Living the Dream

When I was 14 years old, I visited the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, USA. I was with my mother and my brother, and we joined the tour inside the Headquarters' building. I was so fascinated to see people from all over the world were working together. Since then, it became one of my dreams to join the United Nations (UN) one day. Several years later, I was majoring in International Development Studies, and I had a privilege to learn directly from the UN professional who happened to be on a sabbatical to teach at a Japanese university. My luck continued - in my final year at the university, a recruitment mission from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) came to Japan. They were looking for New Graduates from both undergraduate and graduate schools to join WFP and to grow within the organization. My professor told me that this was once in a lifetime opportunity - as the UN normally do not recruit new graduates. Normally it requires several years of professional working experience and a Master’s degree even to apply for a position. I still remember the moment I was speaking with my professor over the phone about this opportunity - I felt my heart racing, and I had this tickling sensations in my body. I set my mind to grab this rare opportunity, and I did everything I could do to prepare myself during the few months leading to the recruitment mission’s visit to Japan. As a non-native English speaker, who was born and raised in Japan, I had to brush up my English not only to prepare for the interview but also to be able to work at professional level. Luckily all my seminar classes were in English and I wrote my thesis in English, but it was not enough. I borrowed money from my parents in order to pay for the private English tutoring sessions, and practiced mock interviews and discussions.

The selection process took two days. Individual interviews were on the second day. On the first day, we had a written exam and a group discussion. I still remember an interesting exercise we did during the first day. All candidates were given a blank piece of paper, and we were asked to draw an image of ourselves one year after we joined the organization. Then we were each given a few minutes to present our drawings to the group. I have painted a picture of myself being a tree, with growing branches and roots that take nutrients from various experiences and people that I would meet in my career. Looking back, this picture rightly captured the life that followed. A few months after the graduation, I started my UN career, and over the following 17 years, I have grown so much, learning from all the people I met and various assignments I have had.

Looking back, there were few factors that allowed me to realize my dream: a clear vision, motivation, efforts, support and the luck. The power of visualization cannot be underestimated. I was able to visualize myself working for the UN, just like those people I saw at the UN Headquarters in New York many years ago. I was fully motivated and determined to seize the golden opportunity offered by the recruitment mission. I had the support of my university professor and my mother while I was preparing for the selection process. Last but not the least, I was so lucky to be at the right place at the right time. If any of these factors were missing, I wouldn’t have realized my dream.