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Find your field · International & Development

The mission has a home beyond the agency.

Foreign-affairs, development, and global-health professionals from USAID, State, CDC, Treasury, or the Peace Corps — your country expertise, languages, and program experience carry to the UN system, the development banks, and international NGOs. Here's where it goes, honestly.

Where this work lands

International experience moves to the UN system, the World Bank and IMF, international NGOs and foundations, global-health organizations, and development consulting. Two honest caveats: hiring here is slow (months-long cycles, heavy on language and mobility requirements), and the 2025 cuts to U.S. foreign assistance contracted parts of the development-contractor market. Cast wide, start early, and lean on your regional networks.

Where to lookThe IOs, the banks, and the development boards.

UN system

UN Careers

The gateway across UN agencies. Also UNjobnet for a wider aggregate.

Dev banks

World Bank Group

Includes the Young Professionals Program. The IMF (imf.org) recruits economists and financial-sector experts.

Development

Devex

The largest global-development job board: NGOs, consultancies, and IOs.

IO / NGO

Impactpool

UN, IO, and NGO roles plus career coaching. DevNetJobs and GlobalJobs add depth.

Mission / nonprofit

Idealist

U.S.-based international nonprofits and foundations.

Still federal

USAJOBS

International roles at other agencies, and where you exercise CTAP/ICTAP priority if you have it.

Translate your experienceSame mission, sector words.

Reframe the role

A "foreign service / development officer" reads as program manager, portfolio manager, or international development specialist; mission and bureau work becomes grants and contracts management, monitoring & evaluation (M&E), or technical advisory. Your country and regional expertise plus languages are the rare assets — foreground them.

Show the portfolio and the languages

Lead with the regions and countries you worked, languages and proficiency levels, the size of the programs or grants you managed, and measurable development outcomes. IOs and NGOs read for sector keywords (health, governance, climate, humanitarian) — name yours.

Anchor your real series/grade with OPM classification.

Credentials that helpLanguages and sector depth lead; these support.

CredentialBest forBody
PMPProgram / portfolio managersPMI
PMD ProProject mgmt for developmentPM4NGOs
Language proficiencyNearly every IO/NGO roleYour test of record (e.g., ILR/ACTFL)
M&E trainingMonitoring & evaluation rolesUniversity / sector providers
Note: in development, demonstrated language ability and sector track record outweigh certificates. PMD Pro is the field-specific project credential worth knowing; a general PMP helps for portfolio-management roles. Don't over-invest in certs over networking here.

Networks & associationsFor referrals and staying current.

USAID Alumni Association

Networking and job-search support for former USAID staff, with emergency support funds.

Society for International Development (SID-US)

The U.S. chapter network for international-development professionals.

Don't forget the universal stuff — health coverage, TSP, unemployment, severance, and your RIF reemployment rights are on the main page, and several have ~60-day deadlines. Handle those first.