Most UN jobs do not move straight from application to interview. Between the longlist and the final panel, there is usually an assessment stage, and for many roles that means a written test, a case study, a presentation, or some combination of the three. Some agencies fold these into a single structured assessment exercise run over a few hours or a half-day. This is the part of the process candidates know least about, partly because the format varies by agency, grade, and job family, and partly because organisations rarely publish the exact tasks in advance.
The purpose of this stage is to see whether you can actually do the work, not just describe it on paper. A strong application and a polished CV get you to the test. The test is where the panel checks that you can draft cleanly under time pressure, structure an argument, analyse a realistic scenario, and present a recommendation the way the job would demand. It is also a leveller: candidates from well-known organisations and candidates from smaller ones sit the same exercise and are marked against the same criteria.
This guide walks through the common formats, explains where assessments sit in the recruitment timeline, and gives concrete preparation steps for each. It does not promise to tell you the exact questions, because no honest guide can. What it can do is remove the surprise, so that on test day you are spending your energy on the substance rather than working out what is being asked of you. Where details differ between agencies, confirm them in your invitation email or on the recruiting organisation's careers site.
Where the assessment sits in the process
After applications close, recruiters screen for eligibility and shortlist candidates who meet the requirements. The assessment stage normally comes next, before the competency-based interview, and it acts as a filter: only those who pass the written or practical exercise are invited to the final panel. For some roles the test and interview happen on the same day, with the test in the morning and interviews in the afternoon. For others they are separated by days or weeks.
You will usually receive an invitation by email with the date, the duration, whether it is remote or in person, and sometimes the broad theme. Treat that email as your single source of truth. It will tell you whether materials are allowed, whether the test is proctored, and how results feed into the next stage. If anything is unclear, ask the contact named in the invitation rather than guessing.
The written test
- The most common format: one or more open-ended questions answered in writing within a fixed time, often 60 to 180 minutes.
- Questions are tied to the job. A communications role may ask you to draft a press release or a talking-points note; an analyst role may ask you to summarise a dataset or critique a policy.
- Many tests are timed and proctored, either in a room or online with screen monitoring. Closed-book is common, so do not count on reference material unless the invitation says otherwise.
- Marking is against a rubric: clarity, structure, relevance to the question, technical accuracy, and writing quality. Length is rarely the point; a tight, well-organised answer beats a long, padded one.
- Drafting in the working language of the job (usually English or French) is tested directly here, so non-native speakers should expect their writing to be assessed on the page.
The case study
A case study gives you a realistic scenario, a brief, and a deliverable: assess this situation, identify the issues, and recommend a course of action. You might be handed a programme that is behind schedule, a fictional country office facing a funding gap, or a coordination problem between partners, and asked to produce a memo or a short plan. The aim is to see how you reason, prioritise, and justify decisions when the information is incomplete, which is how real UN work actually feels.
Strong answers do three things. They state assumptions openly rather than pretending the brief is complete. They structure the response so a busy reader can follow it: situation, analysis, options, recommendation. And they connect choices back to constraints the organisation genuinely faces, such as budget, mandate, partner relationships, and risk. Avoid the trap of dumping everything you know; the panel is watching what you choose to leave out as much as what you put in.
The presentation
- Common for higher-graded, managerial, or specialist roles. You may be given a topic in advance or only a short time before presenting.
- Typical setups: a short talk to the panel (often 5 to 15 minutes) followed by questions, sometimes with slides, sometimes without.
- You are assessed on structure, clarity, command of the subject, and how you handle challenge, not on slide design.
- Time management matters. Running long or cramming is marked down. Rehearse to the clock and build in a clear opening and close.
- Expect probing follow-up questions. The panel often learns more from how you defend or adjust your position than from the prepared part.
The structured assessment exercise
Some agencies, particularly for managerial and leadership positions, run a longer structured assessment that bundles several tasks together. Over a half-day or a full day you might complete an in-tray or inbox exercise (prioritising and responding to a stack of emails and memos), a written analysis, a presentation, and sometimes a role-play or group discussion. Assessors observe against the organisation's competency framework, so the same behaviours that come up in a competency-based interview, such as judgement, collaboration, and delivering results, are being scored as you work.
The thing to understand about these exercises is that there is rarely a single right answer. Assessors want to see your process: how you triage competing demands, how you communicate under pressure, and how you treat colleagues in a group setting. Candidates who try to dominate a group discussion often score worse than those who structure the conversation and bring others in. Read the instructions for each task carefully, because the tasks are usually designed to surface different competencies and the marking is split accordingly.
How to prepare without wasting time
- Reread the job opening and map the likely tasks. A drafting-heavy role means practise drafting; an analytical role means practise structuring analysis fast.
- Practise writing to a timer. Set 45 to 90 minutes, answer a realistic prompt, then check whether your structure was clear and your answer addressed the actual question.
- Learn the organisation's mandate, recent priorities, and a few current issues in its area. You do not need encyclopaedic knowledge, but generic answers stand out as generic.
- Build a simple structure you can reuse under pressure: for a memo, lead with the recommendation, then the reasoning, then next steps. Busy readers want the bottom line first.
- Read the organisation's competency framework so you recognise the behaviours being assessed, especially for structured exercises and presentations.
- Sort out logistics ahead of time for remote tests: a quiet space, a stable connection, a charged device, and any required identification. Technical problems on the day are stressful and avoidable.