Date · Thursday, 7 May 2026, 16:30 to 17:35 CEST
Hosted by · WHO and UNIDO
Session page · UNOG learning
Speakers
- Draga Paskova · Head of Talent Planning and Acquisition, UNIDO · Bio
- Luisa Zurek · Human Resources Associate, Talent Planning and Acquisition Unit, UNIDO · Bio
- Tina Stochmal · HR and Talent Acquisition Professional, WHO · Bio
- Preeti Nautiyal · Recruiter and co-manager of WHO recruitment systems, WHO · Bio
What does it take to stand out in the UN system? In this joint session, WHO and UNIDO come together to share practical guidance on how to build a strong profile, from application through to interview. We’ll cover how to present your experience clearly and convincingly, what to pay attention to at each stage, and how candidates are typically assessed by hiring teams. You can expect concrete tips, common pitfalls to avoid, and insights to help you approach the process with more clarity and confidence. This session will help you move from “eligible” to “competitive.”
Key takeaways
- Read the vacancy notice before opening your CV. Let it guide your self-assessment and determine whether to invest time in building an application at all.
- Eligibility is the entry ticket. If your application does not explicitly document that you meet each non-negotiable criterion, the system will screen you out regardless of your actual qualifications.
- Precision beats volume. One well-constructed, tailored application outperforms ten generic ones, and recruiters notice, and discount, candidates who apply broadly with unchanged material.
- Your application is read by at least four distinct audiences with different priorities: AI/system screen, recruiter, hiring manager, and selection panel. Write with all of them in mind, especially the connection between your experience and the role’s objectives, which is what the hiring manager is looking for.
- In competency-based questions, say “I”, not “we”. The panel needs to assess your individual contribution. Describe the team context briefly, then be specific about what you personally did and what you personally achieved.
- Prepare for interviews by extracting potential questions from the actual duties listed in the vacancy notice. not just the requirements. This can yield twenty or more scenarios before the interview begins.
- In video pre-screening, test your specific equipment on the day. Front-facing light, a clean background, stable internet, and verified audio are the difference between a strong first impression and a technical failure that wastes the opportunity.
Preeti Nautiyal
Preeti opened the session with a structural insight that ran as a thread throughout: the UN system selects through a structured, system-based process, not through informal reputation or the raw strength of a CV. The biggest gap she has observed as a recruiter is between what candidates believe matters and what the system actually rewards. A strong CV alone does not guarantee progress; passion is invisible to the system. What matters is understanding how the system works and communicating your eligibility in a way the system can process.
Her core practical guidance: read the vacancy notice first, before your CV, and let it guide how you build your application. Self-assess. If there is a genuine match, invest time in tailoring the application to that specific role. Applying broadly with the same material reduces your chances rather than increasing them, precision beats volume. Eligibility criteria are non-negotiable: education, years of experience, technical expertise, languages. One criterion cannot compensate for a gap in another. And if you meet the criteria but fail to document them explicitly, you will be screened out before a human ever reads your file.
On assessments, Preeti was direct: they are not memory tests. They assess how you think, your judgment, your clarity, your ability to structure a response under constraints. Reading the instructions before starting, taking a moment to organize your thinking, and writing what matters rather than writing more are the habits that convert preparation into performance.
Tina Stochmal
Tina covered the application stage with a focus on what actually happens to your material after submission. An application passes through at least four distinct layers of review: an AI or system screen that checks for keywords, structure, and completeness; a recruiter who verifies that the essential criteria are explicitly met; a hiring manager who assesses technical fit and alignment with the role’s objectives; and a selection panel that makes a whole assessment at the end. Each stage has a different lens. Writing for one audience without considering the others is a common reason strong candidates fall short, especially at the hiring manager stage, where candidates explain their experience but fail to connect it to what the role actually requires.
On completing the profile in the recruitment system: in most UN agencies, attaching a CV does not replace filling in the system fields. Those fields may be all that a recruiter or panel ever sees. Fill them thoroughly. Describe what you actually did, what changed because of your work, and what was achieved, not just what the job title was.
On cover letters: she encouraged using AI tools but flagged a visible and recurring problem, candidates whose cover letters read nothing like them at interview. The disconnect between polished written language and spoken authenticity is noticed and can undo an otherwise strong candidacy. Review and rewrite AI output in your own voice. And tailor the letter to each role: recruiters recognize those who apply broadly with unchanged material, and begin to take those applications less seriously.
Luisa Zurek
Luisa focused on two assessment stages that candidates often underestimate: video pre-screening interviews and competency-based interviews.
