Multilateralism for a better future

The Center for Information, Counselling and Training for Professions relating to International Cooperation (cinfo) provided an attractive programme for the alumni and alumnae of the three universities ETH, HSG and LSE with the aim of providing an insight into the daily work and personnel composition of eight UN organisations and international financial institutions. Since Swiss staff is strongly underrepresented, but these multilateral organisations are dependent on diversity in their personnel, the HR managers shared their extraordinary life stories and encouraged the public to apply if they were interested.

Nicole Frick started by giving a warm welcome to all the guests. Afterwards she passed the word to Holger Tausch, Head of Cooperation at the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine, who repeatedly emphasised the importance of Switzerland's presence in multilateral organizations. Multilateralism demands diversity precisely because of its highly complex nature. His own work experience abroad and in various industries had opened his eyes. It was very valuable for him to transfer this knowledge to new areas so that others could benefit from it.

NGOs act as catalysts

Natal Donnaloia, Senior HR Consultant at cinfo, led through the evening program and moderated the discussions between audience and podium guests. He had studied political science and human rights at the universities of Neuchâtel and Siena and worked in numerous UN organisations before joining cinfo in 2017. His advice in the search of a meaningful work in development cooperation was: «Put yourself out there! Don't sell yourself. We will come back to you.» He emphasised that NGOs do not solve the world's problems directly, but at least act as catalysts to advance the solution processes. Although many development programmes have become success stories, Donnaloia made clear that there are still many challenges to overcome. For this, NGOs need highly motivated and talented employees. Donnaloia pointed out to the audience that the most important thing on that Wednesday evening were the personal stories of HR leaders, which were all about values, fulfilment, experiences and boundaries.

Deconstruction of an urban myth

David Bearfield, HR Director of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), comes from a small village in England and never dreamed of working one day for a UN organisation: «It was simply not on my horizon!» He was the only one in his family who studied. After civilian service, he was sent to Brussels with a political assignment since he spoke German and French, two essential communication languages for the EU. After his contract expired, he passed the necessary examination and got into the European Commission, where a HR position was vacant. After many years of experience in UN organisations, he can deconstruct an urban myth, namely, that political or other specific experience is required of job candidates. On the contrary, he also stresses the importance of diverse teams: «We need to bring in new people with new experiences.»

«We connect the world»

The following life stories are told in a similar tone and with equal enthusiasm. Rym El Zin Dimashkieh is manager of HR programmes at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), one of the five institutions of the World Bank. She felt very moved to be in an ETH building because her late uncle had often enthused about studying at ETH Zurich. Originally a landscape designer, she was completing her Executive MBA when a friend encouraged her to apply for a vacancy at the IFC. She had never heard of this institution before. By now, she has been working at IFC for seven years and summarises her assignment as follows: «We connect the world.» She also stresses that anyone interested should simply apply because documents are kept and employment is only a question of time and the right attitude. Next year, 800 new jobs will be created at IFC worldwide which is why she kindly invited those present to submit their applications if they were interested. What she appreciates most about her institution is its diversity which, in her eyes, brings innovation and movement into a team. A major disadvantage, on the other hand, is the bureaucratic apparatus which is much more pronounced than in the private sector and leads to very lengthy decision-making processes.

Passion is indispensable for this work

After the equally entertaining stories by Scott Fitzgerald (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Beijing), Eva Mennel, HR Director of UNICEF, takes the turn. She is HSG alumna and reports how she applied for the current position after seeing a job ad at The Economist. She admits how she had to practice patience at her organisation because she tends to be impatient and impulsive. Negative experiences had taught her that decisions that were discussed in detail and taken together were essential for a team in the long term. Instead of being guided by promotion and career questions, employees should ask themselves how they could acquire more knowledge and experience. What else is important? Mennel believes that a variety of experiences would be helpful in training different "muscles" or skills. Apart from that, passion is indispensable to deal with highly complex problems: «How do you know that you fit a position? We are dealing with highly complex problems. Passion is an important ingredient.»

Other HR managers presented their NGOs in short presentations, ETH alumnus Jürg Stadler reported on his work as an engineer at UNDP in Palestine and Stefan Denzler from SECO compared his experiences in the bureaucratic machineries of Bern and Washington.

It was a very successful evening with stirring stories, critical questions and differentiated answers as well as a delicious aperitif, which created a welcome platform for lively discussions.