Preparing RecruitFinds
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3 Oct 2026
By RecruitFinds
Applying for a job with the United Nations, an international NGO or a humanitarian organisation can feel very different from applying for a corporate position in Kenya.
You may be used to sending a two- or three-page CV, writing a short cover letter and waiting for a response. International development organisations often require much more detailed information about your professional history, responsibilities, qualifications, languages and competencies.
For some positions, applicants may be asked to complete a Personal History Form (P11), while other UN recruitment systems collect similar information through an online profile. UNDP, for example, provides a P11 form and asks applicants to give detailed information about their work history, including responsibilities, employment periods and references.
This means that simply having a good CV is not enough. You need to know how to turn your actual experience into evidence that matches the requirements of the vacancy.
A P11 is not simply another version of your CV.
The form is designed to collect detailed information about your personal history, education and professional experience in a structured format.
UNDP's guidance, for example, asks applicants to indicate whether previous positions were full-time or part-time, provide annual income for non-UN positions, identify volunteer work and internships clearly, avoid unexplained overlapping employment periods and provide detailed descriptions of responsibilities and tasks.
That creates an important difference.
A corporate CV might say:
Programme Assistant — ABC Organisation
Supported programme activities
Prepared reports
Worked with stakeholders
A stronger P11 entry would explain what you actually did:
Programme Assistant — ABC Organisation
Coordinated logistical arrangements for community training sessions across three counties.
Maintained participant records and monitored attendance.
Prepared monthly activity reports for the programme manager.
Communicated with county officials, community representatives and implementing partners.
Supported collection and verification of monitoring data.
The second version gives the recruiter evidence to work with.
Do not start filling the P11 immediately.
Start with the job advertisement.
Look at four areas:
Required qualifications
Check the degree, professional certification, years of experience, language requirements and other mandatory qualifications.
Technical requirements
Identify the technical knowledge required for the position.
For example, a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer vacancy might mention:
Data collection
Indicator tracking
Reporting
Results-based management
Monitoring tools
Data analysis
Behavioural or competency requirements
These can include:
Teamwork
Communication
Accountability
Planning
Problem-solving
Client orientation
Strategic thinking
Responsibilities
This is where you find the evidence the organisation wants to see.
UNDP advises applicants to pay close attention to both technical and behavioural competencies because these are assessed during the selection process.
Create a simple matching exercise before writing.
Vacancy asks forYour evidenceStakeholder engagementWorked with county officials and community groupsProject coordinationCoordinated field activitiesReportingPrepared monthly programme reportsData managementMaintained beneficiary databaseTeamworkWorked with field officers and partners
Now you know which experiences deserve more attention.
Many applicants copy their job description into the P11.
That is not enough.
There is a difference between saying:
"Responsible for monitoring project activities."
and saying:
"Monitored implementation of community activities across five project locations, reviewed weekly field reports and escalated delays to the programme manager, helping the team address implementation gaps before the monthly reporting deadline."
The second example shows:
What you did → how you did it → what happened.
That is the type of evidence that makes professional experience easier to assess.
You do not need to exaggerate your achievements.
You simply need to explain your real contribution clearly.
The STAR method is particularly useful when preparing competency-based applications and interviews.
UNDP's own interview preparation guidance recommends STAR for competency-based interviews. It describes the method through Situation/Task, Action and Result, with the candidate focusing particularly on what they personally did.
For application writing, think of it as:
Situation — What was happening?
Task — What were you responsible for?
Action — What exactly did you do?
Result — What changed because of your actions?
Consider a Kenyan NGO worker who is applying for a Programme Officer position.
A weak answer might be:
"I have good teamwork skills and have worked successfully with different stakeholders."
There is no evidence.
A STAR-based answer could be:
Situation: During implementation of a community health project, several local partners were submitting activity reports late.
Task: I was responsible for coordinating reporting and ensuring that programme information was available for the monthly review.
Action: I created a reporting calendar, contacted each partner before the deadlines, clarified reporting requirements and reviewed submissions for missing information before forwarding them to the programme manager.
Result: The reporting process became more organised and outstanding reports were followed up earlier, allowing the team to prepare its monthly programme review on schedule.
Now the recruiter can see the competency instead of simply being told that the applicant has it.
When writing STAR examples, applicants often spend too much time describing the situation.
Do not write half a page explaining the problem and then give two sentences about what you did.
The Action section should demonstrate your contribution.
Compare:
"The project team was experiencing delays. We held several meetings and eventually solved the problem."
with:
"I reviewed the activity schedule, identified the tasks causing the delay, contacted the responsible field officers and reorganised the outstanding activities according to priority."
The second answer makes your role visible.
This is particularly important when you are describing a team achievement.
Do not claim:
"I successfully delivered the project."
if the project involved an entire team.
Instead say:
"I coordinated the field reporting component and worked with the programme team to..."
That is both stronger and more credible.
UNDP also advises candidates to keep the focus on what they did when using STAR examples, even when the situation involved a team.
You do not necessarily need years of NGO employment to demonstrate competencies.
Relevant examples can come from:
University projects
Research assignments
Internships
Volunteer work
Community programmes
Student leadership
Attachments
Field research
Professional associations
Short-term projects
UNDP's application guidance specifically notes that applicants without professional experience can draw on academic experiences and other activities to demonstrate competencies such as teamwork, decision-making and problem-solving.
For example, instead of writing:
"I have no experience in project coordination."
A graduate might describe coordinating a university research project involving several students, explaining how they divided responsibilities, tracked deadlines and resolved a problem that affected the submission.
The experience must be genuine, but it does not necessarily have to come from a full-time job.
A personal statement should not simply repeat your CV.
