United Nations Language Competitive Examinations

The United Nations holds official competitive examinations for prospective translators, editors, verbatim reporters, interpreters and proofreaders in all the official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

The purpose of these examinations is to establish a roster of successful candidates from which to fill present and future vacancies for language positions at the headquarters duty stations, namely New York, Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna, and in the regional commissions, located in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Beirut and Santiago, Chile.

The frequency of language examinations depends on the needs of the Organization. In view of recent and projected retirements, in the next five to ten years examinations may be held more often than in the past. The examinations are open to all applicants who meet the eligibility and qualification requirements. They must have at least first-level university degree and be 55 or younger at the deadline for submission of an application. Citizens of any Member State of the United Nations are welcome to apply.

All applications will be reviewed by the United Nations Board of Examiners. In instances where a large number of applications are received, the Board of Examiners reserves the right to admit to the examination only the most qualified applicants based on a review of qualifications. The Board’s decisions are final and not subject to appeal.

Candidates are convoked to the United Nations examination centre closest to where they are residing at the time of the examination. The United Nations will not reimburse the cost of travel in connection with the convocation to the written examination. If, however, candidates are successful in the written examination, the United Nations will reimburse the cost of travel to the interview. Candidates convoked to the interview will be contacted by phone or e-mail.

On the basis of the overall results of the examinations, the Board of Examiners will recommend to the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management the names of candidates who qualify for inclusion in the roster.

The United Nations is a global organization and candidates may be placed in any of the above-mentioned duty stations, although their preference may be considered to the extent possible. Successful candidates who receive an offer of appointment are strongly encouraged to accept it. Declining an offered appointment may affect their prospects of receiving a subsequent offer. A successful candidate who declines two offers will be removed from the roster.

Applicants should be aware that the United Nations does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.

Applicants should check examination notices attached to the announcement of the examination they are interested in, since examination content, procedures and dates, as well as eligibility requirements and instructions on how to apply, may vary. Official examination schedules, announcements and notices can be viewed here: https://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx?viewtype=LE

Way ahead

In response to a demographic transition in the language services resulting from the large number of retirements that had taken place in recent years and were expected to continue for some time to come, DGACM developed a succession planning strategy in 2006 that necessarily focused on the competitive examination process for the recruitment of language staff. The language competitive examination system, which had functioned satisfactorily for decades as a tool for staffing the language services, was beginning to exhibit shortcomings in the form of low yields that were inadequate to fill projected, let alone existing, vacancies. Beginning in 2006, DGACM brought this situation to the attention of the General Assembly annually through the Committee on Conferences. The Assembly, for its part, has consistently urged the Secretary-General to maintain and intensify his efforts to address the issue of the replacement of retiring staff in the language services, including by strengthening cooperation with institutions that train language specialists and holding competitive examinations for the recruitment of language staff sufficiently in advance so as to fill current and future vacancies in language services in a timely manner. In its resolution, A/Res/64/230 of 22 December 2009, the General Assembly “[a]cknowledges the measures undertaken by the Secretary-General, in accordance with its resolutions, to address the issue of the replacement of retiring staff in the language services, and requests the Secretary-General to maintain and intensify those efforts, including the strengthening of cooperation with institutions that train language specialists to meet the need in the six official languages of the United Nations” and “[r]equests the Secretary-General to hold competitive examinations for the recruitment of language staff sufficiently in advance in order to fill current and future vacancies in language services in a timely manner, and to inform the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session of efforts in this regard.”

