Glassdoor users rated their interview experience at UNHCR as 81.8% positive with a difficulty rating score of 3.18 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty). Candidates interviewing for Protection Officer and Legalat the Council of Europe rated their interviews as the hardest, whereas interviews for Internship and Social Media roles were rated as the easiest.
The hiring process at UNHCR takes an average of 134 days when considering 11 user submitted interviews across all job titles. Candidates applying for Protection Intern had the quickest hiring process (on average 28 days), whereas PSP Senior Data Strategy Associate roles had the slowest hiring process (on average 240 days).
I was shortlisted 3 times for UNHCR internships. Each time I submitted my resume and cover letter to an office or person in charge of program, be that through a public and competitive offer or directly as an unsolicited application.
I was offered an interview in the 3 cases and had some of the following questions:
-Can you go through your CV?
-Could you define what is a refugee according to the 1951 convention?
-Could you give us some thought on the refugee regime as practiced in this country?
-What did you previous experience on refugees bring you?
-You mention research interests on (x) and (y), how would that help to carry out your duties?
-You took these trainings on humanitarian affairs, how do you think you could incorporate that knowledge into what we're working on here?
-You have necessarily dealt with a difficult person on your workplace. How did you deal with it?
-When could you start?
-Do you have any particular questions?
-How have you ever innovated in a workplace?
... Then I had an email or phone call to confirm they wanted me to work but I declined in 2 cases as I was not available on the dates they offered. Overall I had a great impression of UNHCR officials in charge of interviews but it is obviously a quite subjective feeling.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How have you dealt with deadlines you have not respected in the past?
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at UNHCR (Budapest)
Interview
I applied for an online job advertisement, completed a special form available at UNHCR website and attached a cover letter. I got a phone call about 1 month later, than was invited for an interview and test. The interview was about 1 hour long, three persons, an assistant, an HR officer and another lady. Fully english, competent based interview, just their questions, nothing being asked from my CV. It was devastating so to say, but I felt it turned out good. They never called me though, and two months passed since, tried to call them, but they mentioned technical problems..... They might call me, but you know what this means...
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Can you give me an example form your previous carrier, when you had to solve an internal conflict in your team, what did you do?