I want to work for UNICEF Forum

[annahm]

I NEED HELP FROM SOMEONE IN LAW SCHOOL/ HAS GRADUATED FROM A US LAW SCHOOL!

I am planning on applying to law school this next year straight from undergrad- I think I'm mature enough/ready/ and I don't want to waste time if I already know what I want. My ultimate career goal is to work for UNICEF in some leadership or management capacity facilitating advocacy for children around the world, especially those in developing countries and living in slums.

Do you have any advice on what Law school/ program/ or advanced/ post graduate degree would be best for me to pursue? I am currently prepping to apply to a top US law school with opportunities for and emphasis on experience in child advocacy... But would it be wiser to pursue a Masters of law degree or master in Human rights degree in Europe instead (It would be cheaper)? Or is there another field I should be pursuing in my interest of working within the international context? I am very sure of the career path I want to take in life, there are just many decisions I have to make at this point, 20 years old! that could alter my ultimate plan??

ANY advice is welcome! Thank You

[cinephile]

What country are you from? Is money no object for you? I can't really address your questions without knowing these factors.

Go to a top school, like HYS, for your best bet.

But don't put all your eggs in one basket. If this is literally the only outcome you'd be happy with coming out of law school, then you shouldn't go to law school.

[annahm]

I am from the US. and I would like to make money one day but its not my driving factor. If I graduate from school and can work in any capacity towards international development on a social scale i.e. women's rights, child advocacy, other forms of social justice I will be more than satisfied!

[cinephile]

Join the Peace Corps first and see how things go. Then report back.

[politics89]

I know so many people who jump straight from UG to law school and that lack of experience hurts them. Take at least a year, intern for UNICEF or a similar organization. Make sure its what you want to do and that you need a JD to do it before you commit yourself to 3 more years of school and a ton of debt. I waited and I am so grateful that I did because I learned what degree would help me most and made me see this was a career path I really wanted.

This year off isnt going to delay your goals by a significant amount of time, it really can only help you, especially when it comes time to apply to that UNICEF job.

[worldtraveler]

Go work with children in slums first, then apply to law school.

[guano]

Go work with children in slums.

[nealric]

Going to law school is unlikely to assist with achieving your goal.

[crumpetsandtea]

Going to law school is unlikely to assist with achieving your goal.

+1. Even if it were, you should get work experience beforehand because having xperience doing social work will help you find a job later on.

Here's a question you should try to answer before going to LS for this: What do you think an attorney who works for UNICEF does, exactly? What do you think their role is in UNICEF? Their daily tasks? How many people in need do you think an attorney for UNICEF helps in one year?

Now, what do you want to do with UNICEF, exactly? What is your ideal role with UNICEF? What would your ideal daily schedule with UNICEF be?

Answer these questions ITT and we can give you a better idea of whether or not LS will help you get to your dream job.

[annahm]

Going to law school is unlikely to assist with achieving your goal.

+1. Even if it were, you should get work experience beforehand because having xperience doing social work will help you find a job later on.

Here's a question you should try to answer before going to LS for this: What do you think an attorney who works for UNICEF does, exactly? What do you think their role is in UNICEF? Their daily tasks? How many people in need do you think an attorney for UNICEF helps in one year?

Now, what do you want to do with UNICEF, exactly? What is your ideal role with UNICEF? What would your ideal daily schedule with UNICEF be?

Answer these questions ITT and we can give you a better idea of whether or not LS will help you get to your dream job.

My ideal role within UNICEF would be working within the policy/ advocacy unit to help lobby for and support policy for youth development and higher education in developing countries. On the other hand I want to litigate like actually directly advocate for children who are in abusive situations. Im not exactly sure what a lawyer with UNICEF does but I just have the idea that a law degree is something useful to have overall, especially when wanted to change policy... so what do you think? And thank you so much for your input!

[crumpetsandtea]

Going to law school is unlikely to assist with achieving your goal.

+1. Even if it were, you should get work experience beforehand because having xperience doing social work will help you find a job later on.

Here's a question you should try to answer before going to LS for this: What do you think an attorney who works for UNICEF does, exactly? What do you think their role is in UNICEF? Their daily tasks? How many people in need do you think an attorney for UNICEF helps in one year?

