Almir Huseini

Please tell our readers about yourself, where do you come from, what have you been studying and where?

I am coming from Serbia where I graduated Sociology. After gaining a B.A. degree in sociology, I came to Budapest, Hungary to continue my education and graduated from the Master of Public Administration Program at the School of Public Policy at the Central European University.

How did you find out about the internship program at ILO and how did you apply? How long was the process? Was it difficult to apply?

I found out about the internship program in ILO through a presentation of ILO by the former director at an event at the Central European University. I applied through the official website by sending my CV. After the revision of my CV, I received a letter that there is a match between my profile and a project “Promoting decent work opportunities for Roma Youth in Central and Eastern Europe.”

What was your motivation to apply, and why did you choose this organization for your internship? What were your expectations at the time when you started the daily work in the office?

My motivation to apply as a recent master postgraduate was to get to know the organizational culture, get to know the UN decision-making processes, type of governance and gain more experience on a procedural as well as the policy level. Participation in the social dialogue, the tripartite system and the decent work agenda are unique to the ILO.

What kind of activities were you involved in? Tell us about the tasks, assignments you were asked to do, and about cooperation with colleagues in the office.

I was involved in all activities of the ILO including meetings, conferences and seminars. There is a great deal of transparency and inclusion towards interns about projects, budgets and a lot of insights and space for contribution and experience. My assignments were very interesting. I was writing background studies and reports on the situation of Roma in Kosovo with the emphasis on youth, and a report on Roma women in Moldova. I carried out literature review on best practice methodology and existing research on the situation of Roma in Moldova. The assignments were very interesting and I was receiving feedback from well-established external ILO experts, my mentor within the organization and field officers.

What did you learn? What are you taking away from this experience? How will you be able to use what you learned at ILO in your future work?

Because I was getting real tasks, I had the opportunity to engage in the real work of a UN staff member. Thus, I gained a lot of confidence, experience, and insights by accomplishing my tasks. I learnt a lot about how international organizations such as the ILO work, what rules and procedures have to be followed, about decision-making process and governance. Skills that I had the opportunity to broaden are a must requirement in a job of a policy-maker, especially writing, analysing data and balancing different information as well as transforming them into tangible recommendations that fit with the ILO mandate, procedures and all conventions. This set of skills is required in a policy maker career.

What was your best experience? Would you change anything about how the internship program works? Would you recommend it to other students?

My best experience was definitively drafting reports, which is real expert work. This internship opportunity opened me the door to enhance my skills, gain confidence, for future jobs and networking. I would definitively recommend it to other students.

Aziz Davlatov

Please tell our readers about yourselves, where do you come from, what have you been studying and where?

My name is Aziz Davlatov; I am from Dushanbe, Tajikistan. I hold a BA in International Economics from Tajikistan National University, and currently I am a Master of Arts candidate in Public Policy and studied at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary in 2016-2017.

How did you find out about the internship programme at ILO and how did you apply? How long was the process? Was it difficult to apply?

I found out about the ILO internship programme from the CEU’s Career Next website. I applied to the internship programme at ILO’s regional office in Budapest in mid-May 2017 along with many other organizations based in Budapest. About a week after the interview, I was offered an internship placement with ILO DWT/CO-Budapest.

What was your motivation to apply, and why did you chose this organisation for your internship? What were your expectations at the time when you started the daily work in the office?

I was excited to learn and gain professional experience in such a diverse and truly international working environment. Why ILO? I consider the ILO one of the most important and innovative organizations among the UN family organizations. I was thrilled by the chance to contribute to such a renowned organization, at the same time learn, and gain new knowledge and skills.

What kind of activities were you involved in? Tell us about the tasks, assignments you were asked to do, and about cooperation with colleagues in the office. 

