OK. I think we can start uh good morning and afternoon again. Uh Greetings from Vienna Austria. We are uh we are International Atomic Energy Agency based in Vienna, Austria. Uh It's very good to see you all here uh with women in tech uh network.Um Before we get started, we would like to know more about you. Um So can you please tell us in the chat where you are from? Where is your home and also tell us um in which areas of your profession you are currently in software developer or are you um cybersecurity engineer? Yes, I would like, we would like to know more about you and how much do you know about the IAE A or anything you know about the United Nations? You can uh type your answers in the webinar chat. OK. I think the information is flowing. I work as a language engineer in the field of N LP Portugal. OK. Very good project management, project manager. OK. Very nice. OK. Um So Brazil team leader, Paris, OK. Very diverse software developer in France. OK. So through this session, you will know more about uh the United Nations also international Atomic Energy Agency um with the focus on, on technology. Um So we are our diverse panel, as you can see. Uh I, my name is Lee John. You can call me Doris.

I am the associate recruitment officer at the IE A. Um I'm here together with my colleagues in HR and also uh in in tech in it. So I'm handing over the floor to my colleague Clare to introduce herself.

Hi. Yes, everyone. Lovely to see you all here today. I am Claire Zacher. I am Talent Outreach intern at the IAE A and later in my presentation, I'll be describing how you can find our current vacancies at the agency. All right now to you, Sandra.

Thank you Claire. Hello. Thank you for joining the I A presentation. My name is Sandra Popovich Tina and I work with the IT division of the Department of Management uh leading one of the teams for the development, delivery, maintenance and support of software solutions based on the Microsoft Technologies. So we are the internal solution provider for the programmatic areas within the IE A. Our teams work very closely with the programmatic areas to deliver solutions which will best fit their requirements using agile approach. So nice meeting you over to you in.

Ok, thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is Anne Scanlan. I'm a section head for the Safeguards Information Systems. So this is in the Department of Safeguards uh which has its own. Um It uh division over to you, Melanie Melanie.

Ok. I fell for that as always. I myself, thank you, Ann. I'm Melanie Kelber. I work in Sandra's unit. I'm a software engineer. I mainly focus on the Microsoft cloud technologies which include anything comes from Microsoft 365 Asure. Um And I try to find the best solutions for uh the agency uh with the day to day business. Thank you over to Rendo.

Thanks Melanie. Uh Hello, everybody. Uh I'm Rendo from Zimbabwe and I'm working here at the agency as an information security officer uh working in the Cecil's office. Uh My main responsibility is uh to safeguard the agency's information assets. Thank you.

Um Thank you very much. Uh Before we uh go to the slide, I would like to mention if you have any questions, feel free to leave it in the chat or you can talk at the end of the session. I saw there's one hand up but uh we will address your question if you have at the end of the session. OK. Thank you. So we can start.

All right, great. Thank you, Doris. So I'll provide you with uh some basic information about the International Atomic Energy Agency. So the IE A is the International Center for Cooper Operation in the nuclear field. Yeah, and widely known as the World's Atoms For Peace and Development Organization within the United Nations family. Uh The IE A closely works with uh its member states and multiple partners worldwide to provide a safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies. In line with its atoms for peace and development mandate. The I A supports uh countries in their efforts to reach the sustainable development goals as well which were set out in the United Nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Many countries use nuclear science and technology to contribute to and meet their development objectives in areas including energy, human health, food production, water management, and environmental protection. The use of these techniques contribute directly to nine out of 17 SDGS and most recently, maybe it would be interesting to you. Nuclear technology is also helping to identify and control plastic pollution through marine monitoring as well as the recycling with irrigation. The ongoing ie flagship initiative is called uh New Tech Plastics which stands for nuclear technology for controlling plastic pollution. The agency is part of the Un common system. This means that we adhere to the International Civil Service Commission procedures including for salaries, allowances and benefits.

So we also tend to share best practices among the uh un international organizations. Hence the recruitment process that you will learn today is very similar to other international organizations if you had a chance to, to, to uh or wanted to apply to any of these. Uh The vast majority of our staff, as Doris mentioned is located in our headquarters in Vienna, Austria where we also have 12 research laboratories which are located uh in Vienna again in cybersurf, which is also in Austria and Monaco. In addition, we have two regional offices in Toronto and Tokyo also 20 offices in New York and Geneva. But then that's it. Currently, we have uh 100 and 76 member states. And our goal is to increase the diver diversity of representation at the IE A especially in terms of gender. Hence, we are here and geographical representation. So that would be from me next design.

