The Young Professionals Programme (YPP) is a recruitment initiative for talented, highly qualified professionals to start a career as an international civil servant with the United Nations Secretariat. It consists of an entrance examination and professional development programmes once successful candidates start their career with the UN.

The YPP examination is held once a year and is open to nationals of countries participating in the annual recruitment exercise. The list of participating countries is published annually and varies from year to year.

• You must have the nationality of a participating country.
• You must hold at least a first-level university degree relevant for the exam subject you are applying for.
• You must be 32 or younger in the year of the examination.
• You must be fluent in either English or French.

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Carefully review basic application criteria on the YPP Home page.

Read the job opening for the exam subject you are interested in and make sure you fulfil the requirements. The list of job openings can be found on the YPP Home page.

Apply to the selected job opening through Inspira. Additional guidelines on creating applications are available by clicking on the “Manuals and Help’’ link found in the upper right-hand corner of the webpage when you log in.
Ready to apply to the Young Professionals Programme?

This examination is also held for staff members of the United Nations Secretariat who work within the General Service and other related categories and aspire to a career within the Professional and higher categories. For more information about staff members participating in the young professionals programme, click here.
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