Did you get a lower base salary? This is what you missed out to fill in your UN P11/PHP application form

Everyone that applies for the UN will encounter the P11/PHP form. In fact, the P11/PHP is a cumbersome application form that is common among all larger international organizations, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), and Multilateral organizations. The P11/PHP is a pure desktop experience, I have never heard about anyone who has completed that form on a mobile. In this article, we will guide you through the form and give you some handy tips on how you best can fill it out.

We also give you one specific tip linked to when you fill out the professional experience section.

Did you know that if you haven't filled out the P11/PHP form correctly, you risk getting a lower base salary when you get hired?

But before going into the tips and the form itself, let's explain why the form looks as it does. The P11/PHP form is criticized because it makes the application process so complex that it contradicts the goals of inclusivity. Furthermore, the form is also criticized for collecting applicant data that has nothing to do with the determination of a candidate's fit for a job. 

The P11/PHP has had kind of the same shape and form for the past 50 years, some minor fields have been removed such as the candidate's weight, length, and pager number, but apart from that the form remains.

UN Women Personal History Form (P11)

UNFPA Personal History Form

UNICEF Personal History Form 

So why are all these questions asked in the P11/PHP?

The simple answer is that the form is not only used to determine the best fit for the job but is also intended to be used to speed up the offer-to-hire process.

These organizations have salary scales and benefits packages that are linked to different aspects of the candidate's life situation. Candidates earn differently depending on their professional experience, degree, number of UN languages, if they are single, if they have one or more children, etc. 

Hence the idea of having these forms in place is to collect all different needed candidate data points upfront in the application form so that it becomes easier for the UN HR department to administer the whole recruitment process. 

The challenge though is that UN recruitment processes often take a good 100-200 days and life changes for many applicants during such a long time window, hence the data provided in the P11/PHP may be obsolete.