Written tests have been used for the recruitment of language staff since the inception of the United Nations Secretariat, as they were in the League of Nations secretariat before it, and the practice of recruiting junior Professional staff through a competitive examination, viewed as an objective staff selection tool geared to identifying the best qualified candidates, was extended in 1978 to include the promotion of staff in the General Service category to the Professional category (G-to-P examination) and in 1980 to the recruitment of young Professionals from un- and underrepresented countries (National Competitive Recruitment Examination). The Assembly has explicitly reaffirmed “the need for strict compliance with the principle that appointment to P-2 posts and to posts requiring special language competence for conference services (emphasis added) be made exclusively through competitive examinations.” (See A/Res/53/221 of 7 April 1999, sect. V, para. 17; and A/Res/55/258 of 14 June 2001, sect. IV, para.13.) In its resolutions on human resources management over the years, it has also consistently returned to a number of themes, including the need to fill vacancies quickly, the importance of transparency of the recruitment process and the need for expeditious placement of candidates from competitive examinations. These objectives will be well served by a comprehensive review of the current examination process.

Against this backdrop, in his annual report to the General Assembly under the item “Pattern of conferences” (A/64/136), the Secretary-General raised the possibility of “revamping of the language examination format and methods to take advantage of new technologies and modalities.” The establishment of an expert panel was envisaged to evaluate the additional resources and investment required to implement such ideas and the cost and time savings that might be achieved, as well as to identify changes that might improve the situation with regard to tests and examinations, including the methodology of examinations, ad hoc tests, traineeships and other options for identifying qualified language professionals. It would also cover the issues of the entry level for language staff, which sometimes made it difficult to attract experienced candidates, and the possibility of Internet-based testing, which could make it possible to hold examinations more frequently.

Current eligibility requirements

Languages: Applicants are required to have as their main language one of the official languages of the United Nations (understood to be the language in which the candidate is best able to work) and to have a “perfect command” of that language. Candidates’ claims to their main language must be supported by relevant documentation provided with their applications.

Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish language specialists must have an excellent knowledge of English, while English language specialists must have an excellent knowledge of French. Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish language staff must also have an excellent knowledge of an additional official language (an exception currently being made for Chinese). Candidates’ claims to knowledge of official languages must also be supported by relevant documentation.

Managers of translation services and interpretation booths at all duty stations would welcome qualified candidates able to work from additional (above and beyond the required two) passive languages, since such staff members are more versatile and afford greater flexibility in programming assignment. At UNOV, specialized knowledge of such subjects as international law (especially trade law), criminal law and outer space affairs is deemed highly desirable and might, in specific cases, be substituted for the second passive language.

Programme managers are unanimous in believing that the reason why many candidates fail in the examinations is not poor performance in the sections testing knowledge of the second passive language, but rather inadequate mastery of the main language and weaknesses in the occupation-specific competencies required (poor interpretation or translation skills, e.g.).

Leaving aside the case of the English language units, it is only fair to acknowledge that given the preponderance of English in the United Nations at the present time, the knowledge of the second passive language which Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish language staff possess need not be on a par with their knowledge of English. Prospective applicants uncertain of their level of proficiency in the third language should not be frightened away from sitting for the examination by the way the requirement is stated in the notice and information circular, namely “an excellent (emphasis added) knowledge of English and one of the other official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish),” which can be read to mean that the candidate’s knowledge of the second and third languages must be equal. Realistically speaking, applicants – indeed recruited candidates – do not always possess – and do not need to possess – the same degree of mastery of the two passive languages.

Education: The basic requirement is a three-year first-level degree or an equivalent qualification from a university or institution of equivalent status where the candidate’s main language is the language of instruction.

Age: In order to meet the Organization’s need to recruit staff for language posts who will serve for a reasonable period of time before reaching retirement age, applicants who have reached their fifty-sixth birthday by the deadline for submission of applications are ineligible to sit for an examination.

Experience: For appointment at the entry-level (P-2) in all areas, no experience of the specific function is required. Appointment to the P-3 level requires two years’ experience of the function in question or equivalent relevant experience.

In summary, the United Nations Language Competitive Examinations are testing for:

• Perfect command of the main language
• High-level comprehension of two passive languages
• Broad general knowledge, including of the societies in which the passive languages are used (government, legal system, culture (customs, literature, etc.))
• Aptitude in the specific function (including, in the case of translation, potential to develop into a self-reviser and reviser)