Getting into development

Getting into development – Chris Blattman’s tips July 13, 2010

Chris Blattman is  an academic at Yale with a range of interests. These include making sure his students are aware of some very practical issues when looking to make a start in development.  I’m summarising some tips from his blog.  To read the whole thing you can start by clicking on Chris’ blog on the blogroll

An MSF staff member said

“get a technical skill needed in developing countries. I specialized in tropical medicine and then took courses in refugee and IDP specific health situations.”

…agreed to go wherever (MSF) sent me. Going wherever you are assigned is the key in the beginning..

Advice from an MSF administrator

“For non-medical volunteers, there are two main areas of entry-level work: logistics and finance/HR management. To build experience, you could help coordinate an international supply chain or organize safaris for travelers. You could work with a diverse HR pool or manage a big office. Idealism, adventure travel and volunteer stints are important because they indicate that your heart is the in the right place and that you’re not going to quit because the toilets don’t flush. But to start out you also need a set of transferable skills.”

In one of his entries Chris excerpts  a blog from

Alanna Shaikh where she wrote about five tips for getting a job in international development:  Chris included some of his own so the list reads

1. Get an office job ..….most development work is office work. You need to prove you can handle an office every day.
2. Study something useful at university. For example, technical subjects like nursing and IT are useful. Epidemiology is useful. A master’s degree is more useful than an undergrad degree.
3. Study a second language. You don’t have to get all that good at it, but making the effort demonstrates you are willing to commit yourself to international and intercultural work. If you are already bilingual, you don’t have to learn a third language. People will assume you are good at intercultural navigation.
4. Have a goal for what you want to do, that’s specific but not too specific. “I am interested in food security and emergency relief” has a good level of specificity. “I want to work for UNDP” is too specific. “I am interested in women’s empowerment, reproductive health, and community development” is too vague. There is kind of an art to this; basically you want to give people a sense of who you are and what you want. Too broad and they don’t have any sense of you. To narrow and you’ve ruled out too many jobs. If you’re having trouble with this, it’s a good thing to talk over with a mentor.
5. It’s a numbers game. Sit down every day and aim to write just 5 people. After three weeks, that’s 50 e-mails. Forty-five will go unanswered, three will say “thanks, but no vacancy”, two will say “let’s talk”, and one will turn into a job.
6. Be willing to go to uncomfortable places. No worthwhile NGO should send you to a danger zone or challenging emergency on your first go, but many will need staff in secure but less desirable destinations. Express a willingness to work under difficult conditions and it may open up extra doors. So long as you mean it. Travel experience in difficult countries will help.