On October 5, representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency: head of the IAEA Director of Human Resources Kate Rojkov and employee of the Head of the IAEA Recruitment Unit Christine Sim, have held a lecture in MEPhI. The event was attended by master degree students and postgraduates of INPhE, bachelors of IIR MEPhI and masters of the first year of study of HES MEPhI.

Reminding the audience what the IAEA is, the role of the agency in the overall structure of the UN and its functions, the speakers bounced over to the main topic of the meeting, telling about the ways of employment and, what is most importantly, what to expect if someone think about how to build an international career.

Having listed the main forms of employment, among which are Professional and General Service Posts, Experts and Specialists, Kate Rojkov elaborated on the program of Junior Professional Officers (JPO) and the possibility of having an internship at the IAEA. The JPO program is the main program for the employment of young professionals. They work as a professional staff member under the guidance of a senior professional in either a scientific, technical or administrative field, being full-time members of the team. The duration of the JPO assignment is 1-2 years, while the internship in the IAEA lasts from 3 months to 1 year. Students or recent graduates have the opportunity to gain real work experience corresponding to their specialty or interests.

As Sim Mui Jin Christians noted, the IAEA offers a difficult but interesting work in an active team that unites representatives of different cultures. There are about 2,500 employees from more than 100 countries who have experience in a number of scientific, technical, managerial and professional fields.

After a brief lecture, students asked all their questions, which were mainly about the opportunity to have practice at the IAEA, about what is needed for that and how to learn about the available vacancies.

At the end of the lecture the students shared their impressions.

Anna Kudryavtseva, HES MEPhI, Nuclear physics and technology:

– I was interested to know firsthand if there is an opportunity to undergo practical training in the Agency. In general, I would like to go to the IAEA to work on the JPO program. To obtain such an experience, to have such an note in the employment record book and in the CV is good and useful.

Anna Rzhepishevskaya, 4th year student of the Institute of International Relations:

– Being a student of IIR, I came to the lecture of the IAEA representatives. International organizations are one of our main topics. And since we are in a nuclear university, the IAEA is a symbiosis of that. Of course, I'm considering working there in the future.

The lecture was interesting and informative: the recruitment process, interviews. These are important points to prepare for. It became much clearer what and how to do. It's not easy, but I will think and try.

Elizaveta Likhacheva and Vladimir Kolezsky, HES MEPhI:

– The IAEA's sphere of activity is close to our specialty and interests. So far, we are just thinking about working in the Agency, but it can be considered as one of the alternatives, one of the directions of our future life path: either engineering or we can try our hand at solving more global problems.

It would be interesting to visit the IAEA, get acquainted, make new contacts, broaden horizons, look at nuclear law at the international level in action. We hear a lot about it, but it is always interesting to see how it happens.