Where are humanitarian jobs advertised?
You could skip this article and go directly to ReliefWeb. But why skip all the fun?
Nearly every site or blog related to aid work has published their recommendations on where to look for jobs. But after a deep-field slog through a sampling of these articles, I’m convinced that most are either written by, at best, people who have never used any of their recommended sites to land a humanitarian job or, at worst, bots. I don’t blame the bots because they are non-sentient beings, but I do blame the human authors who give out bad advice.
(I want to give a special shout-out to this article, which holds the distinction of being the only one to suggest that you should look for humanitarian jobs in the newspaper.)
In an attempt to cut through the noise and the bots, I offer my insider (and very human) view on where to look for jobs in aid work.
ReliefWeb
If you google “humanitarian aid jobs” (as I’m sure you already have), the first result is a site called ReliefWeb. Say a word of thanks to the algorithm engineers, because this is the only humanitarian job website that you should ever need to visit.
An informal – and completely unacademic – survey of my humanitarian colleagues, revealed that more than 80% use ReliefWeb as their first and only stop when looking for a new job. I agree. It’s the only site that I use.
ReliefWeb has three main advantages. First, nearly all aid jobs are posted here, from UN agencies to NGOs big and small, even local charities and private sector companies. No matter what flavour of humanitarian work you’re hunting for, it will be advertised on ReliefWeb.
Second, to help you sort through all of those glimmering job opportunities, the site has a powerful filtering tool. If you’re looking for an entry-level job in Nigeria doing comms or advocacy, filter accordingly and you’ll find it. If you’re looking for a mid-career role doing supply chain logistics in Papua New Guinea, sort and voilà.
Third, ReliefWeb is free to use (for recruiters and applicants), has no ads or spam, and is run by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which is another way of saying it has no ulterior motives of profiting from your job hunt.
In fact, for most recent graduates and aspiring aid workers, my advice on how to find humanitarian vacancies can be boiled down to just three steps:
- Go to reliefweb.int/jobs
- Filter by 0 – 2 years of experience
- Apply to any and all jobs that interest you
You can further refine by Career Category or Theme, but when looking for your first job I recommend casting a wide net.
You may notice a pattern in many of the entry-level jobs that you find, namely that they are posted by the same small clique of NGOs, usually French or Italian organisations. I tackle this hierarchy of NGOs – which organisations fill their ranks with less-experienced and lower-paid staff, and which ones have higher standards and higher pay – in a separate article.
Other sites
While ReliefWeb is usually a one-stop-shop for all your aid job needs, there are a few other sites you may want to visit.
- Organisations’ websites: If you already know that you really want to work for UNICEF, Médecins Sans Frontières, Save the Children or any other aid agency, one option is to narrow your focus and stalk their careers pages. The disadvantage is that you can miss other opportunities elsewhere, but if you already have a connection who works for your target organisation and who can help you, then this approach can yield excellent results.
- Idealist: If you are based in the United States or are looking for humanitarian jobs there, Idealist is, well, ideal. It’s pleasant on the eyes, is easy to use, and has lots of jobs – including hidden gems that you won’t find listed on many other sites. Its main disadvantage is that it skews hard toward US-based roles.
- UNjobs: Contrary to its name, UNjobs is not just for positions at the United Nations (nor should it be confused with the official UN Careers site). It advertises a wide variety of UN and NGO jobs, but it has fewer vacancies listed, is less user-friendly, and has fewer filtering options than ReliefWeb. It’s worth a glance every now and then.
- LinkedIn: Unlike in other industries, LinkedIn is not a great place to find humanitarian jobs. There are a smattering of positions advertised, and its job alerts feature is useful, but there are better sites.
Sites to avoid
The vast majority of humanitarian job aggregator sites are inferior facsimiles of ReliefWeb and are not worth your time. However a few of these should be singled out for being particularly bogus.
- DevNetJobs: I don’t know how this site manages to cling to existence year after year. DevNetJobs commits the sinful trifecta of being ugly to look at (unless you have nostalgia for 1990s website design), listing relatively few jobs, and requiring users to pay to access many of the vacancies. Don’t give it the dignity of entering into your browser history.
- DevEx: While being slightly easier on the eyes than DevNetJobs, DevEx also asks you to pay to view many of the vacancies. Save your money and preserve your self-respect by visiting the one of the many other free job sites.
Next steps
Of course, knowing which website to infinitely scroll is only one step in landing your first humanitarian job. In addition, it’s important to know which roles and organisations to target as a entry-level candidate (hint: not the United Nations), how to craft a killer humanitarian-tailored CV, and how to escape the bots and build a network of real-life humanitarians.
By sheer coincidence, these tips and more are covered in our others posts. To continue your journey toward getting your first job, read on.
January 2022
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