Now, what do you want to do with UNICEF, exactly? What is your ideal role with UNICEF? What would your ideal daily schedule with UNICEF be?

Answer these questions ITT and we can give you a better idea of whether or not LS will help you get to your dream job.

My ideal role within UNICEF would be working within the policy/ advocacy unit to help lobby for and support policy for youth development and higher education in developing countries. On the other hand I want to litigate like actually directly advocate for children who are in abusive situations. Im not exactly sure what a lawyer with UNICEF does but I just have the idea that a law degree is something useful to have overall, especially when wanted to change policy... so what do you think? And thank you so much for your input!

Okay let me start with this.

How do you think you get to work on policy for a non-profit? Have you ever worked closely with a non-profit before? Because if you have, I'm pretty sure you'll find most of the lobbyists/advocates are NOT attorneys (or if they are, they're non-practicing attorneys).

How much research have you done into UNICEF's legal department? How many attorneys do they have on staff, and how much work do they get? How often do attorneys litigate on behalf of individual children in abusive situations (legit q bc I don't know shit about UNICEF). You absolutely SHOULD NOT go to law school if all you want to do is work for UNICEF UNLESS you have done your homework. If you go to law school, you will need to go to a T6 to guarantee easy access to a well-known non-profit like UNICEF. You will also need to get good grades. I don't know what your stats are, but let's say you can make it to a T6 at sticker. You will be $200,000 in debt by the time you finish, give or take. That's nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Working for a PI org like UNICEF is NOT going to pay well. Are you willing to throw away $200,000 on the off chance that UNICEF 1) even has a position like the one you want, 2) is hiring for the position when you graduate, 3) chooses to hire you for the position?

Contact people who work for UNICEF and ask them about their jobs. Seriously, do not do this lightly. Even with a full ride to YSH, you're looking at THREE YEARS of your life. If you want to do policy work, there may likely be a position that allows you to start climbing the rungs at UNICEF straight out of UG. That will be a MILLION times more helpful for your personal goals than 3 years of law school.

[annahm]

Going to law school is unlikely to assist with achieving your goal.

+1. Even if it were, you should get work experience beforehand because having xperience doing social work will help you find a job later on.

Here's a question you should try to answer before going to LS for this: What do you think an attorney who works for UNICEF does, exactly? What do you think their role is in UNICEF? Their daily tasks? How many people in need do you think an attorney for UNICEF helps in one year?

Now, what do you want to do with UNICEF, exactly? What is your ideal role with UNICEF? What would your ideal daily schedule with UNICEF be?

Answer these questions ITT and we can give you a better idea of whether or not LS will help you get to your dream job.

My ideal role within UNICEF would be working within the policy/ advocacy unit to help lobby for and support policy for youth development and higher education in developing countries. On the other hand I want to litigate like actually directly advocate for children who are in abusive situations. Im not exactly sure what a lawyer with UNICEF does but I just have the idea that a law degree is something useful to have overall, especially when wanted to change policy... so what do you think? And thank you so much for your input!

Okay let me start with this.

How do you think you get to work on policy for a non-profit? Have you ever worked closely with a non-profit before? Because if you have, I'm pretty sure you'll find most of the lobbyists/advocates are NOT attorneys (or if they are, they're non-practicing attorneys).

How much research have you done into UNICEF's legal department? How many attorneys do they have on staff, and how much work do they get? How often do attorneys litigate on behalf of individual children in abusive situations (legit q bc I don't know shit about UNICEF). You absolutely SHOULD NOT go to law school if all you want to do is work for UNICEF UNLESS you have done your homework. If you go to law school, you will need to go to a T6 to guarantee easy access to a well-known non-profit like UNICEF. You will also need to get good grades. I don't know what your stats are, but let's say you can make it to a T6 at sticker. You will be $200,000 in debt by the time you finish, give or take. That's nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Working for a PI org like UNICEF is NOT going to pay well. Are you willing to throw away $200,000 on the off chance that UNICEF 1) even has a position like the one you want, 2) is hiring for the position when you graduate, 3) chooses to hire you for the position?

