How to stand out when applying to NORCAP

Extreme weather events threaten the health and livelihoods of millions of people every year. So far in 2024, the Sahel region has suffered prolonged and severe heat waves, while countries in southern and East Africa have experienced storms, droughts, and floods, contributing to a surge in cholera deaths. Under the operation of the Norwegian Refugee Council, NORCAP aims to improve aid to protect and empower people affected by crises and climate change. Recruitment to support those affected by climate change is largely focused on the African continent, particularly in West and East Africa, explained Lorene Kuraishi-van Haalen, NORCAP’s senior recruitment and communications adviser. These experts then work to ensure that the most vulnerable and impacted populations receive timely information on extreme weather, allowing them to take the necessary measures to prepare and make more informed decisions, for example, related to crops. Many of the organization’s climate experts are based in key national meteorological offices, as well as regional institutions and United Nations agencies, to allow them to support capacity building and co-produce information and services, such as the East Africa Hazards Watch tool, with the national office and the local staff. “As we most often work in a multistakeholder landscape together with local, regional and international partners, as well as national authorities, the professionals we hire can often demonstrate extensive stakeholder management experience and are culturally sensitive,” said Kuraishi-van Haalen. Devex found out from Kuraishi-van Haalen what other skills NORCAP is looking for to support its climate work and more. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. What skills or experience does NORCAP look for in hiring for climate professionals? Depending on the projects and the partners involved, we would be looking for candidates who have the traditional agrometeorology background, as well as for climate modelers, traditional meteorologists, and hydrologists. We usually recruit candidates who have some climate-related academic background and some years’ experience with national meteorological offices or regional offices. We also recruit climate professionals who are familiar with community engagement and have worked in outreach and connecting with local communities. For many of those positions, knowledge of the local language is needed. We also look for strong interpersonal skills and the ability to convey complicated information in an understandable way. What do you look for in professionals transitioning from another sector, who might lack the traditional humanitarian experience? Having technological competencies, for example, a strong background in information management, skills in data visualization, or dashboards — these are good skills to have for climate-related jobs, even if you don't have past humanitarian experience. We have a diverse pool of experts in NORCAP. Many of them have previous experience from either the humanitarian development or peace-building sector, but we have also recruited professionals from the private sector, for example, someone who has been involved in sustainability projects within their company and has a portfolio of different clients, giving them a unique perspective. NORCAP also has a female climate action accelerator program for candidates who have no or little experience with humanitarian or development work, but who have recently graduated with a background in environmental studies, climate-related studies, social sciences, or similar. Is there any particular donor or partner experience that can help a candidate stand out? We often work with international organizations such as the U.N., so having had a foot inside the U.N. system can be an advantage for a candidate as they would be familiar with the intrinsics that follow from the big apparatus. We also have a strong partnership with the African Union (AU), and it can be beneficial if candidates have experience working on projects with the AU. However, our focus is more and more working with our local partners, national organizations, and authorities. This entails its own language and work style, which we see as an added value, so candidates who convey their experience from a multistakeholder landscape will hold a strong position. Aside from climate experts, what other roles or areas of work are NORCAP hiring for? In light of the world struggling to reduce emissions, NORCAP has a big focus on its pool of energy experts. Furthermore, working to solve challenges in the humanitarian, development, and peace-building sectors, generally we look for professionals with a background from these sectors with different expertise ranging from expertise within protection, peace operations, gender equality, gender-based violence, human rights and democracy, education in emergencies, community engagement, cash and market experts. What can candidates do to make their CV and application stand out? No matter how extensive your experience is, the CV should always be concrete and concise. The number of applications we receive for each position can be overwhelming. It might be controversial to say, but a great two-pager with specific keywords matching those of the job description will stand out over a five-page CV every time. Ensure you have a heading at the beginning of your CV that is relevant for the position you are applying for, this will catch the recruiter's eye. Highlight any field experience you have and ensure that any international experience you have comes across clearly. If you do not have much experience to refer to, don't be shy to highlight any voluntary work that could be relevant. Seek out internships with international organizations, albeit the competition can be fierce, although internships directly with smaller local NGOs can be just as valuable and even show a higher degree of resilience and motivation. List your knowledge in different technological tools. Candidates who have experience in the humanitarian, peace-building and development sectors stand out even stronger if they have some information management skills, and know their way around data visualization tools, such as GIS and Power BI. And, if a particular language is needed for the role, make sure you highlight your language skills. If you are proficient in French, Spanish, or Arabic, in addition to English, it can be an added benefit. Any final tips for candidates? We are in an era of climate emergency, so candidates who have a general environmental academic background can spearhead their careers by seeking out different accelerator programs (so-called entry roles). Many of the larger organizations have these. It does require some perseverance and proactiveness from the candidates, but they shouldn’t give up after those first rejections. Finally, do not only rely on applying proactively with a great CV — make sure you also have an updated profile on LinkedIn. Many recruiters and hiring managers use this platform to take a closer look at your profile. On LinkedIn, you can follow the organizations you are interested in and that way also keep an eye out on the positions they post as well the people they hire. To get an idea of the people we recruit, I recommend following NORCAP on LinkedIn, where we regularly post short stories of experts sharing some of their work. 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