IRIO Placement Report – Permanent Mission of
Germany to the United Nations
Name:
Dominic Kranholdt
Student number:
s3574008
Study:
MA International Political Economy
Company:
German Foreign Office
Department:
Press section of the political department
Location:
New York City
Supervisor:
Ms. Feringa
Table of content
1. Introduction ... 1
2. Preparation ... 1
3. Expectations prior to the placement ... 3
4. Tasks of the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN ... 4
5. Tasks undertaken during the placement ... 5
6. Placement supervision ... 9
7. Housing and surroundings ... 10
8. Tips for future placements students ... 11
9. Conclusion ... 12
1. Introduction
Within this report, I will describe my placement at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN, which lasted seven week, from 30.10.2018 – 18.12.2018. I am going to explain how the application process went and why I decided to do a second Master placement. Subsequently, I will mention my expectations that I had prior to the placement. Following that chapter, I continue to explain the tasks and the structure of the German Mission. However, this will be rather short since my main focus will lie on my own experiences and tasks. The following chapter will be the main part of this report. I am going to describe the tasks undertaken by me during the internship and I will provide personal reflections with regard to these tasks. Afterward, I will mention the supervision of the internship. Following that, I continue to let the reader know about the housing and surroundings in New York City since I consider that as a significant part in order to have a good work-life-balance. Additionally, I will provide other placement students with useful tips about the organization. Finally, I will conclude my report by reflecting on personal learning goals pairing them with strengths and weaknesses, by determining my preferred career path and indicating my general point of view after doing that placement.
2. Preparation
I applied for a placement at the German Foreign Office in January 2018 again, after being rejected in 2017. Doing a placement at the German Foreign Office required a comprehensive application process. Students apply online via a special input mask in which you have to fill in your personal data, a letter of motivation containing not more than 2000 word, previous practical experiences especially abroad and your educational background. Additionally, you need to choose nine agencies abroad. After submitting your application all diplomatic missions have access to your application. However, you are not applying for a special position. The German Foreign Office is expecting you to be a generalist who can fulfill nearly every position. I chose several embassies and consulates general in South America given the fact I speak fluent Spanish. Furthermore, I applied in Madrid due to previous placement experiences there (Goethe Institute), Stockholm and Amsterdam. Finally, I
chose the German Mission at the UN in New York City, though I never expected to be accepted since this is a very prestigious diplomatic mission. After not hearing from them over half a year, I decided to look for alternatives and I applied at the Representation of Thuringia to the EU.
Finally, I got a confirmation of the Representation of Thuringia to the EU, where I did a seven-week internship. After finishing my internship, I was prepared to start my remaining master thesis. However, things changed rapidly. In the middle of August, I got a confirmation for an internship at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN. I was very excited since I tried to apply for the German Foreign Service several times and always got rejected. The Permanent Mission offered me a seven-week internship at their’ headquarter in New York City in the press department of the political affairs section. After discussing it my parents with regard to my financial means, I decided to take the opportunity to gain more practical experience at a supranational organization, like the UN. Taking your financial means into account is very essential since interns solely get paid 300€ per month and neither the flight nor any insurances or accommodations are covered.
In order to get the so-called G2 visa, which is a visa for a representative of an international organization, I had to fulfill several bureaucratic steps. First of all, I had to organize a criminal record, which I got from the municipal registry office. My criminal record was sent to the German Foreign Office and afterward they sent me my placement contract. Afterward, I had to send my contract, passport, a photo, my electronically visa for which I applied on the Internet and my travel dates to the Foreign Service. This procedure took roughly six weeks. After six weeks, I got my visa issued, for which I didn’t have to pay.