OK. So uh let me provide you with a quick overview of the departments within the organization. So there's six departments. Let me start with the Department of Management because that's the department that's most represented in the panel today. So this department provides a range of service that enabled the agency to successfully deliver on its scientific and technical program. Um There's many divisions within the department, including it, budget and finance, general services, procurement and human resources. Then there's the Department of Technical co-operation.

So that is responsible for formulating and delivering on the IAE A's development mandate. Uh And it's made up of divisions which uh support the different regions of the world and manage the fellowship program. There's the Department of Safeguards where I work and the objective of that department is to safeguard or or to deter the spread of nuclear weapons by using techniques for early detection. Um So it can detect early misuse of nuclear materials or technology. We then have three departments which are very much focused on delivering the programmatic areas. So there's nuclear energy, nuclear science and applications and nuclear safety and security. So um these areas recruit a lot of uh nuclear specialists but not, not only uh there's also pockets of it spread throughout these um departments. In addition to the six departments, there are five offices which report directly to the Director General's office and that includes the Office of co-ordination, the Secretariat for the policy making organs and the Office of Internal Oversight and Services, the Office of Legal Affairs and the Office of Public Information and Communication.

So based on what you've seen so far about the IAE A, you can imagine that the organization offers a diverse range of professional opportunities. Uh not just in scientific areas but also in um uh technical areas, computer science, human resources, finance, management, procurement, and publications.

So professionals from non-nuclear backgrounds um are definitely considered and encouraged to apply. So, in fact, the IAE A offers technology and informational system positions across the different departments and you can find more information in the women in tech global conference website.

And also of course on our IAE A web page. Thank you.

Thank you, Anne. Um Let's move over a little more on the focus on who we actually are as staff members. So basically out of the 176 member state countries, we have 110 staff members from different countries. Uh Most of the staff come from 100 and 10 different member states. Um In total, we have around 2700 staff members uh which about 90% are actually on site in Vienna. Um The rest are spread, of course with our other um locations. Um We have 1000 600 of these international recruited. Uh and uh 1000 100 are actually recruited locally which are general services staff. I think to attend will tell you a little more about the differentiation there. Um We actively promote uh positions for youth and young professionals.

So we have at the moment 100 and 32 interns from 44 member states. Um So we really try to also encourage younger people to move into tech especially uh and promote these positions accordingly. So I'd like to move over to Cotendo.

Thanks Melanie. Uh So when you start uh your employment at the agency, uh you're considered an international civil servant as such, you'll be engaging in meaningful issues of global peace, security and development. So the agency offers different types of uh employment contracts and I'll briefly touch on them.

So uh the first one here is uh professional uh staff, so professional staff members, uh specialists in their area. So if you're interested in a professional post or a P post, as it's often referred to, for sure, uh you're expected you're expected to have at least a university degree and appropriate uh prior work uh experience in the field. And uh Doris is gonna touch a little bit more on what it means to be in this P stuff in the next slide. Uh The next one is uh general service staff. Uh They're locally recruited only. So candidates must already legally reside in Austria at the time of the application G staff provides support in administrative technical and scientific areas. Uh The next type of contract we have here are JP OS or junior professional officers and these are job opportunities for young professionals under the JP O programs. So this is for young professionals under the age of 32 and are nationals of member states that currently have a JP O agreement with the agency.

We then have internships uh which are for university uh students who ha who are at least 20 years of age and have completed a minimum of three years, full time studies. You're also eligible to apply up to one year after your completion of your degree. Uh This includes bachelor's master's and your doctorate. Uh We then have consultants and experts which the agency uh works a lot with and these are short term projects under individual contracts. Uh We also have here close free experts uh or CFES and these are professionals with specialized skills and these positions are financially supported by the respective uh member states. I'll now pass it on to you Doris.

Thank you Rotondo. So now, you know, uh the types of opportunities we offer. Um here is the benefits and entitlements we also offer uh aligned with the UN system wide practices. Uh The agency offers different benefits entitlements to support international hire subject to eligibility.

Uh As you can see from the slide before arrival, we provide travel lump sum, household removal and visa support for staff member selected and also he's an or her family to travel to the IE A. So we not only offer for staff member but also for the families uh for staff selected in P five and above. Um they will also receive diplomat status to be entitled to additional benefits and privilege. Um As members of diplomat missions, a credit to Austria upon arrival, we also offer attractive and competitive plan for different benefits. For example, settle in ground once you arrive at the duty station, uh education ground for your Children dependency allowance and medical insurance, so on and so forth.

