The Secretariat of the World Trade Organization is seeking candidates for the WTO Young Professionals Program (YPP). The recruitment policy of the WTO seeks to attract and retain staff members offering the highest standards of competence, efficiency and integrity. As an Equal Opportunities Employer, the WTO gives full regard to merit and diversity.
Scholarship Description
The WTO Young Professionals Program (YPP) is a unique opportunity for qualified young professionals up to the age of 32 years, from WTO Members with low or no professional representation in the WTO Secretariat, to enhance their knowledge and skills on WTO and international trade issues. The Program aims to widen the pool of professionals from these WTO Members, who can later be more competitive with respect to recruitment in the WTO and/or other regional and international organizations.
All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter of motivation, which should indicate up to three areas of work (see details under general functions), in order of preference, that the applicant would be interested in. Applications with no accompanying letter of motivation will not be considered.
Award Benefits | WTO Young Professionals Program (YPP)
This program offers selected young professionals with the opportunity to gain work experience in the WTO. Monthly Salary up to CHF 4,000.
General Functions
The areas of work may include, inter alia, the following (in alphabetical order):
– Accessions
– Agriculture
– Communications
– Council and Trade Negotiations
– Digital Trade
– Dispute Settlement
– Economic Research and Statistics
– External relations
– Government Procurement
– Intellectual Property Rights
– Investment Facilitation for Development
– Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
– Market Access (tariffs and non-tariff barriers)
– Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures
– Technical Barriers to Trade
– Trade and Development
– Trade and Environment
– Trade Facilitation
– Trade Finance
– Trade and Gender
– Trade in Services and Investment
– Trade Policy Analysis
– Trade-Related Technical Assistance.
– Trade Remedies (anti-dumping and countervailing duties)
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible candidates for the WTO Young Professionals Program (YPP) should have:
- Advanced university degree in economics, econometrics, international relations, law, environment studies, or other trade-related subjects relevant to the work of the WTO and/or ongoing discussions in the WTO (e.g. international investment law, trade and gender, etc.). Applicants must have obtained their advanced university degree by the time they submit their application.
- General knowledge of the work of the WTO.
- Technical knowledge in one or more of the areas of work indicated above.
- Good drafting skills in English. Ability to draft in French and/or Spanish would be an advantage.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team, in a multicultural environment.
- Demonstrated strong interest in international trade and the multilateral trading system.
- Commitment and passion for trade or WTO-related work.
- Minimum two (2) years of professional experience relevant to the work of the WTO.
- Fluency in English. A good working knowledge of either French or Spanish would be an advantage.
- Preference shall be given to nationals from WTO Members without any representation as well as from developing and least developed countries (LDCs) Members with low representation (one or two staff members) at the professional level in the Secretariat (as listed). Particular attention will be given to developing and LDCs WTO Members that have not participated in previous cohorts of the YPP
Only applications from nationals of WTO Members will be accepted. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply to this Program.
The WTO may use various communication technologies such as video or teleconference for the assessment and evaluation of candidates. The recruitment process may also involve the use of various forms of testing, assessment centers, interviews and reference checks.
Application Procedure
All applicants for the WTO Young Professionals Program (YPP) are encouraged to apply online as soon as possible after the vacancy has been posted and well before the closing date – Geneva (Switzerland) time – stated in the vacancy announcement.