Contact people who work for UNICEF and ask them about their jobs. Seriously, do not do this lightly. Even with a full ride to YSH, you're looking at THREE YEARS of your life. If you want to do policy work, there may likely be a position that allows you to start climbing the rungs at UNICEF straight out of UG. That will be a MILLION times more helpful for your personal goals than 3 years of law school.

Ok thank you so much. I am hearing everything you're saying and it makes sense. I am also coming to terms with the fact that I am graduating in less than a year and I have all this passion and vision but I don't know how I will be able to actually affect change and work towards the goals I want to. I know I want further education and I am a good student/ scholar/ researcher. Law school can be a natural fit for me but I don't want to do it just because I "should" or because I "can".... do you know about masters or postgrad programs in Europe? Would they be a bit different or a little more geared towards the international development jobs I'm interested in? Just a question... Once again thanks for all your help!

[crumpetsandtea]

Ok thank you so much. I am hearing everything you're saying and it makes sense. I am also coming to terms with the fact that I am graduating in less than a year and I have all this passion and vision but I don't know how I will be able to actually affect change and work towards the goals I want to. I know I want further education and I am a good student/ scholar/ researcher. Law school can be a natural fit for me but I don't want to do it just because I "should" or because I "can".... do you know about masters or postgrad programs in Europe? Would they be a bit different or a little more geared towards the international development jobs I'm interested in? Just a question... Once again thanks for all your help!

Honestly, you sound like a really idealistic, good person. Have you ever worked in PI before? I ask because it can be kind of jading sometimes (I worked in PI for like 3-4 years). It doesn't really seem like you know what this dream job of yours really entails, like it's more of this ideal you've created in your head of going out and helping to save kids (vs a concrete job that you've researched and that exists).

If you really want to do public interest, I would HIGHLY recommend working for Americorps, Peace Corps, or UNICEF for a year or two just to get some experience and ground your dreams in reality a bit. The last thing you want is to sink time and money into education only to turn around and realize that real life experience would have served you better.

I think it's great that you don't want to attend LS because you "should" or "can." I think you should apply that same mentality to any other grad or masters program. A lot of the work you seem to be interested in doesn't really require anything beyond a bachelor's. That's why I ask how much research you've actually done on your dream job, because you seem to be very oddly set on going to school in something, anything, when it really isn't necessary for a lot of the jobs that are similar to this dream job of yours. Like I said, it might serve you better to spend 3-6 years working on your career at a PI organization and making connections and learning the ropes, instead of spending those 3-6 years staying in this a sterile, academic, living-in-a-bubble perspective of public interest work.

ETA: I also want to note that what I'm saying is EXACTLY what other people in this thread have been saying: get a job, then consider law (or grad) school.

[KD35]

Ok thank you so much. I am hearing everything you're saying and it makes sense. I am also coming to terms with the fact that I am graduating in less than a year and I have all this passion and vision but I don't know how I will be able to actually affect change and work towards the goals I want to. I know I want further education and I am a good student/ scholar/ researcher. Law school can be a natural fit for me but I don't want to do it just because I "should" or because I "can".... do you know about masters or postgrad programs in Europe? Would they be a bit different or a little more geared towards the international development jobs I'm interested in? Just a question... Once again thanks for all your help!

With all this vision it really looks like you need the knowledge to go with it. Sadly on a forum like this you won't likely find that expertise. Where you WILL find it is by talking to people who work with/for UNICEF. You need to focus on learning from them what the right way to go is for 2 reasons:
1.) Networking with people in UNICEF will be key for getting in the door.
2.) No one knows what it takes to be a good UNICEF'er (yea I made that up) than someone who works for UNICEF...preferably someone in a leadership role.


Finally, a bit of personal feedback. If you don't know exactly what you should be doing to get from where you are to where you want to be in the long-term future, take a year or two to work. You will waste time and money by pursuing something because you think it is the right path, but later find out that you went off of an assumption instead of quality advice from someone in the field you wish to be in. Calm down, talk to people in higher positions in UNICEF, and don't rush.

