Life in NYC: UN Edition

Happy Fourth, everyone!

My introvert self is not a huge fan of holidays that are synonymous with large crowds, lots of socialising, and loud noises. So, I decided I could be productive and write about some of my time in New York, working at the UN.

A lot of my friends, family, and colleagues have asked about what I am doing at the UN, how I like it, and what it’s like, so here I am to oblige. ;)

When I started applying to  jobs over the winter, I wanted something meaningful, challenging, and diverse. I applied to the UN on a whim, never thinking I would get an interview, let alone an offer. However, it fit all of my criteria and seemed like a dream: an international organisation with an international workforce, challenging, meaningful work, and great professional experience.

 

Flash forward a few months, and I just finished the first of six months working my dream internship.

I am an Editorial Intern in the Department of Public Information, working for the Yearbook Division. The Yearbook of the United Nations is the authoritative reference work on the UN System, covering what the UN does in a given year. Basically, my job right now is to outline chapters for the Yearbook. Thus far, I’ve worked on human rights chapters. I find the documents (resolutions, decisions, reports, communications, etc.) that the UN writes each year, read them, and create an outline from them. (I don’t know how really to better explain it, but it basically involves a lot of reading, searching, double-checking, and more research). It’s hard work, but I really like it.

 

Besides all this work, I’ve also met some really cool people. One of the great things about the UN is that people come from all over to work together to improve the world. I love being around so many different people, and at the UN that certainly happens. I’ve met people from Poland, Korea, China, Russia, France, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, England, Georgia, India, and many more places. It’s really making me just want to travel the world :)

Downsides of the UN? Not many but here they are: my job is unpaid, so I do a lot of work but I have no salary. Also, there is a lot of bureaucracy. That can get annoying, but at least at my low level I don’t have to deal with that much of it, but you can see it everywhere!

But the upsides far outweigh the downsides. I can’t wait to see what the next 5 months bring :)