive Examination for Language Professionals.
More information about these examinations and other tests and assessments
Information about Pay and Benefits
Please keep reading for more information about each category.
General Service and Related Categories
General Service
The functions in the General Service and related categories include administrative, secretarial and clerical support as well as specialized technical functions such as printing, security and buildings maintenance.
There are jobs in all the nine job networks: Economic, Social and Development; Information and Telecommunication Technology; Internal Security and Safety; Legal; Logistics, Transportation and Supply Chain; Management and Administration; Political, Peace and Humanitarian; Public Information and Conference Management; and Science.
The work carried out by General Service staff supports the functioning of the Organization and is typically procedural, operational or technical in nature. The work in these categories ranges from routine duties to varied and complex assignments. The knowledge of the subject matter and higher-level skills are generally developed through long experience and familiarity with applicable procedures, regulations and precedents or projects of the Organization in a narrow technical field or in an administrative support activity. The higher the level of the job, the more complex the functions become along with higher levels of responsibility.
Staff in the General Service and related categories are generally recruited locally from the area in which the particular office is located but could be of any nationality. As a result, such staff members are usually not expected to move between different duty stations.
At the Organization’s Headquarters in New York, jobs such as drivers, electricians, building management and printing staff fall under the related category called Trades and Crafts (TC). Similarly, Security Officer jobs in New York are advertised as a separate category called Security (S), and tour guides in New York as Public Information Assistants (PIA). Another related category is the Language Teachers (LT), for which positions can be found only in New York and Geneva. In all other duty stations these jobs are included, and listed, under General Service.
What work experience do I need?
Your work experience should be relevant to the job for which you are applying and each job may also have specific requirements, which are specified in the job opening. For mid-career and senior level positions, progressively responsible work experience is required. As you acquire more relevant work experience you can apply for higher level positions
You can move from the General Service and related categories to the professional category only by passing a special competitive examination subject to certain conditions.
Participants at the General Assembly High-level Week photograph a UN Canine Unit dog. The Unit's dogs and handlers are responsible for explosives detection and conducting sweeps throughout UN Headquarters. Mark Garten (Photo), New York, UN Photo, 2023.
