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Camp de Minawao au Cameroun

WORKING IN THE HUMANITARIAN SECTOR IS NOT AN EASY CHOICE

What does it mean to work in the humanitarian sector? Humanitarian jobs sometimes look like jobs in other employment sectors. In this sense, they are quite transferable, especially in support functions (logistics, administration, finance, human resources). Many humanitarian workers come from other backgrounds. For example, they may have private sector experience. Working in the humanitarian sector, however, is not an easy choice. The working conditions can sometimes be extreme. In any case, they are often very different to those in your country of origin.

ACQUIRING SKILLS THROUGH MOBILITY

Whether you are aiming for a position that matches your profile or you are forming a project for the long term, we support you in acquiring the necessary skills. Thanks to mobility, together we build a clear path, made up of a variety of experiences and regular rest periods.
Each humanitarian mission offers a particular experience. That is why each one offers the opportunity to combine new skills, reorienting some and consolidating others.
So we offer 4 types of professional mobility. Your journey winds through 20 intervention countries, very different from each other (political or economic contexts, etc.), and through different sectors of intervention.

HORIZONTAL MOBILITY

Horizontal mobility allows the experience to be replicated in the same type of post. By changing the context, it allows you to broaden the range of your experience. It is by re-engaging with previous functions that we improve our knowledge, performance and communication skills. By taking up the same post, you will in fact take on a completely different one. The size of the national and international team, the project’s budget, the type of programme, the intervention context, are among the many elements that characterise a mission. This means that none of them are like the one before!

VERTICAL MOBILITY

Vertical mobility offers increasing responsibilities for those who have a thorough grounding in their current post. Many routes are possible. They range from project management to resource coordination, from a post in the field to the coordination of an area, from area management to general organisation. Those who like responsibility and are looking for wider areas of action, will find a range of posts to fulfil their needs at Première Urgence Internationale.

INTERDISCIPLINARY MOBILITY

Interdisciplinary mobility brings together all the changes in career orientation. You can in fact use your solid expertise gained in one area, to develop a career that encompasses this expertise among other desired skills. For example, some people evolve from financial management to general management, or from base logistics to area coordination.

MOBILITY FROM HQ TO IN THE FIELD

HQ-Field mobility sees many employees move “to the other side” to carry on their commitment either here or over there. Deepening or putting into concrete practice a skill, taking a step back or jumping into action, this mobility allows you to adapt your contribution according to your personal situation, your needs at the time, your future planning.

We encourage our employees from abroad to come and pursue their careers at head office. They can work in occupations that are more distant from day-to-day management and more focused on support, analysis, or the holistic view of a problem. At the same time, we encourage employees from head office to go and work on a project abroad. Some want to go back to be close to the people that our programmes support. They are then able to reintegrate into the expatriate teams they had been supporting from head office.

TESTS AND INTERVIEWS TO ASSIST A RETURN

Each of these developments is discussed with the Human Resources Department. They are based on managers’ opinions, performance appraisal interviews that are carried out regularly. Technical tests and peer assessment give an objective view and validate these developments at each stage of the employee’s journey. They therefore benefit from regular feedback on their work, their performance and their potential. For more information, please see our HR Policy.

If you would like more information about training and working in the humanitarian sector, you can go to our partner’s portal solidaire-info.org