I was involved in a full range of activities every average staff member would be involved in, among others such activities as routine fulfilment of tasks, doing research, translating documents, taking part at meetings, etc. I was given tasks in our unit’s projects in Ukraine and some other countries in CEE (Bulgaria, Moldova) in the field of social protection. For instance, among others I was assisting my supervisor in data collection and analysis for Improving Occupational Safety and Health in the Mining Industry of Ukraine project, for A new Ukrainian Concept of Reform and Development of the Coal Industry for the Period until 2020, and assisted in data collection and analysis with regard to pension system reforms in Central and Eastern Europe for a brand new ILO -Budapest publication. I translated a survey report based on the social security assessment survey of farmers in Moldova from English into Russian, translated the EU-OSH sectoral online interactive risk assessment (OiRA) tool from Bulgarian into English, etc
.
What did you learn? What are you taking away from this experience? How will you be able to use what you learnt at ILO in your future work?

I learnt about how ILO and its regional offices operate their governing structure, budget, scope of work and areas of impact. In addition, I learnt good teamwork and collaboration, learnt being in line with social, ethical and ILO norms and values, showing high sensitivity and respect to diversity, to an inclusive environment, learnt accomplishing the tasks very effectively in a timely manner. I have also upgraded my analytical skills, communication skills and personal skills. The knowledge and skills I acquired will definitely be useful to pursue my future career objectives and in my constant self-cultivation.

What was your best experience? Would you change anything about how the internship programme works? Would you recommend it to other students?

The best experience of mine was working independently with a lot of databases, figures and legislation in different languages (English, Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian), for instance with NORMLEX and numerous country specific databases and resources. I would recommend for the future even closer involvement of interns in routine projects. I definitely highly recommend to other students to apply for internships with the ILO.

Rostyslav Rozstalnyi

Please tell our readers about yourselves, where do you come from, what have you been studying and where?

My name is Rostyslav Rozstalnyi. I’m twenty-two years old. I was born and grew up in the capital of Ukraine, the city of Kiev. I received a Bachelor's Degree in Business Economy from the National Taras Shevchenko University. After completing my Bachelor’s, I started Marketing Management at Corvinus University of Budapest. Now I am about to continue my Master’s Program in the Netherlands. The internship at ILO became a productive completion of my stay in Hungary.

How did you find out about the internship programme at ILO and how did you apply? How long was the process? Was it difficult to apply?

I always dreamed of trying my hand at an international organization. Budapest is an international city and has a large number of such organisations. I have read a lot about the International Labour Organization and I was impressed with the direction in which this organization works and the values it pursues. ILO-Budapest takes care of the Eastern Europe region and as a citizen of Ukraine, I was interested in trying my hand here. The application process was easy and quick.

What was your motivation to apply, and why did you chose this organisation for your internship? What were your expectations at the time when you started the daily work in the office?
My main attitude was to achieve professional growth and meeting challenges while being resourceful and innovative. I wanted to utilize my practical exposure and academic achievements to the development of the organization and thus improve my career. My expectations were great learning opportunities, challenging roles, rational career progression and good job satisfaction. I wanted a position where I could apply my skills and abilities at par so that I could add some value to the organization.

What kind of activities were you involved in? Tell us about the tasks, assignments you were asked to do, and about cooperation with colleagues in the office.

Mostly I worked with Development Engagement Document for Inclusive Labour Market for Job Creation in Ukraine. My main duties were analysis of the concept note and proposals for improving it. The main task was to compare the latest versions of the project with the comments and wishes of the DANIDA partners and provide possible recommendations for its improvement. The assignments consist of short summaries of each part of the project and short recommendations on its improvement. I also assisted my colleagues in document translation and data retrieval.

What did you learn? What are you taking away from this experience? How will you be able to use what you learnt at ILO in your future work?

Thanks to this internship I learned a lot. First of all, this was my first working experience in an international organization, so I understood the principle of its work better. I improved my skills and learned a lot, made new connections, got greater sense of professionalism, met new friends. As an intern, I learned how important networking is for my future career. Connecting with people in my desired career path through my internships has led me to solidify my desire to work in the ILO later on, and I now have mentors to turn to when I have questions regarding the field and my work.

What was your best experience? Would you change anything about how the internship programme works? Would you recommend it to other students?

It is hard to distinguish a specific episode from my saturated internship. I really enjoyed the quantitative tasks given to me, due to my economic background. Overall, this internship is a great opportunity for students and young professionals to try their skills and begin their career at the ILO. I do really recommend it to other students. The only thing that I would change in the internship is a little more involvement of interns in the work process.