Support UN professionals navigating career transitions
In times of organisational change and financial uncertainty, professionals across the United Nations may find themselves facing unexpected career shifts.
Your support as a Career Pivot Ally can make a real difference.
🗓️ This initiative runs from 1 June to 31 August 2025. Join us during this period to support transitioning professionals through short, focused conversations that offer insight and encouragement.
Who is a Career Pivot Ally
A Career Pivot Ally is a professional who volunteers and dedicates one hour per week of their time to conduct up to two 30-minute informational conversations, offering guidance, insights and encouragement to individuals exploring new career directions.
These focused conversations allow the recipients (the Career Explorers) to:
- Learn from your career journey and key decisions
- Understand entry points and pathways into your sector
- Gain clarity on certifications, skills, and experience valued in your field
- Identify their own transferable skills and how to position them
Why It Matters
A short conversation can have a long-lasting impact. By sharing your experience, insights, and network, you can help someone gain clarity, identify next steps, and feel supported during a challenging transition
What Does a Career Pivot Ally Do?
As a Career Pivot Ally, you offer more than advice – you provide connection, clarity, and encouragement at a pivotal time.
In each 30-minute conversation, you can support individuals by sharing:
- Career perspective – Your own professional journey, role, key decisions, and lessons learned along the way.
- Sector insight – An overview of your field, including trends. and typical entry points.
- Qualification guidance – Clarifying which certifications, skills, and experiences are most valued in your industry.
- Supportive presence – Sometimes, simply listening with empathy and encouragement can be profoundly impactful.
You do not need to be a certified coach or a formal mentor – your experience, openness, and willingness to share are what make a difference.
How to Become a Career Pivot Ally
- Show you are available: Update your LinkedIn profile with our Career Pivot Ally picture frame to signal your availability for 30-minute informational conversations (see instructions below). This visual cue helps Career Explorers easily identify and reach out to you. Instructions on how to create your profile picture with the frame are provided below.
- Post and share: Create a LinkedIn post to let your network know you are available as a Career Pivot Ally. This increases visibility and encourages meaningful outreach from Career Explorers. Use the hashtags #CareerPivotAlly along with sector-specific tags such as #Finance, #IT, #Humanitarian), or any relevant field to help others find you more easily. 🔗Sample post: “Proud to support the #CareerPivotAlly initiative – I am joining professionals from across sectors in volunteering one hour of my week (2 x 30-minute sessions) for short, one-on-one informational conversations with UN and international organisation staff navigating career transitions. If you are exploring a pivot into #Advocacy/ #Policy, I would be happy to share insights about my career path, the skills and experience valued in this field, and what it takes to enter or grow in this space. These are not job interviews – they are learning conversations designed to support reflection, direction and connection. If you would like to schedule a 20-minute chat, feel free to reach out. #CareerPivot Ally”
Managing Your Availability
As a Career Pivot Ally, you may occasionally receive more requests than you can accommodate, or inquiries from individuals outside the intended audience. To maintain a manageable level of engagement while ensuring your support reaches those who need it most, you can:
- Clarify your focus – In your LinkedIn post or profile, indicate that you are prioritising support for professionals within the UN and international organisation system. This helps set expectations while remaining inclusive in tone.
- Decline requests – If contacted by individuals outside the UN or Ios, respond with appreciation for their interest and gently explain your current focus. For example: “Thank you for reaching out. At the moment, I am focusing my availability on supporting professionals within the UN system, but I wish you all the best in your career journey.”
- Adjust LinkedIn settings – To manage the volume of incoming requests, you may restrict who can connect with you by going to Settings > Privacy > Who can send you invitations and selecting “Only people who know your email address.”
This ensures your time is directed where it is most needed.
What a Career Pivot Ally Is Not
To ensure clarity and mutual understanding, it is important to define the boundaries of the Career Pivot Ally role. While your support is highly valuable, the initiative is not designed to replicate other roles such as mentorship, coaching, or recruitment. As a Career Pivot Ally, you are not expected to:
- Act as a mentor with an ongoing commitment or multiple follow-up meetings
- Serve as a career coach offering structured coaching sessions
- Function as a hiring manager responsible for offering interviews or employment opportunities
- Take on the role of a buddy for regular or repeated “coffee chats”
- Provide well-being counselling or extended emotional support beyond a single 30-minute conversation
The role is intentionally light-touch, time-bound, and focused on professional insight – designed to offer accessible, practical guidance in a single, respectful exchange.
Make a Difference
Your time, insight, and presence can empower someone to move forward with confidence. Join a growing network of professionals committed to solidarity, skill-sharing, and support.
Ready to get involved? Get your profile frame now by following the instructions below and be part of the Career Pivot Ally community.
How to Create Your Profile Frame
- Click “Choose File” and select your preferred portrait photo – it should be in a square format. You can also download your current LinkedIn profile photo and use it as it is already in a square format.
- Click “Merge Images” to automatically apply the Career Pivot Ally overlay.
- Download the merged image to your device.
- Upload the new image as your LinkedIn profile picture to show your participation in the initiative.