United Nations Young Professionals Programme

The United Nations Young Professionals Programme (YPP) is a recruitment initiative for talented, highly qualified professionals to start a career as an international civil servant with the UN Secretariat.

The Young Professionals Program consists of an entrance examination process and professional development once those who are successful start their career with the UN.

The YPP examination is held once a year in different subject areas, depending on the needs of the UN. YPP is open to nationals of participating countries. The list of participating countries varies from year to year.

To be considered for the Young Professionals Program 2026, you must:

• Be a national of a United Nations member country

• Be at least a first-level university degree relevant for the exam (at least a relevant Bachelor's degree or a 3- year equivalent degree).

• Be 32 years of age or younger (born on or after 1 Jan. 1994)

• Be fluent in either English or French.

• The Young Professionals Program offers you an attractive remuneration package with competitive pay and benefits

• The level of pay for staff in the Professional and higher categories that are recruited internationally is set by reference to the highest paying national civil service.

To apply for the 2026 United Nations Young Professionals Program, interested and qualified applicants should follow the procedures below;

• 1

  Click on the button below to visit the UN YPP website

• 2

  Carefully review basic application criteria on this page.

• 3

  Explore the available job openings on  Inspira or the UN Careers Portal.

• 4

  Create and submit your application

• 5

  Applications are evaluated based on eligibility criteria

• 6

  Candidates are then notified of their eligibility and convoked to the examination and interview stages.