Unjobfinder Career Podcast

Alexander Hauerslev Jensen is the Chief, Commercial Officer at Be my Eyes in Denmark. Be my Eyes is a mobile app that is bringing sight to blind and low-vision people. In this episode, Alexander explains how Be my Eyes works and the background to why it was initiated. - And people really want to help out and I think it’s beautiful to see that in a world where news and all politics can be slightly depressing every now and then, it’s just nice to see that people just want to help each other out. Like Be my Eyes does not discriminate in any way, we don’t care about your race, your beliefs, your sexuality or anything like that. It is just connecting someone who needs help with someone who can provide that help. And I think that connection is really pure and beautiful, and a lot of people want to be a part of that, says Alexander Hauerslev Jensen.

Niels Lohmann is the Team Lead Capacity Development at UNV in Bonn. Niels has worked with human resources and in particular with aspects facing persons with disabilities for a long time. In this episode, he explains what the role of UNV is, and how they ensure that persons with disabilities are included in recruitment processes. - Around the theme of inclusion and disability, so that is specifically looking at how do we become more accessible and inclusive in our volunteer mobilization activities, how do we enable people with disabilities and special needs also serve as volunteers within the UN system, says Niels Lohmann.

Marko Vuoriheimo is the founder and CEO of Chabla in Finland. Chabla is a mobile app that allows deaf to make and receive phone calls through an interpreter. In this episode, Marko explains how Chabla works and the background to why he started it. Marko is using sign language and the voice we hear in the podcast is the translator’s. - Just spontaneously want to go to a bank and discuss with somebody, I can’t do that because I’m deaf and all hearing people seem to be afraid of me if I do that. So this was something I got really fed up with and I decided that I wanted to do something about this problem myself, I wanted to find a solution, says Marko Vuoriheimo.

Rohit Kakar is the Head of Human Resources at Kiron in Berlin. Rohit has longstanding experience in working with human resources. In this episode, he explains how Kiron helps refugees to have access to higher education, and how his own background has inspired him to join this field of work. - What we actually believe in is that education can change lives, transform communities and build bridges and therefore we have built a digital platform called the Kiron campus to ensure that our students receive access to high-quality education not just for academic and professional purposes but also for personal growth, says Rohit Kakar.

Lizzie Merrill is the Chief, Operating Officer at Ignitia in Ghana. Lizzie has extensive experience in working with both aid organizations as well as social enterprises. In this episode, she explains how her work helps small scale farmers improve their farming capacities, what it’s like to work with a social enterprise, and how to develop a successful innovation project. - So when I learned about social entrepreneurship, which was both the sort of direct impact working with customers and beneficiaries and a sort of sustainable business model, this I think, this is the nexus that I want to work in, says Lizzie Merrill.

Lisa Akero is the Gender and Diversity Coordinator at IFRC in Geneva. Lisa has extensive experience in working with gender and diversity issues. In this episode, she explains how her work ensures a gender and diversity perspective in all emergencies, what it’s like to work with gender and diversity, and why she ended up in that field in the first place. - I find it extremely important and very very motivating when you can see change, when you can make change happen. When you can support processes or action that creates for a more equal and faire society, says Lisa Akero.

Marta Aretakis Terne is the Head of Marketing and Communication at Better Shelter in Sweden. Marta has a longstanding experience in Marketing and Communication. In this episode, she explains how her work has helped displaced persons receive a good shelter, what it’s like to work with a social enterprise, and how to develop a successful innovation project. - So we are the innovators and our role is to be the fast and the agile and the less bureaucratic organization and partner to these big, big aid providers. We can work a lot faster but we can also help them try concepts and we can help them try ideas that they would not be able to do, says Marta Aretakis Terne.

Robert Piper is the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations Development Coordination Office in New York. Robert has a longstanding experience in international development, humanitarian response and peacebuilding at the United Nations. In this episode, he explains the role of the UN Development Coordination Office, the background to the Talent roster and what kind of profiles he is looking for. - Working with the United Nations is an incredible privilege and it is a badge of honour to be part of the UN and it comes with a set of values. So, I think you join the UN in whatever capacity whether you are a peacekeeper, a development coordinator like me, or a humanitarian you join the UN with a passion for what it represents, says Robert Piper.

Annika Sandlund is the Chief, Interagency and Coordination Unit at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees headquarter in Geneva. Annika has extensive experience and has been working with refugees in many different countries and in different geographical regions. In this episode, she explains how her work has helped the lives of refugees, what’s it like to work with a humanitarian organization, and why she got into that field in the first place. - As a journalist I went to the Balkans to report from the wars at the Balkans, and I was quite disillusioned. I was relatively young and I had this idea that the world would be a better place if people just knew and understood what the problems were and if they agreed on how to see the world and everybody would also agree on how to solve the problems such as wars, says Annika Sandlund.

Marylene Wamukoya is the Senior Data Analyst at the Africa Population Health Research Center in Kenya. Marylene has extensive experience working in demographics, health and poverty dynamics research in Africa. In this episode, she explains how research are used, how it has had a positive impact o the African continent, and why she chose to become a researcher in the field of development. - To transform lives in Africa through research, and then I realized that I also aligns my own personal kind of goal, which is that if I leave anyone behind I will be leaving myself behind. So I found this to be a great conduce through which both I and africans can grow and I can make an impact through my work.

