ReferenceLast updated 14 August 2026

Free lessons

Four lessons from UN Career Academy are free to watch in full, with no account and no payment. They cover the stages that decide most applications: getting the application itself right, the screening tests, and the interview. Each page carries the video and the complete transcript.

Applying to UN agencies outside Inspira: UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, WHO and the P-11

Inspira covers the Secretariat. Most UN roles are somewhere else, on portals that ask for different things.

Lesson 5.4, module 5: Mastering the Application Process. Watch and read

The UN cover letter and motivation statement: what actually works

Automated screening decides whether anyone reads your application. The motivation statement decides what they think when they do.

Lesson 5.5, module 5: Mastering the Application Process. Watch and read

UN online pre-screening tests: aptitude, psychometrics and what to expect

The tests are not an intelligence exam. They are a filter, and filters can be prepared for.

Lesson 6.1, module 6: Assessments and Written Tests. Watch and read

The STAR method for UN competency interviews: a complete tutorial

Every UN competency interview is scored against evidence. STAR is how you supply it.

Lesson 7.3, module 7: The Competency-Based Interview. Watch and read

Why these ones

I chose them because they answer the questions people actually arrive with, and each stands on its own without the rest of the course around it. They are not extracts or trailers: you are getting the lessons exactly as enrolled students receive them.

The other 56 cover the UN system and its contract grades, every route in, building the profile, applying at volume, written assessments, the competency frameworks in depth, what happens after the interview, and the agencies themselves. See the full curriculum and pricing.