For the third time in 15 months, the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services has re-posted its search for a new Chief of Service. The position reports to the UN Ombudsman, Shireen L. Dodson, who was appointed in June 2018. The position is based in New York and directs the work of seven regional Ombuds offices, in addition to working as an Ombuds. Significant travel is required.
The qualifying criteria have not changed from prior postings. Applicants must have an advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent); at least fifteen years in professional experience, including at least five years in a UN-related organization; and English fluency. Certification in ADR; experience in managing decentralized operations; and knowledge of French or another official UN language is an are desirable. Applications are due by April 26, 2019. No salary indicated. (UN Jobs.)
Related posts: UN Ombuds Reports on Reorganization Efforts; UN Ombuds Reports Growing Demand for Service; Fully Staffed UN Ombuds Program Issues Report on 2009 Activities; United Nations Ombuds Office Reports Strong Demand for Services [2017]; Job Posting; United Nations Appoints American to be Next Ombudsman; Job Posting.
The qualifying criteria have not changed from prior postings. Applicants must have an advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent); at least fifteen years in professional experience, including at least five years in a UN-related organization; and English fluency. Certification in ADR; experience in managing decentralized operations; and knowledge of French or another official UN language is an are desirable. Applications are due by April 26, 2019. No salary indicated. (UN Jobs.)
Related posts: UN Ombuds Reports on Reorganization Efforts; UN Ombuds Reports Growing Demand for Service; Fully Staffed UN Ombuds Program Issues Report on 2009 Activities; United Nations Ombuds Office Reports Strong Demand for Services [2017]; Job Posting; United Nations Appoints American to be Next Ombudsman; Job Posting.
I’m not surprised
ReplyDeleteWhy? Lousy position? Lousy place to work? Or no qualified candidates? Would love to hear your thoughts, thanks!
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ReplyDeleteI don't understand how the candidates are being selected. I am "over" qualified for the position and yet I am not getting an interview. I have over 15 years of extensive experience and nothing! I wish there was some level of transparency if not feedback as to the selection criteria.
ReplyDeleteNot saying I know Shireen's qualities as a leader positive or negative, but UN hiring is not a model of efficiency and expediency, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI see certain public comments were removed. So let us broaden the conversation and not direct it at a single person. But let us not lose sight of a huge problem that is contained to a small number of individuals. There are wolves among us. And that problem deals with the ethics and integrity of those who serve as an ombudsman, who should strive to be worthy of the trust placed in them, who are expected to dedicate themselves to the profession and attempt to fulfill the role in good faith. But these wolves have betrayed trusts by bullying; taking advantage of vulnerable visitors in the most subversive and immoral ways; abusing their position for personal gain - through fraudulent travel abuse (manufacturing “work” in places on their bucket list) and simply not working at all (though pretending to); intentionally, willfully, and maliciously ignoring the advice and guidance of the most respected leaders in our field and choosing a path contrary to our standards; and unfortunately etc. As one of our respected colleagues opined a couple years back, there absolutely needs to be a process in place to investigate allegations, and it needs to be fair for the accused. While certified ombuds through IOA do have a process in place, there isn’t a system of checks and balances to gather facts, determine wrongdoing or not, and if so, hold them accountable.
ReplyDeleteThis is really unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteTroubling that the prior, very informative, comment was removed, as it seemed informative yet without attacking or being malicious. It's unfortunate as well that there are apparently quite a few "wolves" working as OO, taking away opportunities of the very many people who would like to work in our field. I'm afraid that some of these individuals might conflate the core function of "independence" with being unaccountable (or even untouchable?) . Further, as with many professions, simply being trained as an OO -- even being Co-Op certified -- does not equate to being a good, fair, or competent manager of others. Too many of us, though, perhaps have blinders on, based on our respective track records of achievements or posts (e.g., "I was the OO at the [insert organization] so I MUST be a great manager"). This is not an easily solvable problem, and not one unique to our field. But does it do us all a disservice, if we know who the wolves are, that we don't call them out and thus continue to enable them? Would appreciate perspectives on this, because I certainly don't know the right answer. What I do tend to see in our profession is a recycling of OO (admittedly, "recycling" is a poor word choice) of professionals from one org to the next; there seems to be very little new blood in this field, and I don't know why that is. I don't think any of us is intentionally trying to prevent newbies from entering the profession, but we sure aren't doing a heck of a lot to grow the population of OO, and that's really on us. So in my humble opinion I'd argue that we need to move a bit off of our high horses by admitting we don't know it all, we don't know all the ways to practice in this field, and to really be open to new ideas, new ways of thinking, and new people. I know we all need these jobs in a field where let's be honest, there really aren't that many. But what's happening is a slow (possibly painful) death to a profession that is much too important, especially in our ever polarizing world.
ReplyDeleteLet me try to respond to part of your comments. I don't publish personal attacks, especially from anonymous commentators. That particular comment was on the line in my view. After giving it some thought, I decided to take it down because it didn't add a lot of info given the other comments here. (I *will* often approve personal and anonymous comments against me, especially if they are somewhat funny.)
DeleteI agree that it is very hard for organizations to vet potential ombuds. And there are plenty of my colleagues who strike me as not having a personality for this work.
One of my goals in publishing this blog is to increase the number of qualified applicants for jobs. But I don't think this is the right forum for identifying incumbent ombuds who are not good, fair, or competent. At least... it's not something I want to do. I openly admit I don't know it all.
And... I so, so happy that you're engaging on this!! You're making my day. Srsly
DeleteFor what it's worth, as someone who obviously is interested enough in the discussion to keep checking this post for comments, I am personally uncomfortable with the direction you and/or other Anonymouses - Anonymii? - are taking this.
DeleteIs this an important conversation? Sure. But it feels incredibly inappropriate to try and have it on a job posting that connects to a specific individual and high profile organization. Anonymous attempts to "de-personalize" in repeated comments have felt pretty flimsy to me, as an onlooker with no connection to any of these organizations or individuals.
I think it's possible to have important conversations about practices in the field without anonymously putting individual colleagues on blast via public websites. Let's do that instead! Seems like an excellent topic for IOA in New Orleans next week during any number of various discussion opportunities, or like a great session topic for next year.
On that note... Stay tuned for the IOA Undebate next week!
DeleteAnd I appreciate you, Tom, and all of the thankless work you put into this site! Please know that your hard work is deeply valued! Now help USC get cleaned up! ;)
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