After booking my flights, I began with the preparation for my internship. I did research on the homepage of the Permanent Mission and followed them on social media, such as Twitter since one of my tasks would be to manage the website and the Twitter account. I read strongly about the 73rd UN-General Assembly, which took place at the end of September. Furthermore, I saw several speeches of the German ambassador to the UN. In general, I read both a lot about the UN and related news articles and about American politics in general. Additionally, I did research about newspapers and how reliable they are. After booking my flight, it was time to start my internship at the Permanent Mission of the UN in one of the most vibrant cities in the world- New York City.
Why doing a second Masters placement?
After hearing about the opportunity to do a second Masters placement, I was thinking to take advantage of this opportunity. I realized that I needed more practical experiences due to the fact that I was still not sure where my career path would lead. I am convinced that prospective employers are looking for an employee who combines an excellent academic background with practical experiences. Especially in the field of International Relations, practical experiences abroad is inevitable. Additionally, previous internships were rather done in a flat hierarchy than a highly hierarchical one. Supplementary, the number of employees during my previous internships was rather low. Since I like to broad my horizon and try out new things, I wanted to experience the working environment in a big and hierarchical organization. It is important for me to know which scenario I prefer. Another reason doing a second internship is to show additional commitment besides accomplishing the regular study program. I believe going beyond standard requirements can make the difference for your future. Employers will value not only my practical experience but my extracurricular activities as well.
Within the following part, I am going to describe the expectations that I had prior to the placement.
3. Expectations prior to the placement
My overall expectation of the placement was to gain practical experience on a highly international level. I expected to get practical insights into the UN and to be in meetings such as in the Security Council and to do research on several UN resolutions. Furthermore, I already knew that I would have to read a lot of newspaper and be in the office quite early (7 am). Due to the fact that I would be responsible for preparing the international news for the ambassador, I expected to work closely with him. My aim was to learn as much as possible from him since he is considered to be one of the closest advisors of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor. He was 13 years the security advisor of her and already had meetings with former U.S. President Barack Obama and former Prime Minister David Cameron. It would be a lie if I did not expect to gain useful contacts for my future career in the public sector. Additionally, I expected to work in a hierarchical working environment with a lot of
pressure. One if my aim was to get to know if such a hierarchical structure would suit me or not since my first internship was rather flat structured and I really enjoyed that. The following chapter will describe the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN in general and the objectives of it.
4. Tasks of the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN
The Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN represents Germany as a country at the UN. The major task is to ensure that German interests are reflected within the international community at the UN. As a non-permanent member (as of January 1st 2019) of the Security Council, Germany has a voice in the most powerful organ of the UN. Therefore, the permanent mission is the link between the German government in Berlin and the UN. The following topics are especially important for the German Mission:
• Peace and Security • Women and Security • Climate and Security
• Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation • Development, Environment, and Sustainability • Human Rights and International Law
• Humanitarian Aid • Reform of the UN
Germany participates constantly and actively in the United Nations’ efforts for peace and security, namely through the deployment of currently about 5,000 soldiers, police officers and civilian experts as part of peacekeeping missions mandated by the United Nations. As the fourth-largest contributor to the peacekeeping budget, Germany contributes significantly to financing the “blue helmets”.
The Mission has countless contacts with other member states of the UN, the UN-secretariat and UN-organisations. Diplomats of the Mission participate in debates and negotiations in the General Assembly, ECOSOC and subsidiary bodies of which Germany is a member or active observer, in UN conferences and in other bodies such as UNDP, UNFPA or UNICEF. During its membership of the Security Council in 2019-2020, the Mission participates actively in the Council's discussions on political
crises. A strong partnership will also be part in the time of the joint Security Council presidency in March and April with France, which will be the first time in history that there will be such a joint presidency.
The Mission has a political and economic affairs sections. Within each section there are subcategories, such as the above-mentioned topics. The press department, where I did my internship is situated in the political affairs section. The press section includes four employees, including myself. Around 15 interns are working currently at the Mission of Germany plus several legal trainees.
The following chapter will describe both, my main tasks undertaken during the placement and my minor tasks.
