UNICEF Career insights: Alex Yuster

Here is some career advice by Alex Yuster, for our non-retired readers, based on experience! For those of us who are retired: Does it ring a bell?

Early career: make note of how your supervisors and other colleagues further along in their careers treat others. You’ll surely notice this anyway, and discuss it with your friends over coffee or a beer from time to time. Remember what you like, and what you don’t, about how these colleagues treat others – so you can apply these lessons when the time comes for you to lead others.

I’ve had mentors to whom I’m forever grateful; I’ve seen generosity and openness, and colleagues who have encouraged everyone to contribute. There have also been moments of humiliation or worse. You can learn a lot about leadership from all these experiences.

Mid career: I may have joined a long time ago, but some things about UNICEF culture do seem to remain the same. You often have room to innovate, to create your job, to convince others of a good idea. If you feel there is something that needs to be done within your area of professional responsibility, you should do all you can to make it happen. Yes, flexibility is important, but so is tenacity and the power of our convictions. My proudest accomplishment over my entire career [1] came from acting on such a conviction, finding and working with allies, often in other organizations, and keeping my focus to make it happen – often despite naysayers. A few others were the result of bold, quick actions. My few regrets involve instances when I did not act, was dissuaded, or gave up on an idea I knew mattered.

Mid/late career: As we advance up the career ladder in UNICEF, whether in management or technical areas (I did both), it becomes more and more important to focus on empowering others. This starts early on – from the first time you supervise even one person, and the responsibility just grows. While I find it personally rewarding, it is also the way to achieve the most. I guess this is obvious, but I wanted to state it here, since I would say that during my two final postings – as a Rep and then a PD section chief, most of my most significant professional contributions were a result of supporting the ideas and ambitions of my colleagues.

Start to finish: - have, and enjoy, a personal life beyond UNICEF. I have often had discussions with colleagues thinking about starting a family, how to maintain a relationship, etc. It should always be possible to do these things within the context of our professional lives. When it is not, we may sometimes need to try and change the institution. I have sometimes had to fight for these things and it is always worth it. But I’m not referring only to family life here: having other interests beyond work and family that matter to you gives you more to look forward to, helps balance other pressures, and I can attest, makes the step of finishing your career an exciting moment in life as well.

[1] This was developing the Guidelines for Alternative Care for Children, which were welcomed by the UNGA, and function as de facto international law and have an ongoing impact on policy and practice for children without parental care.

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