Young Chinese show increasing interest in working as intl civil servants(3)

Song said he has gone to more than 100 higher learning institutes to give lectures concerning international civil servants in the past four years. Some universities, such as Peking University and China Foreign Affairs University, have invited him to lecture on multiple occasions.

"Many of these offers come from student societies. The lecture halls are always full and the audiences can number up to 500," Song said.

Song said he thinks growing numbers of young people have a "volunteer spirit" and a sense of idealism, evidenced by the fact that youth volunteers are increasingly active in various positive activities like caring for children left behind in the countryside due to urbanization, charity activities, and environmental protection.

A second-year student studying Chinese international education at Hunan Normal University, who preferred to be named Wanwan, is one of many who wish to become an international civil servant.

"My dream is to work in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and serve the world's disadvantaged," Wanwan told the Global Times. Aside from diligently studying English, she spends most of her spare time as a volunteer, collecting and giving out publicity materials and helping with psychological guidance among the LGBT community in the college.

"We have the ambition to be international civil servants, but still lack the guidance on how to properly prepare for this," she lamented.

Stiff competition

There are plenty of perks when working for international organizations. The incomes are tax-free and the annual salary is above $50,000, which increases each year or with promotions. In addition they have 30 days of paid vacations each year, and their spouses and children can enjoy health insurance and pension funds, according to Song.

There is also the fact that working in an organization which gathers together the world's elite can help develop both expertise and qualifications.

Aside from the YPP examinations, there are other ways to join the UN Secretariat or related organizations like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNICEF. Applicants can apply online or be dispatched directly by the foreign affairs ministry.

According to Ericson, the job-recruitment process is highly competitive and Chinese applicants have performed comparatively well.

Despite the enormous number of applicants for the YPP examinations, only the top 40 applicants per country per occupational group are allowed to take the examinations. Last year, 4,579 Chinese nationals applied for the YPP examination, which was a very high number compared to most other member states that participated, Ericson said.

In the end, 11 Chinese nationals succeeded at the examination, which Ericson said was a very good result as 61 countries participated and only 84 candidates passed.

It's not all perks though. The job requires a lot of dedication, Song said, also noting that since the start of peacekeeping missions in 1948, about 2,000 UN workers have died while on duty.

"The work is not always in glamorous cities. You have to prepare to be sent to poverty-hit or war-torn regions," Liang Jing, a UNDP Chinese worker, told the Beijing News in a recent interview.

"Working in the UN is more than a job, it's a mission," Mi Pengfei, who works on the UN Weibo, was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency.

Nevertheless, Yang Jing, the former UN intern, showed some disappointment. "You thought you had done something very important, but in actuality, not all of them [your initiatives] are put into practice. Meetings are held every day. It's not easy to reach a consensus amid nearly 200 countries quickly," said Yang.