This is just some highlights. Uh regarding the remuneration, we follow the International Civil Service Commission on salary and post adjustment. Uh We also offer a pension plan 30 days of annual leave home travel once every two years. Um Also uh work from home policies and many other entitlements.

Um At the end of your contract, you may become entitled to repatriation, travel um and also after service health insurance. Um I want to mention that all this information you can find on the International Civil Servants Commission website. Also you can find on our employment website.

Um Yeah, they are all open to everyone. OK. So here's the fun part um the recruitment process. So the IE A follows the competency based recruitment process, which is this funnel model to assess the applicants. Uh This is a uh methodology not only used for the agency in the agency, but also um with other UN organization as well. So as you can see from the slide, the recruitment process starts with posting of a vacancy where all applicants are received from our recruitment portal. Normally um the vacancy open for 3 to 4 weeks um to attract to, to receive applicants. Uh Once the vacancy is closed, all applicants, all applications will be screened by the hiring managers with the support of hr staff. Uh Before we conduct the interviews on the step four on step three, for some cases, we will conduct written tests and synchronize video test to filter down the applicants. Um However, uh you can see it's a, it's a light three. So it means it's not a compulsory step. It's not mandatory. We just do it uh based on our needs as a compulsory step. We conduct panel interviews uh during the panel interview stage, candidates are asked questions on their background, technical expertise and competencies. Um I want to mention here the interview, you can find the competency based interview, how to do that, how to do the competency based interview um on, on, on the youtube.

Um and also on our website, um it, it has a methodology on how you can um perform yourself uh in a way that the UN organization um um recommends when the interview is finalized, the hiring panel will make a recommendation on the selection to the, to the selection authority for an appointment.

So, um so yeah, this is a whole recruitment process to be short.

So where can you sorry about that? Uh Where can you find those current vacancies where you can visit our employment page? The link is at the bottom or also additionally, we have provided a QR code and you'll be uh met with this page here on the visual to the left, you can type, click the button current vacancies and see all of the vacancies that we have open at uh the agency. Additionally. You can also go to our booth and see the vacancies that will be um maybe more interesting to you as women in tech. I'll give you just all a moment to either copy or take a picture of the QR code. This list is like dynamic. Um And so we also encourage you to check this page regularly for you to see uh all the vacancies that are open throughout the many weeks or months to come. Please remember to stay connected with us, follow us on linkedin where we also post uh information about the vacancies and information on how you can apply, apply. Uh uh You might also want to sign up for a monthly newsletter, which is also here at the QR Code um and listen to the past webinar recordings that we have on various recruitment topics so that you may uh better uh improve upon your applications.

Now, we will open up the uh panel for questions from you. Uh First, we will do a panel interview um with our panel. So to begin um Sandra, what was your back background prior to joining the current organization?

Uh Well, I joined the IE a first time back in October 2001 as a software engineer. Prior to that, I worked as a software developer with the United Nations Mine Action Center and O AC and the UN missions to Boston and Herzegovina. During my tenure with the IT division here at the IE A, I was given the opportunity to work closely with the programmatic areas throughout the whole software development life cycle from gathering the requirements and understanding the needs right up to the delivery and support of the solutions.

And during that time, I fulfilled different roles including tech lead as well as a business systems analyst and project manager that gave me really a great experience which enabled me to transition into the B A and the PM role at the KPMG Canada in 2009. So uh just going back why I said first time joining IE A, it's because I came back again in 2012 and then again, beginning last year. So this is my third tenure and it is actually the team working environment and the mission that I will always be getting back to.

So, thank you. Thank you. Uh Radu. The next question is for you, how do you find, how did you find out about um the agency and the current division that you're working within? And what motivated you to apply?

Uh Yes. So a friend of mine actually shared a position uh that the agency was, was advertising at the moment. Uh The position uh picked my interest. So I started looking into the agency and their mandate because I wasn't particularly uh familiar with it. I was very impressed with the advocacy of a peaceful, sustainable and innovative use of nuclear science and technology across the diverse industries like Anne was speaking about across health, food environment, you know, energy. Uh But what particularly drew me in was the dedication that I saw the agency had and it actually continues to have an increasing representation of women and girls in STEM. I mean, this has been evidenced by the programs, scholarships and events that the agency invest in. Uh this was a particularly important to me because uh you know, I'm a woman in the STEM field. And when I graduated, I was only one of 3 to 4 women in the entire program. And as a mother to a beautiful baby girl, I want those opportunities to become more accessible and available to her. Uh With that being said, you know, my biggest motivation was my daughter because moving here to Vienna placed me closer to my family, which means she gets to grow up seeing her aunt, uncle and grandparents more often.

