Hi everyone

I have been thinking about changing job for a long time, and while I'm looking into all possibilities, my favourite would be to work for the UN (or another non-profit organisation). I might be naive, but I like the idea to contribute to a cause and not just work for a company that wants to increase their profit.

I have of course looked up quite a few things on the internet already and I'm aware that competition is fierce, but I still have a few questions and was hoping that some of you guys out there working for the UN could answer these.

If I chose to apply for a job in the G category, is it possible to later change to the P category? I read somewhere that this is quite hard. Also, does the UN give any support in education/personal development?

I noticed that a lot of the jobs in the "lower" categories seem to be 1 year contracts. Is that the usual way to start and is it then possible to extend or change to a different service? Finally, and this might be a silly question, is this (summer) a good time to apply or would I be better off waiting until September? I have to admit that I'm worried that the job market is only going to get more competitive with Merck-Serono's closure.

I would really appreciate any tipps that you can give me as the prospect of changing job is an exciting but also slightly scary project

Thomas

ps sorry for writing such a long message, but I've got a lot of things on my mind