Overview
Supranational organisations are defined as being ‘beyond the scope or borders of any one nation’. Obvious examples include the United Nations, and European Union and the World Bank, and others are listed below.
Their international nature means that you will compete for jobs with candidates from all over the world. Some may have nationality rules or quotas which can help/hinder you at different times.
Only a few, such as the EU, have 'traditional' graduate recruitment programmes. Instead they prefer more experienced professionals or specialists (eg postgraduates, doctors or scientists).
Graduate internship programmes lasting several months can be a good first step in the door. These tend to be highly competitive but they may be unpaid.
For some their very size and need for transparency can make the recruitment process very slow. However they may also recruit large numbers of temporary administrative staff so an alternative way in might be through employment agencies in the city where an organisation is based.
This article was published on Aug 6, 2010