Thank you. That was lovely. Uh Melanie. The next question is for you um describe your typical work day and maybe what projects are you currently working on?

Sure, happy to share. Uh I'm just gonna continue that story about family. Um For me as well, it's great to see how the agency supports me with my family life. So I have two year old twins in the morning, I take them to kindergarten and then hop into the office. Um and that gives me a really good work life balance and with my twins, it's always crazy. So yeah, in the morning I with my kids uh and then I grab my cup of tea and start looking into my team's chats and whatever is happening in the communication the day to day business before I then actually really start diving into quite a lot of meetings in the morning, mainly daily stand ups with the teams, the different ones I'm working with catching up on things, discussing what the next steps are for the day or for the next couple of days.

Um And in the afternoons, I try to block focus time on actually working on projects, implementing things, exploring things. So, so my main role in the different projects I work on at the moment are things like solution architect, tech, technical lead business analyst um and guiding the team on on how to implement and making sure that it also works in the scenario of as I mentioned in the cloud and Microsoft.

Uh I think the most two interesting projects I'm currently working on. One is the relaunch of our internet. So I, I really like to help the internal uh communication in the agency. We have a great internet at the moment, but we're looking into using more of the um SharePoint modern way of communication as well. Um So um here on the technical lead as well, um analyzing what the best options are happened to the team for the implementation, et cetera. And another real nice thing I'm working on at the moment is more of a strategic topic. So with the cloud adoption, there are many things that Microsoft keeps throwing at us. So we've established the center of excellence where we've got together a lot of the big brains uh within the in the IT department to, to take more control of what Microsoft are throwing at us to just be more aware of's happening. So we're more or less a little bit of a governance body where we discuss where we want to be in a year's time. Two years time, three years time. So to try to help us be more effective and more efficient with the technology we have in place.

Thank you. Um And final question to you. Uh How is your experience at the IAE A been so far? And maybe you can describe uh briefly some challenges or interests that you found you found here.

OK. Um So this is actually my eighth year at the organization. Um I started out as a unit in the Department of Management. So that's where Sandra and Melanie and Rotin work now. Um And I back then, I was leading a team of um Microsoft 365 professionals and sharepoint experts, so very much cloud based and um I would say almost cutting edge technology for the organization. And then approximately two years ago, I was promoted to a section head position in the other department, the Department of Safeguards, which has its own it division. And it was a complete shift to more on premise applications. A lot of um very custom built database driven applications for collecting data and information to help with the safeguarding activities and processes. And um I suppose that's where the the challenge has come in in that um trying to continue to deliver best quality it services.

Uh But in an on premise mode where there's a lot of security constraints and trying to balance innovation with um conservatism to make sure we're not causing any security issues So, um it's very challenging, but it also makes the job really interesting and exciting. And I think um what I love most about working at the organization is that diversity. So the, the different types of technologies, but then also the different people that you get to meet every day and work with every day. I think it truly is a strength of the organization. Um So there's never a dull moment and um in terms of uh other impressions, I think um Vienna is a fantastic place to live. Um I moved to Vienna, uh I'm actually from Ireland, but I moved to Vienna for the job and I had some reservations about my complete lack of German. And um and that never proved a problem because um the organization is 100% English speaking. And uh and then in the outside world, I think the vanes are incredibly Multilingual. So it's never proved a problem and it's just a pleasure to, to live in one of the best cities in the world.

Yes. Yes, I agree. Thank you so much for that. Thank you, everybody. Um Just as a reminder to all the participants here today, if you have any questions or would like to chat with us, our chat box is open in the booth again, you may find the current vacancies that we have for MTIT or for um uh information technology and tech positions at the agency.

You can find those at our booth. Um Maybe if we have some more time left, we can open the the panel to discussions from you, the the participants.

I think the questions we currently have we already clarified. So if you have more questions, uh please feel free to drop in our booth. Yes, and we can chat over there. Thank you very much for your time for today.

Thank you. Thank

you. Have a nice day. Bye,

have a nice day.

Thank you. Bye.