5. Tasks undertaken during the placement
• Main tasks
During the whole internship I had four main tasks. First of all, I was responsible to send the daily UN-Journal to all my colleagues. The journal contains the daily schedule of the UN. A rather time-consuming task was the preparation of the daily international news for Amb. Heusgen and Deputy Amb. Mr. Schulz. I had to collect opinion articles of all major English-speaking newspapers, such as Washington Post, New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Project Syndicate, The Guardian, The Independent, East African, Politico, EUobserver to name just a few of them. The most important part was the type of article. The article should reflect the opinion of an author in form of a letter, a comment or an analysis, which should not be older than 24 hours regarding the day of research. Additionally, it shouldn’t represent the opinion of the editorial board of the newspaper.
Since the international news should be ready until 10 a.m. so the Amb. could read the news when he arrived at his office, I had to start at 7 a.m. This was quite intensive since I had to do a lot of research regarding urgent issues that are important for the German Mission to the UN. The international press news were divided into different regional groups, namely the UN, Foreign Policy of the USA, Germany and Europe, The Middle East, Africa, Asia and South/Central America. Mainly, I concentrated on foreign policy and global financial markets, which in turn
combined my master program of International Political Economy in a perfect way. After the first weeks, I knew which topics single newspapers would cover best.
My third task was to prepare the daily noon briefing of the UN. Therefore, I had to go to the press conference of the Spokesman of the Secretary-General (SG) of the UN and report about daily news to which the SG published comments. Afterward, I had to mention all the questions that were asked by the various journalists. This exercise demanded a lot of concentration since native speakers tend to speak very fast.
Every Friday, I had to prepare the week ahead for all policy officers at the Mission. The week ahead is a mixture of the week ahead of the political department, the week ahead of the economic department of the German Mission, the corresponding briefers for every adaption and consultations of the single resolution that would take place within the week and the events that got published by the UN itself. In addition to that, I had to prepare a document of all Twitter tweets of the last week in order to analyze our public communication, the so-called Twitter digest. Moreover, I had to take pictures of important events and get in contact with people in order to share files that I could use for our social media accounts.
Since these exercises took place on a daily base, respectively weekly base, I was working constantly due to the fact that a lot of minor tasks followed besides the main ones.
My personal reflection of the first week
The first week in New York City was overwhelming. I had to cope with so many new impressions. Not solely my new working environment, but New York City as a city itself. As in my former internship I realized that the language of the UN is fully packed with abbreviations and specific terms, however I understood most of the terms since they were mainly used in Brussels as well. Additionally, I realized that working in the German Foreign Office would be different than anything I worked before. I immediately got an introduction of my predecessor after my arrival and started working on the first day. There was nothing such as an adaption phase. Furthermore, I realized that I was more confident thanks to my former internship in Brussels. I really enjoyed working right from the first day. Within the first week, I had difficulties to adapt to the early working time since I had to get up at 5:50 a.m. to be punctual. Especially my jetlag caused me some troubles. However, I enjoyed showing
self-initiative right from the beginning. I definitely realized that this internship lives upon its reputation to be one of the most prestigious ones in the public service.
Besides that, I was happy to sit in an office with just one other intern. Other interns had to be in a big office accumulating 4-6 people, which I did not prefer.
My personal reflection of the main tasks
Preparing the international news for the ambassador was somehow a privilege since I got in contact nearly every day with him. I really enjoyed doing research on international news since I read a lot in my spare time as well. After several weeks, I realized that I got tremendously faster in reading the news and being more precise. Therefore, I was able to come later to the office since I got work done faster than expected. I actually had fun doing researching on certain topics. I realized that my intensive research at the University of Groningen helped me a lot for that specific task. All in all, I liked to have every-day tasks due to the fact that it never got boring at work. However, fulfilling these tasks while going to meetings was very stressful and challenging for me. I had to plan every day in advance in order to select events/meetings where I could go to and often I had to prepare intensively for days where events were scheduled. Taking it positively, I really learned how to organize myself since I was indirectly forced to.
