Working at the ILO
Careers, recruitment routes and current opportunities at the International Labour Organization
Explore ILO careers in labour standards, social protection, employment and international cooperation, with application guidance and current vacancies.
Overview
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the UN agency for the world of work. It is unique in the UN system for its tripartite structure. Governments, employers' organisations and workers' organisations all take part in its governance and in the setting of international labour standards.
Its work covers labour standards and their supervision, employment policy, social protection, occupational safety and health, skills and lifelong learning, labour migration, child labour and forced labour, social dialogue and labour statistics. Delivery runs through headquarters in Geneva, regional and country offices, and development cooperation projects funded by donors.
This mix produces two distinct hiring streams. Regular budget professional and general service posts, and project-funded technical positions tied to a specific programme and duration. National project coordinator and technical officer roles appear frequently in country offices.
Organization profile
Tripartism shapes the job itself. Staff routinely work with labour ministries, employers' federations and trade unions at the same time, and are expected to satisfy the expectations of all three. Applications that show experience of negotiating or convening across those constituencies read far more strongly than those describing programme delivery alone.
Familiarity with international labour standards, national labour law, or labour market data and statistics is a practical requirement in most technical roles. Second-language ability in English, French or Spanish is expected at professional level.
Recruitment at a glance
61 vacancies advertised in the last 12 months in our database.
Grades and levels
| Level | Vacancies |
|---|---|
| Not stated | 61 |
Contract types
| Contract | Vacancies |
|---|---|
| Not stated | 61 |
Where the roles are
| Duty station country | Vacancies |
|---|---|
| Switzerland | 6 |
| Multiple destinations | 6 |
| Colombia | 4 |
| Nigeria | 4 |
| Burundi | 3 |
| Peru | 3 |
| Nepal | 2 |
| Malawi | 2 |
| Mexico | 2 |
| Haiti | 2 |
How to apply
Apply through the ILO jobs portal and complete the online profile fully. The screening is done against the profile rather than an attached CV.
Distinguish the contract stream you are applying to. While regular posts follow the classic UN grading and selection route, development cooperation posts are project-funded, bound by time and often national. Eligibility, duration and benefits differ, and both can be advertised for similar technical content.
In the application, name the standards, conventions, laws or statistical instruments you have worked with, the constituents you engaged, and the policy or programme outcome achieved. Selection normally involves a technical written test followed by a competency-based interview, and processes commonly take several months.
Salary and conditions
UN Global Jobs does not publish salary, allowance, benefits or contract-condition guidance for ILO - International Labour Organization. Pay and conditions differ by grade, contract type and duty station, and they change over time. The authoritative statements are the ones in the vacancy notice and in the offer made by the organisation, which is where you should verify them. Where a vacancy notice states pay, we reproduce it on the listing; where it does not, ask the recruiting team before making commitments.
Sources
Vacancy figures on this page are calculated from notices published by the ILO and collected by UN Global Jobs. Organisational facts are taken from the ILO's own published material.