On video pre-screening, she explained that platforms like HireVue, VidRecruiter, and iMocha are increasingly common in the UN system precisely because they are scalable, they widen the candidate pool, including for under-represented nationalities, without the logistics of live interviews. The format is structured: one question at a time, a preparation window, then a timed recording window that cuts off when time expires. Candidates can choose when to record within a submission window (typically one week), which is an advantage, but it does not reduce the need for serious preparation. Test your specific equipment before recording, audio, microphone, and internet connection behave differently on any given day. Use front-facing light, a clean and neutral background, and dress as you would for an in-person interview. Some platforms use AI-assisted monitoring to confirm independent completion; know this before you start. Know where technical support is before you need it.
On competency-based interviews, she described the standard arc: a biographical opener (tell us about yourself), a motivation question (why this role and this organization), a technical section, and competency questions framed as “tell us about a time when…“. For the motivation question especially, she emphasized showing you have researched the organization, its current challenges and priorities, and linking your motivation specifically to this vacancy, not to a generic desire to work in the UN. For structuring competency responses, she introduced three models: SMART (Situation, Mission/Task, Action, Result, Teachability), STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result), and CAR (Challenge, Action, Result). SMART adds a lessons-learned component that can turn a difficult situation into evidence of self-awareness. All three are valid; the key is to practice whichever one feels natural and to use it consistently. She also emphasized that when moving up a level, from P3 to P4, or between G levels, the answer must explicitly show how past experience prepares you for the shift in responsibility, not just what you did at the lower level.
Draga Paskova
Draga focused on interview preparation methodology. Her starting point: most candidates prepare by reviewing their own CV. A more effective approach is to work directly from the vacancy notice, reading the duties, not just the requirements, and systematically generating likely interview questions from each duty bullet. A thorough pass through the duties could yield twenty or more scenarios to draw from before the interview begins. This is not about predicting exact questions, but about building a toolkit of prepared examples that can be adapted on the fly.
She also addressed a recurring pattern: candidates who describe collective work but fail to articulate their individual contribution. Panels need to assess each person, not teams, so “we” needs to be followed by a clear account of what you personally did. She acknowledged this is harder for people from cultures where individual self-attribution is uncomfortable, and offered a practical workaround: briefly set the team context, then pivot clearly and explicitly to your specific role and outcomes. The problem she sees repeatedly is that a candidate’s actual contribution only surfaces under follow-up questioning, don’t make the panel dig for it.
On structure, she was precise: keep answers to three to five minutes. Panels lose attention beyond that, and the ability to answer a complex question within constraints signals exactly the kind of judgment the role will require. Do not give theoretical answers about what you “would” do. Give concrete past examples, or the panel will infer either that you have not faced the situation, or that you are evading. For the “tell us about yourself” question: open with your current role and its relevance to this position, cover past experience and skills that apply, then close with why this specific opportunity, and why you are a good fit.
On the psychology of interviews, Draga offered a reframe: the panel is there to help you show your best self, not to trip you up. A future hiring manager on that panel has a direct interest in seeing you do well. Approaching the interview as a win-win interaction, either a job offer or experience that improves the next performance, lowers pressure and raises quality. This is not a platitude; it is a practical orientation that changes how you walk into the room.
Frameworks and models
| Name | What it stands for | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| SMART Method | Situation, Mission/Task, Action, Result, Teachability. The Teachability element distinguishes SMART from STAR | Use for competency-based interview answers (3 to 5 minutes spoken). The Teachability adds 30 to 60 seconds of growth-reflection that turns a difficult situation into evidence of self-awareness rather than confession. STAR and CAR (variants) are documented inline on the SMART page rather than as separate pages |
| STAR / CAR (variants of SMART, no separate framework pages) | STAR: Situation, Task, Action, Result. CAR: Challenge, Action, Result | Both are valid alternatives to SMART. (Considered for promotion to standalone framework pages but not promoted: they are the same family with different lengths. Documented inside the SMART Method page as variants, with guidance on when to use each.) |
| Application Review Audiences (Four Stages) | Map of who reads the application at each stage: AI/system screen, recruiter, hiring manager, selection panel. Each has a different lens | Use as a structural check on a draft application. Each audience must find what it needs; writing for one without considering the others is a common failure mode |
| Duties-Driven Interview Prep | Method for preparing for competency-based interviews: generate 20+ likely questions from the duty bullets in the vacancy notice, then map each to a SMART-structured example | Run before any interview. Start from duties (not requirements). Generate three to five questions per duty bullet. Map each to your strongest example. Practise out loud |
Resources
| Resource | What it is / What it’s for | Link |
|---|---|---|
| UNIDO Webinar Outreach Program | YouTube playlist with video tutorials covering each step of the UNIDO recruitment process in detail, application, assessment, and interview stages | Search “UNIDO webinar outreach program” on YouTube (specific URL not shared in session) |
Last updated 2026-05-10.