Comfort Lamptey is UN Women’s Country Representative in Nigeria. Comfort has spent most of her professional life working on gender issues. In this episode, she explains how her interest in promoting gender equality started out of curiosity of where all the women were, how she sees the necessity to transform societies, and what helped her to move all the way to a top position within the UN. - I had been working in an organization that was responsible for process of conflict resolution, mediation, preventive diplomacy, and I was very struck as a very young professional and I was very excited by this field, which was an evolving field. But after about a year I just began ask myself certain questions because I did not see a lot of women involved in the work we were doing, says Comfort Lamptey.

Jaime Castaneda is the Global Emergency Specialist at the Danish Refugee Council. The position is part of DRC:s emergency team and is roving. Jamie has extensive experience working in emergencies. In this episode, he describes the tasks that lies ahead when arriving at the frontline, his background that has prepared him for that kind of job, and which skills that are needed if one wants to work at the frontline. - In the beginning of the year I was deployed to Bangladesh in response to the Rohingya refugee crisis. I participated in setting up the new country operation, because it is a new operation for the Danish Refugee Council, and I was specifically in charge of designing the emergency prepare and response plan for the upcoming cyclone season. So basically, I had a team of engineers who were working in the largest refugee camp in the world. Trying to set up bridges, trying to set up retention walls, setting up pathways, identify safe evacuation areas in case of a strong cyclone and therefore landslides

Episode 2: Making an impact – what is Program staff doing? Sofie Liesker is the Head of Program Support Unit at the Norwegian Refugee Council in Lebanon. Sofie has extensive experience working in the humanitarian sector. In this episode, she describes the role of programming staff, what its like to work in a humanitarian operation, and also gives some advice on how to get the first job in the global impact sector. - I think that Lebanon might be one of the few places in the world in the humanitarian sector where you can actually work so close to a crisis and really work in a country office where you actively deliver services to vulnerable people and at the same time get to live in a place that is not as stressful and remote as many other of the locations humanitarian workers find themselves in, says Sofie Liesker.

Episode 1: Making an impact – why a podcast? Impactpool’s podcast is now being re-launched with the title “Making an impact”. In this first episode, Impactpool’s founders Magnus Bucht and Henrik Rydén provides an explanatory introduction to the podcast. The podcast’s background, purpose, and its importance will be explained. - If you know what you are applying for and you understand the context of the organizations then it will be a higher chance that you will be lucky in your new role. So this podcast will help you to better understand the whole sector, says Henrik Rydén.

Vivian Van de Perre is Chief Of Staff at the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic - MINUSCA. She talks about what is appealing in serving in the UN field missions and about her role as CHIEF of STAFF. She shares career tips and advice for people with private sector profile that would like to start a career with the UN.

Carsten Olsen is Finance and Budget Officer at MINUSCA - Bangui. In this interview Carsten shares his 26 years of experience working at the UN, skills and competences that have attributed to his success and explains what does it mean to work with Finance and Budget section in the United Nations in the field.

Listen to the career story of an Italian who grew up in the UK, and has gone from being a EU lobbyist via jobs in different NGOs all over the world, to where he is today as the Head of Operations for NRC in Amman, Jordan. Carlo Gherardi will share how he has grown both professionally and personally during his assignments and you will get excellent insider tips about the skills he is looking for when recruiting talents. “Every winter in Jordan is extremely difficult. You often have snowfall, you have temperatures at zero. One of our functions in the camps is to coordinate the distribution on behalf of all humanitarian agencies for what we call non-food items. So organizing distributions for 20,000 families and making sure that those are coordinated in a way where the most vulnerable are prioritized, where those people who can’t come and collect their items are supported by an alternative carer, making sure that people don’t have to queue for too long, and just logistically managing that kind of operation is e

In this episode you will meet Becky Bakr Abdulla, Media Coordinator in Iraq at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Listening to this episode will really give you an understanding of the importance of communications and what it means to be working in a conflict situation for an international organization such as the NRC. Becky Bakr Abdulla, a 27-year old from Oslo, Norway, is in the beginning of her career with the Norwegian Refugee Council, the NRC. In a short while she has gone from graduating university, via an internship, to being sent right into a field role as a Media Coordinator, where she’s dealing directly with the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Becky is also a child of refugee parents from Kurdistan, which is located in the northern part of Iraq, where she is currently based. – Obviously that sort of background has always given me an interest in more than just in a region border. I’ve always had an interest in travelling, in learning more about other cultures and other nationalities. So when

In this episode we interview an interesting person with enormous experience from different UN organizations. Currently, she is the Human Resources Director for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Don’t miss out on a great learning opportunity! In this podcast Cornelia Moussa, HR Director from WIPO, talks about the very specific work environment in the development sector, like how the different UN Agencies’ mandates has a huge influence on the organization’s culture: “The UN is not a static body, it’s always subject to a great deal of change, partly driven internally by mandates changing and partly also driven externally by member states, by the environments that we have to respond to, deal with”, she says. Cornelia Moussa has been in the UN system since the late 1970’s. She has held management positions for agencies such as UNFPA and UNRWA, both at headquarters but also in field offices in the Middle East. Listen and you will be rewarded with many important career tips, irrespective if y