NATO seeks Czech applicants: Assistant Secretary General on what makes candidates successful
NATO has increased recruitment in response to global threats, including Russia’s actions in Crimea and Ukraine. In order to attract more candidates from Czechia, which ranks 22nd in representation of employees among NATO members, a NATO career workshop was held at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I went there to interview Assistant Secretary General for Executive Management Carlo Borghini to find out more about the application process, how applicants can make themselves more attractive, and more.
I want to start with a general question about recruitment for NATO’s ongoing operations. So, mentioned in the opening remarks is that recruitment has increased in recent years from 100 [positions] to 300. Is that also connected to wanting better performance generally or is that a combination of demand with everything that is happening in the world basically?
“Thank you very much for the question. It’s a combination of different developments. First of all, it’s a decision of the organization in the context of Madrid to expand its operations, taking into consideration the evolution of the worsening geopolitical situation. And this has created a lot of demand for new talent. And the evolution of the geopolitical situation also invites the areas in which NATO is working to become much more diversified and require different talents and competencies to be performed.”
Do you think that has been helped by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine? Did NATO notice at that point, or were you already noticing prior to that, let’s say cyber security concerns, or I know that you’re focusing a lot on disinformation as well. So, was that prior to 2022, or was that accelerated with the full-scale invasion?
“It’s both. Clearly, the situation has been evolving before 2022. Don’t forget that the situation started to worsen already with the [Russian] 2014 Crimean invasion. So, it’s not happening that only happened in 2022. That said, 2022 has marked a major crisis that we are still suffering – especially the Ukrainian people.
“So, the combination of the two has brought the alliance and the allies to invest and take it as a major investment decision on the future of the organization.”
You were mentioning also in your opening remarks about [the need for] diversity with representatives in NATO. Is there some normative action toward diversity with women and minorities? Is that something you are looking for in the application process?
“Yes, as I mentioned during the event, we are looking for diversity in the workforce in all its forms. This is done by looking at gender, to start with, geographical representation, as well as minorities, and different factors.
“We have a transatlantic alliance of one billion people, from Eastern Europe to the United States and Canada. And we need to be sure that in the alliance, we reflect the multicultural environment that we have in our populations.”
And then speaking on the competitive nature of the application. One of the speakers mentioned that she applied seventeen times internally as well, which was quite surprising. So, is there a feedback process that could help applicants when they apply and they get feedback that they are lacking in these specific areas, whatever it is, is there something you incorporate?
“On the number of applications and feedback process, there is not one single recipe. We try to give feedback as much as possible. But we have hundreds of applications every time so it’s difficult to get back to all of them.
“I think often what we detect is that the fact that someone does not succeed is not due to a specific failure [or mistake]. The cases when you arrive in the final stages of the application process and some big failure is detected is quite rare. Often, there are a combination of factors that are coming together.
“In the end, there is a human aspect in the selection process that is there. And that is really where the candidates themselves, the panel, and the different steps [in the application] have a specific role. We try to give feedback – especially to the final candidates – because there we feel they have the correct skills and competencies to move on.
“It’s also important to find the correct job to which you apply. That’s an important element. Be sure to sell your experience and market it.”
There was also mention of diversity in the skills; you want people in finance in cybersecurity, all these things. So, building off of your remarks there, would you say that those finance experts should be applying to finance jobs or with communications experts to communications jobs, or should they be diversifying?
“I don’t think that based on your competencies you need to apply only to a specific job. Clearly, you need to look at your strengths to apply to a job to which you can match.
“So, for example, a finance expert applying to defense planning is quite complex because they will not have the skill. But in some policy-making, we are discussing positions concerning the security of the economy. There, the combination of finance and diplomacy could be a perfect match for this position. So, that is what I was saying a bit before. The candidate should know based on their expertise, and normally multifaceted expertise is an added value that can apply to different positions.
“It’s really about looking at which is the best target and where you can contribute most because this will be appreciated.”
