Equipped to get ahead in the UN system: A spotlight interview with JPO Ulrika Nilsson

As forward-thinking leaders, Junior Professional Officers (JPOs) bring a fresh perspective, new capabilities and energy that can catalyse positive UN transformation. In our latest spotlight interview, Aida Ghazaryan (UNSSC Learning Portfolio Manager) speaks to Swedish JPO Ulrika Nilsson, a Portfolio Coordination and Planning Specialist a.i. at the United Nations Development Programme Office (UNDP) in Tunisia. She attended the 2022 Career Booster Programme. Ulrika, a seasoned Programme Manager with excellent analytical acumen, presentation and report writing skills and conflict sensitivity among other strengths, reveals five big take-aways from her learning experience with UNSSC.

Aida: UNSSC believes that JPOs can fulfil their potential as young talents and change agents renewing the UN workforce. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your JPO journey at the United Nations (UN).

Ulrika: I joined over three years ago as a Rule of Law and Governance Programme Analyst with the Country Office in Tunisa. Prior to joining UNDP, I was working as programme manager for a Stockholm-based NGO specializing in rule of law support, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Tunisia and Libya in particular. Given this experience the role was a fantastic match and I felt very privileged to be given the opportunity to support the implementation of governance programming. With the country going through quite some political changes over the past few years, it was extremely interesting to see how UNDP could adapt to continue delivering relevant and impactful governance projects.

In my third year I moved into a new role, supporting the development of a new portfolio that brought together the work of the country office on governance and socio-economic development. The portfolio was launched in October 2023, and I am currently working as its ad interim Coordination and Planning Specialist.

Aida: After initial onboarding, this mid-term programme organized by UNSSC in partnership with Sida is an opportunity to enrich the JPO experience and to enhance career advancement potential. When the programme started, you mentioned your desire to have secured specific concrete skills and tips (leadership, communication, interviewing, networking, etc.) that help you be strategic in pursuing your career aspirations. How has the programme helped you get closer to your goals?

Ulrika: The programme was very well thought out and truly covered all these aspects in a comprehensive way. I think what was really effective was the combination of capacity-building and advice provided by experts and more senior colleagues with the peer-to-peer exchange with fellow JPOs. This duality was at the core of each session and the provision of concrete tools and advice, be it about interviews or ‘managing up or down’, were always complemented by a  sharing of experiences with my JPO colleagues. Hearing from peers, at a similar stage of career development, about similar challenges they had faced on this particular path but also solutions they had found was both reassuring and inspiring. It made it easier to also situate tools and more abstract advice in the reality of working in the UN.

Concretely, the sessions that really helped me were those on well-being and setting priorities; interview techniques and tips on preparing your P11 form and applications; and those around the DISC assessment.

Aida:  In your opinion how important was it for you to be part of the mid-term career support programme? In what ways did it empower you to excel in your JPO role and enriched your competencies and readiness for UN career visioning?

Ulrika: It was very important for me to be a part of the programme. It came at a very good time in my career; it gave me the tools and skills to think strategically in the long-term as well as provided strategies to manage my well-being, communication and networking in the shorter-term during my assignment.

Opening up and sharing with our peers on the challenges we all face managing stress, work-life balance, mental health was humbling and empowering. I think we all deserve to know we aren’t alone in those experiences and that there are resources available to help. I found this particularly helpful for reflecting on how to manage my career and priorities.

Aida: Could you tell us what you found extraordinary about your learning experience and what you took home for application and follow-up action? What would you have missed if you had not had the chance to participate in this mid-term programme?

Ulrika: I began a bit sceptical, given my experience with the DISC assessment methodology and the personal assessment I had received; however, the debriefing and sessions on the subject were extremely interesting and educational. The facilitators were very good and helped make the results of our assessments more digestible. Personally, one of the key learnings from that session was not only to understand our own personalities and characteristics, but to understand the other types as well. It gave me very useful insights that I have taken back to my day-to-day work. I need to adapt my approach to different tasks and requests depending on the given colleague’s personality and characteristics. This has been particularly useful both in my coordination role and as I have begun to manage a team.  

Aida: Networking fosters sharing and peer learning, which is highly valued by JPOs yet often unavailable on-the-job. What was your experience of engaging with peers from across the UN system and how did it help provide feedback loops and safe spaces for career planning?

Ulrika: Yes, I completely agree, networking is so valuable and yet limited or not unavailable at all. As JPOs I think we are extremely privileged: the system and donor governments provided us with opportunities to exchange with our peers and other resource people across the system.  The opportunities I did have though to meet my peers face-to-face, or even in online forums, set me up with networks that I reach out to professionally on a range of subjects, and networks that I have been able to contact to seek support and advice. Getting to a place where we were able to coach each other as we think about our next career moves, to review each other's applications, talk through key points before interviews was largely thanks to forums like the Career Booster Programme.

Aida: Would you recommend this career booster to other interested JPOs and why?

Ulrika:  Since participating in the career booster, I have already come across peers from the training who are in new roles and who I will keep working/networking with. The participants are our future colleagues, whether people stay in the UN system or leave it, and it is so valuable to have built this bond with people at this stage. It allows us to support each other and watch each other grow, and hopefully to work together in the future.

The concrete capacity-building offered by the team at UNSSC and the experts they bring in is so tailored to this stage of our careers. It is a real privilege to be given access to these experts, get support both in groups but also one-on-one. The opportunity of being given a week away from the office to reflect on what might be next, where we want to go and on how we might go about getting there is reason enough to join the training. Add to that the opportunity to exchange with other JPOs and colleagues at UNSSC, and spending a week in Turin – what's not to recommend?

Sounds interesting? You want to be part of the next Career Booster for JPOs edition?

For registrations and more information, please consult the programme page.

For any questions, please contact our team at jpo@unssc.org, by May 17, 2024.