Mirko Ebelshäuser | Programme Analyst (Innovation)

‘Almost anything is possible if you set your mind to it’.

Welcome to the UNDP Career Journey Podcast brought to you by the Talent Development Unit part of the Office of Human Resources. Our conversations explore fascinating careers at UNDP and give an overview on how you can enhance your career experience through continuous learning. Today, I will have the conversation with Mirko Ebelshäuser. So, Mirko thank you again for joining us today.

“Thank you very much. Glad to be here”.

Thank you. So, I would like to start our conversation by asking you if you would like to briefly introduce yourself.

“Yeah, sure. Thank you, Valentina. And hi, everyone who’s listening to the podcast. My name is Mirko Ebelshäuser, as just mentioned, I work for the UNDP global supporting to the accelerator lab network. I’m a JPO. I’m currently ending my second year transitioning and the third year before joining UNDP as a JPO, I worked with UN resident coordinators officer at SU as innovation specialist, sort of the same function also carrying now as a JPO. Been with the UN system that said for quite some time on previous experiences in other international development agencies and studied also political science with focus on Peace and Conflict Studies. I’m currently based in Istanbul, in the Istanbul Regional Hub, focusing being part of a global team, not necessarily on the region. But on the wider network of accelerator labs that we are supporting, we have 91 Labs in total, and happy to be on this interview now”.

Thank you so much Mirko. So, if you had to use three words, to describe yourself, what they would be, and how these words actually align with the organization?

“Yeah, it’s…, it’s an interesting question interesting to a degree that is very difficult to break it down to just three words, right? So the sort of immediate attributes that come to mind in that regard would be the need to be adaptive, agile and ambitious, in the way you pursue your mandate, and how you, you know, plan your personal career in the United Nations.

Adaptive, in a way that you know, we live in an ever-changing environment, you’re constantly faced with new challenges, tasks that require an agile response to it, right? So, there is no… no generic plan X or plan Z to follow when you’re when you’re faced with a certain task. But you need to be ambitious, in order to overcome certain challenges, and you know, face, whatever is being there to face in a particular moment.

And I think that sort of personal mindset also very much aligns with the mandate of UNDP. And the work we contribute to the wider agenda 2030. Because we are in the decade for action, we have less than 10 years left to fulfil the promises we made with the Sustainable Development Goals. And if you really want to contribute to fulfilling the agenda, we need to be adaptable, agile, and ambitious, even more than we have been in the past”.

Yeah, thank you so much. So, I also think that these three words that you choose actually align perfectly with the UNDP mandate and mission. So, we all know that continuous learning and continuing to develop our skills if people tell to stay relevant in a competitive market. So, what does continuous learning mean to you?

“Well, continuous learning, I think, is a concept that you can understand in two different ways continuous learning, as you just say, in a competitive market in order to be able to, you know, compete with the growing demands that are being needed in order to, you know, get to certain positions or to prefer a push your career. But I think continuous learning also means that within your job, you need to be humble enough to understand and recognize, there’s always more that you can learn, there’s always something that you don’t know yet you need to be humble because the sort of attitude of ‘I know it all’ is not going to help you to make steps in your career, but also not necessarily help you to contribute, what UN is working for.

So, in order to not only advance your career, but also to contribute towards UN you need to be able to learn, acquire new skill sets on the go a lot of the work that we do with you and is mainly also learning on the job, since you’re being faced with many different tasks that requires you to also always constantly reevaluate how you’re going to work with those tasks, how you’re going to support your colleagues, your team, how you’re going to implement certain projects and initiatives. And as I said, there is no plan A, no plan B. There’s only like so much you can do and so much, you know at the moment, but you need to continuously, you know, evolve and grow, which for example, you’re doing your job, and then ultimately, also helps you to advance your career, I guess”.

Yeah, great. Thank you. And as you mentioned, during your typical day of work, you have to deal with so many different tasks and activities, so, what do you like most about your work?