Use it to answer three questions:
Why this position?
Explain your interest in the actual role rather than saying you have always wanted to work for an international organisation.
What relevant experience do you bring?
Select two or three areas that directly connect with the vacancy.
Why does your experience matter to the organisation?
Connect your experience to the work described in the vacancy.
For example, instead of:
"I am hardworking, passionate and committed to development."
Try:
"My experience supporting community-based programmes, coordinating stakeholders and preparing programme reports has given me practical exposure to the type of programme coordination required in this position."
The second statement gives the recruiter something concrete.
This is another common mistake.
A candidate applying for:
Programme Officer
should not submit exactly the same statement as when applying for:
Finance Assistant
or:
Monitoring and Evaluation Officer.
Your underlying experience may remain the same, but the emphasis should change.
For a Programme Officer application, highlight:
Programme implementation
Stakeholder coordination
Field activities
Reporting
Community engagement
For an M&E position, highlight:
Data collection
Indicators
Data quality
Analysis
Reporting
Results measurement
For a finance position, highlight:
Budget monitoring
Reconciliation
Financial reporting
Compliance
Controls
UNDP advises applicants to tailor their applications to the specific position and to provide relevant responses to job-related questions.
If you regularly apply for NGO and UN jobs, create your own collection of real examples.
You could have a document containing headings such as:
Teamwork
Write down one or two situations where you worked effectively with others.
Problem-solving
Record a difficult problem you encountered and how you resolved it.
Planning
Keep an example of a project, event or activity you organised.
Communication
Record a situation where you had to explain something difficult to a community, colleague, partner or manager.
Leadership
Keep examples where you coordinated people or took responsibility for an assignment.
Accountability
Record a situation where you identified an error, corrected it and prevented it from happening again.
Stakeholder management
Keep examples involving government officials, donors, communities, suppliers, partners or other organisations.
Then turn each example into a STAR story.
When a new vacancy appears, you will not be starting from zero.
You will simply select the stories that match the competencies in the advertisement.
Do not treat the reference section as an afterthought.
Depending on the vacancy and recruitment process, you may need to provide professional references.
UNDP's P11 guidance asks candidates to provide relevant information about their previous employment and references, while some consultant vacancies specifically request professional references.
Before listing someone, make sure:
They know you professionally.
Their contact details are current.
They are comfortable being contacted.
They can accurately discuss your work.
You have provided the correct employment dates and job title.
Do not use someone as a reference simply because they have an impressive job title.
The person should actually know your work.
Copying your CV word for word
The P11 requires more detailed information about your employment history.
Leaving employment gaps unexplained
If two jobs overlap, explain the circumstances where appropriate. UNDP specifically advises applicants to avoid overlapping employment periods unless there is an explanation.
Inflating responsibilities
Do not turn "supported the project officer" into "managed the entire project."
International organisations may verify information during the recruitment process.
Using generic competencies
Saying "I am a great communicator" is weaker than providing an example demonstrating communication.
Submitting the same application everywhere
Your experience can remain consistent while your emphasis changes according to the vacancy.
Imagine you worked as a Field Assistant and the vacancy asks for stakeholder engagement.
Instead of:
"I have experience working with stakeholders."
Build the answer.
Situation: A community project was experiencing low attendance at scheduled awareness sessions.
Task: I was responsible for supporting community mobilisation and communicating with local representatives.
Action: I met with community leaders to understand the attendance challenges, adjusted the mobilisation approach and coordinated with field colleagues to communicate session information earlier.
Result: Attendance improved during subsequent sessions and the team was able to engage more community members during the planned activities.
That is a competency-based answer.
The same experience can potentially demonstrate communication, teamwork, planning and stakeholder engagement depending on how the question is framed.
A beautifully written application cannot compensate for inaccurate information.
UNDP explicitly tells applicants to be honest in their application responses and warns that false information may result in disqualification. It also states that incomplete applications will not be considered.
Before submitting, check:
Employment dates
Job titles
Employer names
Education dates
Qualifications
Professional licences
Language levels
References
Contact information
Salary information where requested
Volunteer experience
Internship periods
Application questions
For P11 applications, prepare this information before opening the form. UNDP recommends preparing information in advance and typing answers in a separate document before entering them into the application system.
This also gives you an opportunity to proofread.
AI can help you organise your application, but it should not invent your experience.
UNDP's current guidance on responsible AI use says candidates may use AI to proofread, structure or improve clarity and to analyse job descriptions and competencies. It specifically warns against fabricating or exaggerating experience and submitting generic AI-generated responses that do not reflect the candidate's own experience and language.
For a P11 or personal statement, a useful approach is:
Your experience → your facts → your STAR example → editing for clarity.
Not:
AI → invented story → application.
If you cannot explain an example yourself during an interview, it should not appear in your application.
Before clicking submit, read your application as if you were the recruiter.
Can you quickly understand:
What have I done?
Where did I do it?
What responsibilities did I have?
What results did I achieve?
Which competencies does my experience demonstrate?
How does my background connect to this particular vacancy?
If those answers are obvious, your application is doing more than listing your employment history.
It is presenting evidence.
For Kenyan professionals targeting UN agencies, Red Cross, international NGOs and other development organisations, that distinction matters. Organisations such as UNDP describe their recruitment process as competency-focused, with assessments and interviews designed to establish evidence of how candidates have demonstrated relevant competencies in the past.
The goal is therefore not to make your P11 sound impressive for its own sake.
The goal is to make your genuine experience clear, relevant and easy to assess.
And when you combine a detailed employment history with specific STAR examples and a personal statement tailored to the actual vacancy, you give the recruiter a much clearer picture of what you have done and what you can bring to the role.