• Minor tasks
During the entire placement I had a lot of minor tasks to fulfill. I was responsible to organize several events for American students who wanted to visit and engage with the German Mission. Furthermore, I gave guided tours through the UN and explained their principle of operation to several houseguests. Additionally, I helped to organize an exchange program with interns of the German embassy in Washington D.C. We were able to visit the embassy and the so-called FED (Federal Reserve System) and get a tour through it. Vice versa we organized a group of policy advisors who gave a presentation about the German house for interns of the German embassy in Washington D.C. Afterward we gave tours through the UN and their single bodies.
Moreover, I received my first bigger project from my supervisor. As Germany would become a non-permanent member of the Security Council, the press team had
to reorganize the whole website, content-wise and layout-wise. I was responsible for the content of the website. My major task was to check the actuality of the information and to do research (fact-finding) on the priorities of Germany in the upcoming years in the Security Council and about Germany in the UN in general. This was very time-consuming since I had to fulfill my daily/weekly tasks as well. However, I enjoyed working on a project since this meant more flexibility during my working days. I could work freely and suggest new content until the end of my internship since the project had to be done by then. We had several team meetings in order to implement the project. Unfortunately, working on a project did not happen often since the press department of a big public administration is not project-related and rather rigid.
During the end of my internship I partially substituted the secretary of the ambassador due to her holidays. I was responsible for her email account, which meant that I had to keep an eye on business inquiries regarding the ambassador. Even if this just lasted two weeks, I felt a major trust bonus substituting her as the closest employee to the ambassador.
One major event that I organized was the yearly press briefing of the Ambassador at the end of the year. Therefore, we invited German journalists as well as international journalists, such as from Al Jazeera, Tokyo Broadcast System, La Stampa, France 24 and UN correspondents. In total 60 international journalists attended the briefing, where the Ambassador pointed out our goals for the Security Council. I was responsible for managing invitations and cancellations and organizing the seamless process of the event.
At the end of my internship I went to briefings of the Security Council. One of them was about the United Nations Mission in Central Africa and the Lords Assistance Army (LRA), which is a rebel group operating in Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Another one was about the resolution on the situation in Afghanistan, where I reported to our corresponding policy advisor Mr. Schröder. Additionally, I accompanied our Ambassador to a meeting in the UN Economic and Social Council about the Central Emergency Response Fund, where he announced the German contribution to the fund. Moreover, I was glad that I could shortly meet the Secretary-General António Guterres at this meeting, which was definitely a highlight of my internship since he can be considered as the CEO of the UN. Another briefing that I attended was about
the Middle East, in particular Syria. I voluntarily asked if I could go there due to the fact that this was not part of my original task. However, I was eager to step out of my comfort zone and learn as much as possible also about Council briefings.
Another side event where I took part, was an interview of a well known German journalist called Johannes Hano from the ZDF with Ambassador Heusgen. It was utterly interesting to experience the other side of an interview, namely the one of producing it instead of being the audience. I experienced that the whole press team briefed the ambassador before doing the interview, which I did not expect prior to my internship in that way. Especially, the legal part of such interviews was interesting since every usage of the information given by the ambassador had to be confirmed by our head of the press team.
Within the following chapter, I am going to describe the placement supervision on site.
6. Placement supervision
Overall the supervision of my internship was good. I could always ask any kind of questions if problems arose. I did not feel that I had to fear any form of contact. Kathrin Deschauer was always open-minded and immediately offered me to call her by her first name, which helped me a lot feeling comfortable at the beginning. However, I experienced that the supervision of my internship in Brussels was way better due to the small number of employees. It is very different if you work in a big public administration or in a small representation. Moreover, my supervisor was always very busy and therefore I had to do a lot of work tasks on my own without showing me how to do it. Nevertheless, I took that as a challenge to improve my flexibility and my own initiative because I contacted other employees in order to get the information I needed. I wished that more time would have taken for me in order to explain me general working tasks and to get a look insight into the Foreign Office. Moreover, I did not receive constantly feedback like in my previous internships. I wished I had received more of that. In my previous internship, I was the only intern, therefore it was much easier and the communication was more direct.