[rad lulz]

Just grab one of these and get out there on Oct. 31






BOOM you're workin for UNICEF

[KD35]

Just grab one of these and get out there on Oct. 31






BOOM you're workin for UNICEF

The worst is when they run out cuz you asked for one too late...that'd be sad.

[annahm]

Thank you guys

[smaug_]

To echo some of the sentiments above, you're better off just working for the non-profit than going to law schools. You might be able to work for (or more likely with) NPOs in/after law school, but it's hard to get a job in that field.

Moreover, as crumps said, it is easy to burn out of those types of jobs/realize that you don't actually want to spend your life trying to help children/safe the forests/protect the whales/protect the baby forest panda-whales from extinction.

To add my own cynicism, people in NPOs can be kinda awful in person. Public Interest work certianly attracts "true believers" but that kind of work also attracts people you probably don't want to work with. It attracts narcissistic people who expect sympathy for their martyrdom. It attracts people who are secretly competitive and care more about the fact that they are helping someone than that someone is being helped. Given that these orgs can be small, you might be stuck with someone who fits in these categories just like someone on the private side could be stuck working under an awful partner. It's something to consider.

[crumpetsandtea]

I actually kinda disagree with hibiki on the PI-people comment. There are gonna be dicks, yeah, but the PI people I've met have all been genuinely great people. They do fall victim to the holier-than-thou attitude though, but I think that's necessary to maintain your conviction while working in PI.

My issues with PI work (particularly grassroots activism/advocacy, which is what I did) is that it is disorganized, there's a lot of turnaround, and to some extent it often feels like a hamster wheel: you're running for 20 hours a day, bone tired, but not getting anywhere. Or if you get somewhere, it's a tiny itsy bitsy step and theres about fifty million more standing behind it. There is also no such thing as "done with work" in a PI organization. If you're not someone who is accustomed to saying "No" (like me) you will get more responsibilities given to you on top of what you already have, over and over and over and over again. PI organizations can take over your life just as much as biglaw can.

With that said, I loved my experience working in the public interest sector. If I could go back, other than learning how to balance my time better, I wouldn't change a thing. It helped shape who I am today. But before you decide you want to make it your career, you should really see if you're the type of person who flourishes in those settings. We hired about 50-100 interns every 6 months, and of those people I would say maybe 3 or 4 each year could withstand the rush of work enough to stick with us for longer than a few months. The turnover rate was insane because we had so many idealistic kids who never realized that feeding the homeless or saving the planet from global warming would actually require them to put in hard, long hours, often doing really dull things like cold calling strangers, data entry, writing press releases, calling 50 media sources, making props, spending hours planning out the campaign, endless trainings, and many many hours in the office.

[seagan823]

Go work with children in slums first, then apply to law school.

If you really want to do this sort of work, you need to get the hands on experience first. Join the PeaceCorps or some other organization focused on community development. If you don't work in the field first, interacting with those you wish to serve, all the education in the world won't make you a good advocate for those people.

[Samara]

I actually kinda disagree with hibiki on the PI-people comment. There are gonna be dicks, yeah, but the PI people I've met have all been genuinely great people. They do fall victim to the holier-than-thou attitude though, but I think that's necessary to maintain your conviction while working in PI.

My issues with PI work (particularly grassroots activism/advocacy, which is what I did) is that it is disorganized, there's a lot of turnaround, and to some extent it often feels like a hamster wheel: you're running for 20 hours a day, bone tired, but not getting anywhere. Or if you get somewhere, it's a tiny itsy bitsy step and theres about fifty million more standing behind it. There is also no such thing as "done with work" in a PI organization. If you're not someone who is accustomed to saying "No" (like me) you will get more responsibilities given to you on top of what you already have, over and over and over and over again. PI organizations can take over your life just as much as biglaw can.

With that said, I loved my experience working in the public interest sector. If I could go back, other than learning how to balance my time better, I wouldn't change a thing. It helped shape who I am today. But before you decide you want to make it your career, you should really see if you're the type of person who flourishes in those settings. We hired about 50-100 interns every 6 months, and of those people I would say maybe 3 or 4 each year could withstand the rush of work enough to stick with us for longer than a few months. The turnover rate was insane because we had so many idealistic kids who never realized that feeding the homeless or saving the planet from global warming would actually require them to put in hard, long hours, often doing really dull things like cold calling strangers, data entry, writing press releases, calling 50 media sources, making props, spending hours planning out the campaign, endless trainings, and many many hours in the office.

