YOUNG PROFESSIONALS PROGRAMME (YPP) EXAMINATION-07 DECEMBER 2011

	Published On: Monday, August 22, 2011
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Government of Pakistan **********     Subject:    YOUNG PROFESSIONALS PROGRAMME (YPP) EXAMINATION-07 DECEMBER 2011                    The United Nations Young Professional Programme (YPP) examination 2011 is scheduled to take place around the world including in Pakistan on 07 December 2011.   2.                  The application process for 2011 YPP Exam has started which will close on September 10, 2011. In order to prepare an application, candidate must first register on the UN Career Portal (http://careers.un.org) and fill up a " job application", an online form, and a cover letter, all of which should be prepared on the website. Forwarded also is a quick step-by-step guide for information on how the candidates can create their application in the UN online requirement system, "Inspira".   3.                  Candidates have to meet the following criteria to be eligible to apply to YPP examination:                        i.            32 years or younger (by the end of the exam year);                    ii.            Hold at least a first-level University degree, such as bachelors or other undergraduate degree, in one of the job families offered for that year;                   iii.            Be fluent in either English or French, the two working languages of the UN Secretariat.   4.                  The Professional fields offered in which the UPP Examination would be held are:                       Job Network Job family Department of Duty Station Level Management and Operations Support Administration Management New York P-2 Economic and Social Development Statistics Management New York P-2 Public Information and External Relations Public Information Management New York P-2 Political, Peace and Security Humanitarian Affairs Management New York P-2   5.                  The current policy of the UN Secretariat for opening an examination center in any country requires the availability of minimum of 12 qualified candidates to participate in the written examinations. If the number of applicants is less, examinees will have to travel to the next examination center in another country to take the examination. Since the UN does not provide the cost of travel to the candidates, this would affect the number of applicants who would be able to participate in the examinations. It is, therefore, critical that a wide publicity to the YPP examinations is carried out in order to attract sufficiently large pool of qualified candidates. In this regard, UN Secretariat has also been requesting our assistance in organizing the publicity efforts for the examinations. It has been encouraged to give particular attention to advance applications from qualified female Pakistani nationals.   6.                  In case of more than 40 applications from applicants of the same nationality for a particular professional field, the Secretariat may admit to examination only the most qualified applicants who are over and above the minimum eligibility criteria which includes; advance University degree, relevant work experience and knowledge of additional official languages of the UN besides English and French.   7.                  The written examination tests the candidates' substantive knowledge, analytical thinking, drafting abilities, as well as their awareness of international affairs. The written examination will consist of two papers:   a)      The General Paper, which is the same for all job families. It    tests the candidate's knowledge of international affairs and drafting abilities; this part can be drafted in either English or French and is eliminatory; b)      The Specialized Paper, which tests the candidate's substantive knowledge corresponding to the job family the candidate is taking the exam and their analytical thinking; c)      The written examination lasts a total of four and half hours. Examinees are required to manage their own time for the different parts of the examination. Examinees' responses are marked anonymously by a panel of markers for the General Paper and by the Specialized Board Members for the Specialized Paper.   8.                  Based on the results of the written portion of the examination, the successful candidates will be invited to take part in the oral portion of the examination which consists of a competency-based interview.