In the following chapter, I am going to describe the housing situation in New York and my surroundings.
7. Housing and surroundings
Beforehand the German Foreign Service sent me a list of possible accommodations in New York. I wrote to several landlords and got a confirmation for a room in the East Village (Lower Manhattan) only 30 minutes from the German Mission by bus. Most of the interns and legal trainees lived either in Manhattan or Brooklyn. I lived in an apartment with an older man and two cats. I had a small room (approximately 8 square meters) and the bathroom, the kitchen and the living room was for common use. Overall, I paid $1100 (950€) rent per month, which is very moderate for New York. Rental prices are very high. Not for nothing is New York considered to be the fourth most expensive city in the world. In general, you need to pay between $800-$1700 rent per month. Everything else is very expensive as well. The cheapest supermarket is Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market, but prices are twice as high as in Groningen. An unlimited monthly pass will cost you $121 which is a fair price considering the distances you have to drive. Additional to rental prices you will need approximately 1000€ to cover living expenditures.
However, you never get bored in this city. There seem to be endless opportunities to pass your free time. The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park, the One World Trade Center Observatory, the High-Line in Chelsea, the Brooklyn Bridge, 5th Avenue, Chinatown, the UN, musicals on Broadway and Wall Street are just a few sights that can be visited. A trip to Washington D.C is always worth it. It is around 4h away from New York by bus and will cost you approximately $60 both ways. I recommend going to East Village for nightlife and bars. New York as a city is highly international and vibrant as you will see when you meet one of the thousands of Latinos and Chinese people living in New York or other people from all over the world.
The following chapter will cover some useful tips for future placement students, who consider doing a placement at the German Mission to the UN.
8. Tips for future placements students
§ Working language is German in the Permanent Mission
§ Being able to speak English fluently since German is not an official language at the UN and therefore is never used at the UN itself
§ Speaking a second official language of the UN (Arab, English, French, Chinese, Spanish, Russian) is a big asset
§ You have to be from Germany to do that internship § Own initiative is strongly required at this job
§ The dress code (business) is very important both in the office and at the UN, mostly a suit is recommendable for guys
§ Flexibility is a must since timetables always change and interns have to help often spontaneously at certain events
§ Be stress-resistant
§ Being able to cope with uncertain situations in the sense of being thrown into the deep
9. Conclusion
Overall, I was satisfied with my internship at the German Mission. My general expectations prior to the internship were fulfilled. However, I expected to work more often at the United Nations, the Security Council or the UN Economic and Social Council. Most of my meetings were in-house meetings. Other interns were able to go to the UN more often, but since I was at the press department, it was not my tasks what my predecessor already confirmed at her last day. What I really enjoyed was working closely with the ambassador. To see how he acted and answered questions and how he gave speeches in the Security Council was very interesting. I observed a lot of habits and manners of high-ranked persons. Ranging from the president of the International Olympia Committee, various ambassadors to the SG António Guterres. Additionally, I experienced that the workload was huge, which on the on hand side I really liked due to the fact that I never got bored during my internship. I worked a lot and I hope I can take this energy with me to Groningen in order to write my remaining master thesis. However, I have to admit that the salary was not proportionate to the workload at all.
During the internship, I made a lot of connections, which was also one part of my prior expectations. I have met many like-minded people in a sense of highly ambitious people with whom I exchanged personal details. I even met interns of the Dutch Mission to the UN and tried to practice my language skills. It turned out that one intern of the Dutch Mission did her Bachelor in IRIO in Groningen, which confirmed that Groningen has a very good reputation.
