Aid Worker Careers: Different Organizational Cultures

While I'm traveling, my global health co-blogger Alanna Shaikh - also the blogger extraordinaire behind the development blog Blood and Milk - has kindly agreed to write a series of guest posts on aid worker careers. The first is below.

Organizations what work in international relief run the range from tiny Christian groups that send bibles abroad to massive multinational efforts like UNHCR. Some see themselves as charities, others as NGOs or companies. The quality of work that these groups do varies hugely, and so do the kinds of jobs that they offer. There are advantages and disadvantages to every job and organization. Some of them you can see going in; others come out of the blue.

Small groups will generally expect you to love your job, and feel a commitment to it that goes beyond ordinary professionalism. Sometimes they’ll expect it to be religious, other times just altruistic. It’s hard to negotiate for a higher salary or better benefits in that context, as you might expect. And criticizing programs will often be seen as disloyalty, or lack of faith.

On the other hand, barriers to entry in this kind of organization are lower. The value they place on passion for the work means that you don’t need as much experience to be considered for a job, as long as you’ve got passion. Your fellow staff members are likely to be happy, not bitter or burned out. The work you do in your job will probably be quite varied, since with fewer people everyone will take on more roles.

Larger organizations will be much more business-like in their approach. Your job will have defined responsibilities, and your colleagues will mostly treat their work like work. Work they really love, true, but still just work in the end. The jobs will pay better, and you’ll need more experience to get them.

[Photo credit - khym54]