“Certainly, that are that I’m part of a global team. I’m working in a global project. As I said in beginning with the UNDP accelerator lab network tries to increase innovation capacities and 91 different countries at the moment by building so called innovation labs, these labs are not in the way, traditional labs you might suggest. So, we’re not having an Impact Hub on acceleration programme, but we are with sort of trying to install innovation capacities in the form of new stuff, to the organisation that will help to identify new ways of working to do things differently in order to achieve the agenda 2030.

So, in a typical workday, that means for me that being part of the global support team, I work with a lot of those 91 different labs on a day-to-day basis, I work with different colleagues in different time zones, I do work with so many different cultures. So that requires in that regard also to be you know, flexible, how you structure your day. Sometimes My day starts very early, sometimes my day ends very late. But that’s part of the job. And that’s also I think, what is the most interesting part of my work, because also reflecting back on the question of continuous learning by engaging with so many different cultures, there’s everyday something I learned that I didn’t know. And that I’m, you know, immensely grateful for”.

Yes, perfectly. I think that this kind of work is both challenging, but at the same time, so rewarding, so I completely relate to your words. And we know that many young talents would like to join the UN, but maybe they don’t have a clear idea of all the opportunities available to them. So, in a few sentences, how would you describe the JPO programme to someone who is outside the UN system?

“So, the JPO programme means or written out as a Junior Professional Officer programme, it’s an entry level programme to support young and qualified professionals to set or gain a foot inside UN system. It’s an opportunity for two years, but I can work as a full staff in the UNC system that they’re being posted in. So usually, there are quite a few offers. And I mean, again, each country does it differently. But in my case, for example, I’m being a German JPO, the German government is issuing each year around of 20 different positions one can apply to and being then successful in the application enables you to work for two years in a in a programme.

The JPO system in that regard, and just to give it a bit of a context is in itself, already quite competitive. So, it’s an entry level programme for young, qualified professionals. But it usually requires a minimum of two years of working experience before being eligible to apply. So, there are of course, other programmes that are also quite interesting, I guess, for many young and qualified talents, be at the YPP programme, the young professional programme, of course, internships help to gain the necessary work experience, and then there are other subsidized or secondary programmes, depending on the host country that you’re coming from”.

Yes, great sounds, as you know, are really competitive, but let’s say, very interesting and useful programmes to gain experience and also expand our network. And as a career is a big part of our identity and life in general. So, I would like to ask you, who are the people, you share your career aspirations, frustrations, or thought with?

“I mean, generally, I’m a person who tries to develop sort of very strong relationships with a supervisor. So, I mean, in that first line, I’m very fortunate to have a supervisor who has an open ear and who was really supportive of my career and my aspirations. We have a, as I said, quite a good working relationship, but when you when you work for you, and you’ll also see that actually, your colleagues are always there to help you. They’re always there to give advice, especially as a junior officer who has not always the answer to all questions, colleagues are always a good point of contact, to help them gain insights.

Beyond that, for me, of course, frustrations, thoughts, and aspirations. I share mostly with friends and family although that is, at times a bit abstract, because you know, friends or family don’t necessarily know what you’re working on, but they’re proud. So, the first sort of on more technical terms, I think the first people I turned to my supervisor, my colleagues, but then also know colleagues, like you Valentina, from the from the HR office, not from the JPO Service Centre degree units. Everybody always has an open ear if you need support. And that’s also something I very much value about you. And so, it’s less than, how do you say elbow atmosphere? People do usually take care for their peers and amongst each other”.

Yeah, thank you. And this is great to create an inclusive environment where all talent can try so I agree with you. And when it comes to getting inspired for your next career moves, who do you look up to in your career journey?

“I mean, there’s different people who shake me throughout my career right? As I said, I do seek support by… from many different levels and the organisation. Via colleagues, via my supervisors, senior level management so throughout my career I actually wouldn’t necessarily say there’s this one typical personal just one typical character that I would say this is my aspiration, this is my idol that I strive to become like, but you know, many different interactions, many different personalities who have shaped, you know, inspired me to, grow my career to the way I have it now.