Moreover, I could get a lot of insights that I did not get during my prior internships. I learned how to use Content Management System in order to work on websites. Furthermore, I would consider myself an expert now with Microsoft Outlook and with Microsoft Office in general. I enjoyed huge responsibilities at the mission by getting the task to reply to e-mails of UN journalists and substitute the secretary of the ambassador and I even went to meetings on my own. Moreover, I boosted my own initiative and my self-learning process. In what way is that? Since all staff members are extremely busy in the German Mission, I had to explain processes to myself and it was expected to gather information on my own without asking many times. This did not mean that I was afraid to ask, but it was expected to show this strong initiative. I experienced that my prior internship in Brussels helped me a lot in order to adapt to the new working environment. Therefore, I am convinced that my
internship at the German Mission will boost my confidence for my first upcoming job. The ability to get used to unfamiliar situations and to show strong self-initiative is clearly a strength of mine due to the fact that I did several internships abroad, where I had to cope with different cultures and societies. Additionally, my strength of communication and processing information very fast was clearly an asset. I could overcome my weakness of the previous internship, namely trying to analyze everything into the smallest detail. However, I was not completely familiar with the topics beforehand because I never studied journalism or press-related issues during my studies. I clearly think that the political or the economic affairs section would have suited me better and I could have applied my knowledge that I gained during my master in International Political Economy, even more. Nevertheless, you are not applying for one specific position in the Foreign Office because the principle of generalists rather than specialists prevails. Further, I could achieve my initial personal goal, namely to abandon my nervousness at the beginning of every internship. After two days, I did not feel that nervous like in the past internships. I am convinced that my mentioned strengths plus my previous experiences helped me somehow to overcome my uncertainty faster. Another personal learning goal was to find a suitable topic for my master thesis. During my task of gathering the news for the ambassador, I had to deal with a lot of international trade articles. Therefore, I read literature about it and decided to write my remaining thesis about multilateral international trade practices in times of growing bilateralism.
One thing that I did not experience elsewhere during my internship was the steep hierarchy. I realized that a flat hierarchy, like in Brussels suits me better. Nevertheless, I can recommend everyone to do such an internship if one has the chance and the financial means to do so. I learned a lot about the UN as an organization and about negotiation strategies on such a high level. Especially, if one considers going into the Foreign Service and diplomacy, in general, this internship is definitely the right choice. Regarding diplomacy, I never learned more on how to behave and how to balance the interests as during my time at the UN. To sum it up, I could recognize that I needed quite different skills during the internship in New York compared to them in Brussels. I needed to talk in a more diplomatic way (language-wise) and I couldn’t be as straightforward as I could be in Brussels. Additionally, I needed to show even more self-initiative than before since I was thrown in the deep
end. Moreover, I had to structure my day even better due to the tight time schedule I had.
All in all, I can see an addition to my learning curve. I started an internship at the Green Party in Germany, went to the Goethe-Institute in Madrid, to the EU in Brussels and now to the German Mission in New York. Not only name-wise I increased my curve but also in terms of performance. I definitely had to write more reports in Brussels, but my workload at the German Mission was even more and my colleagues expected a lot right from the beginning. Additionally, most of the interns and legal trainees already have a graduation certificate and therefore they expect interns to be close to the labor market, which means being close to actual employees. I am convinced that there was no better option to find out if the Foreign Service is the right choice for oneself. For myself, I can imagine working at the Foreign Office. I will take part in the selection procedure for the highest career path of a civil servant. Therefore, I clearly express the wish to work for the Foreign Ministry, even though I prefer a flatter hierarchy. Making compromises is also an important part in life. I really got an impression what it means to be a diplomat and especially what it means to be an ambassador since I was the closest intern to the ambassador and I knew his daily schedule, which was fully packed from morning until evening. My preferred career path into the public sector will continue.
