Staff Selection System

HR Assessment

  1. Recruiters should conduct HR assessment throughout the posting period Tip 4.3. A list of applicants who have been flagged for HR assessment can be generated from inspira Tip 4.4. The applicants under HR assessment should be released within five days after the end of the posting period.
  2. The following is the list of reasons for which applicants are marked for HR assessment. Staff information may require a review of Umoja personnel actions.
Age
UN staff members who are younger than 18 years of age will be sent to HR assessment for further analysis on how the staff member was appointed previously.

Level
UN Secretariat staff members will be marked for HR assessment if they:
  • apply with an external account or
  • reference information in Umoja is not available.

Staff members whose level is not one level lower than, equal to or one level higher than the job opening will be marked for HR assessment.

For determination of eligibility per job opening level, refer to Annex II.

Staff members on temporary promotion in a mission who appear to have served in the mission for less than 12 continuous months are marked for HR assessment. Only those with 12 continuous months of service are eligible for job openings two levels higher than their original grade.

Former UN S/M – Separation reasons for former UN staff members
A former staff member of the UN system who has been previously dismissed or separated for misconduct, abandonment of post or who has retired after reaching his or her mandatory age of separation is not eligible for consideration. In addition, applicants from a UN system organization who have separated following a mutually agreed termination, unless otherwise specified in the agreement, are ineligible for re-employment for a period of three years following their separation. To support this review, inspira marks for HR assessment all former staff members from the UN system who have indicated in their PHPs that the reason for separation was not “end of contract,” “resignation” or “appointment expiration.”

Fam. Rel – Family relationships
A current staff member applying to a job opening who has indicated to have a family member (siblings, children, parents, step-siblings, step-children or step parents), other than a spouse, working in the Secretariat is marked for HR assessment. In these cases, manual review will be required to further investigate whether the staff members and their family members were:
  • legitimately selected or appointed before 1 July 2009 and
    have been continuously employed by the Secretariat; or
  • selected and appointed after that date but were appointed because they did not provide the requisite family relationship information.

The latter may result in a finding of facts anterior to the appointment.
Family relationship issues are complex, and may require in-depth review on a case-by-case basis for these specific relationships taking into account the prior dependency status of such “family members”. Policy advice may be sought in complicated situations.

Lateral moves – Promotion to P-5 positions
For consideration for positions at the P-5 level, staff members at the P-4 or FS-7 level (including staff members on SPA at P-5 level), other than staff members holding a temporary appointment, are marked for HR assessment. A count of lateral moves in Umoja is required in these cases.
Lang staff to Non-lang JO – Language staff member applying to non-language positions
A language staff member in the Professional and higher categories should have served at least five years in language positions before applying for non language positions. When the requirement is not met, the staff members are marked for HR assessment.
Criminal Record
Applicants who have indicated to have been convicted of or prosecuted for any criminal offence or involved by act or omission in the commission of any violation of international human rights law or international humanitarian law, will be marked for HR assessment. The details should be reviewed by the senior recruiter for determination.
FS applying to P positions – Staff members in the Field Service category applying to Professional positions
A staff member at the FS-6 and FS-7 in the Field Service category who applies to a Professional category position and who may be a staff member in the General Service and related categories on a field assignment is marked for HR assessment. No staff member who holds a lien to a position in the General Service and related categories should be screened in.
Temp Applying to Current Job – Serving staff member holding a temporary appointment applying to the same department
Staff members holding a temporary appointment applying to a position in the same department or office as their current position which are not in a peacekeeping or special political mission are marked for HR assessment. Such staff are not eligible to apply or be appointed to the same position within six months of the end of their service on the same position.
YPP 2 yr – 2-year minimum service requirement in the position of initial assignment for the young professionals programme
Young professionals programme staff members (as identified in Umoja with the YPP flag) who may not have not completed two years of initial assignment are marked for HR assessment. Such staff members who have not fulfilled the mandatory two-year initial assignment period in the position of their young professionals programme placement are not eligible to apply for any other positions.
  1. When conducting HR assessment, it is sometimes necessary to communicate with the applicant for clarification or further information. Recruiters may use the Manual Notifications to utilize standard templates. The notification will be sent directly from the system with the primary recruiter’s name in the signature line. These Manual Notifications can be used to inquire about lateral moves, criminal record information or to request a performance document, among others Tip 4.5. Alternatively, the recruiters may create customized and editable notifications or messages in inspira through the Send Correspondence function Tip 4.6. The correspondence should be signed by the person who prepares and sends the message. Using inspira to communicate has the advantage of having all communication filed in the system.

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Last modified: 13 May 2023