Via, you know, supervisors during my very first internships with UN, 2011, or via colleagues that I have worked with during my first assignment, and in 2016, all of them sort of have shaped and guided me through my career and sort of made me in a way more implicitly the person that I am now. So I guess it’s also important to, in that regard, keep an open mind and, you know, take lessons and learnings that you get on the way as is very important, because a lot of people do have immensely rich experiences, not only professionally, but also personally, which can be beneficial, because working for the UN, also means that while you have a career that is very aspiring to personally, it also comes with some obstacles, let’s say you live in different countries do you do move quite often, if you if you want to pursue that on a more professional note, usually around when you speak about mobility in UN, that means two to three years you stay in a country, then you move to a new position and a new country. So, building that network and having that inspiration, and also those people to turn to us, I think amongst the most important things to have to really make a career in the UN”.

Thank you. Thank you, Mirko. So, if we move to the past experience, what is your greatest Career Achievement so far? And what did you learn from it?

“I think it’s very difficult to again pinpoint a certain experience and calling that my greatest Career Achievement. I mean, throughout the work that you do with you, and you have many experiences that you’re immensely proud of, right? Be working with communities and see how the impact actually takes fruit, be it that one report that you finalize that is being read by senior management that makes you proud. Be that one webinar or that one bootcamp that you that you run, and you get great feedback about it. So, there’s a lot of things that personally make me very happy or have made me very happy throughout my career.

But I guess, to give an answer my greatest career achievement so far is to precisely get to where I am right now, because it’s been a long journey.

I left Germany and you know, 2009, first for university studied abroad. Then throughout the years, I did internships worked on a on part time basis to finance my studies, because I personally come from a working-class background, and my family wasn’t, you know, necessarily able to financially support me. So, I sort of had to work on this entirely by myself, that was a difficult journey. But um, because of that I’m even more proud of you know, where I am right now, on a personal level, the lesson I learned from that is that, of course, it takes a good portion of luck and flexibility to seize the opportunity to even be able to, you know, seize opportunities when they arise. But I guess through hard work and dedication, almost anything is possible if you set your mind to it. And I guess that’s what I’m proud of. And what I learned”.

Great, this is a nice message we can give to the listeners. So, thank you. And so, my last question would be regarding your future, how do you imagine your future career so what is an ambition you seek to accomplish within the next years?

“So, I’m currently transitioning to my third year of JPO. So, as I said, throughout the interview, generally UNDP I mean, JPO is have two years of service, and then there’s a possibility for extension depending on the regularities of the host government. In my case, I’m transitioning into my third year and being extended and that for me also means moving from Istanbul to my new duty station in New York City. So that is of course the next big step that I’m that I’m foreseeing right in this year, right.

So what I’m trying or are hoping to accomplish is to further grow my network, being closer to the headquarters in UNDP, also meaning I can contribute more to the work that we are already doing. The majority of my team currently for example, is situated in New York. So being in New York helps me then also to connect more deeply with the rest of the organisation. Try to I think mainstream bit of the of the of the norms and ways of thinking that we, through the accelerator lab try to implement in different country offices made me also within senior management and with does it say, more senior structure of UNDP.

Beyond the JPO programme, of course, I, I wish to further grow my career. I also hope that to move to New York, of course will help that building your network gaining more experiences and expertise, increasing your skill set to a degree that couldn’t be a more lasting opportunity because, and maybe that’s just a nice word to close, as much as the JPO programme is, is an immense opportunity to set to get your foot into the door. It’s only the foot. If you want to open the door fully, you need to still work very hard for it. And yeah, seize the opportunity and New York is my opportunity”.

Yeah, so I think this is just the beginning of your career journey. And I wish you great success in the future. So, thank you so much for sharing this amazing career journey. And I also thank all the listeners to this episode, we hope this conversation will inspire you to keep learning and advancing in your career. To access and listen to this audio recording, you can visit our dedicated page on the Career Development Experience website in the UNDP Talent Development Hub.