+ a million

Doing PI means doing a ton of bitchwork because every PI group is hugely understaffed and underfunded. Also, from a policy perspective, your personal impact will be so small as to seem non-existent. The hamster wheel analogy is perfect. Policy changes happen incrementally an with the help of many organizations, so even when something is accomplished its hard to feel like your role had an impact.

PI is filled with "true believers" because only true believers would put up with all that. And even a lot of true believers burn out after a few years.

[Samara]

Going to law school is unlikely to assist with achieving your goal.

+1. Even if it were, you should get work experience beforehand because having xperience doing social work will help you find a job later on.

Here's a question you should try to answer before going to LS for this: What do you think an attorney who works for UNICEF does, exactly? What do you think their role is in UNICEF? Their daily tasks? How many people in need do you think an attorney for UNICEF helps in one year?

Now, what do you want to do with UNICEF, exactly? What is your ideal role with UNICEF? What would your ideal daily schedule with UNICEF be?

Answer these questions ITT and we can give you a better idea of whether or not LS will help you get to your dream job.

My ideal role within UNICEF would be working within the policy/ advocacy unit to help lobby for and support policy for youth development and higher education in developing countries. On the other hand I want to litigate like actually directly advocate for children who are in abusive situations. Im not exactly sure what a lawyer with UNICEF does but I just have the idea that a law degree is something useful to have overall, especially when wanted to change policy... so what do you think? And thank you so much for your input!

Glancing at the UNICEF Wikipedia page, I'm fairly certain UNICEF does nothing even closely related to litigation for abused children. If you want to do that, you'll want to work for state government, dept of child services or an org that provides guardian ad litem services. Protip: It's not what you think it is.

[crumpetsandtea]

+ a million

Doing PI means doing a ton of bitchwork because every PI group is hugely understaffed and underfunded. Also, from a policy perspective, your personal impact will be so small as to seem non-existent. The hamster wheel analogy is perfect. Policy changes happen incrementally an with the help of many organizations, so even when something is accomplished its hard to feel like your role had an impact.

PI is filled with "true believers" because only true believers would put up with all that. And even a lot of true believers burn out after a few years.

Yep. This is actually what my PS for law school was about (well, about a campaign we did, but I mentioned this in the PS. Sometimes it's very, very difficult to understand why "10 petition signatures in half an hour" leads to "a million solar roofs in the state."

In fact, when my organization taught me how to train interns, they would always tell us to do what's called a 'backwards triangle' to try and help the interns conceptualize WHY we do those dull day-to-day things (this is also how you build a campaign, btw), because it's SO difficult to see the forest when you're staring at the bark of one tree. It looks something like this:

BIG picture - stop global warming
How? - pass X proposition that will do Y
How? - Get voters to vote for proposition
How? - Talk to them (exactly how many people do we need to talk to? Set goal.)
How? - Tables, phonebanking, petition signatures. (How many tables? How many phonebanks? How many petition sigs? Set goal.)
Calculate # of hours needed for above tactics in order to hit goal
Table/phonebank to talk to people to get them to be interns to help with campaign

So basically at some point you end up standing outside pitching your organization to strangers in the hopes they'll volunteer, for hours and hours and hours. And then calling them for hours before an event to get them to come out and help. Then calling them AGAIN for their next event, and for your weekly meeting, and on election day. And you'll call people to come help you call people. It's endless tables and phonebanks and huge calendars on butcher paper.

Anyway I'll stop rambling about PI now.

[danitt]

You don't need a law degree to work in advocacy in UNICEF. Your best bet is a master's in a related field. (IR, Development, Advocacy). If you want to litigate internationally for human rights (children's rights would fall under this) etc, you work at the ICC and even then it's kind of....procedural.

[timbs4339]

Go work at a PI organization. You're 20, for god's sake.