Emanuela: my experience at ICVolunteers

Emanuela Melis, traducción española Miguel Ortiz
01 October 2008

My experience at ICVolunteers started in October 2007. One day, I went to the office at rue de Carouge and introduced myself. I think it was a bit strange for the staff to receive a CV brought by a person and not by email but, maybe, this made the difference. A few days later, I received an email, a proposal for a volunteer position as Project Coordinator. This was my start.

It seems really yesterday when I started working in the Organisation and Lwiise, the ICV Conference Service Manager told me: "Ok Emanuela, your first duty is the International Master of Advanced Studies in Development organized by the Graduate Institute for Development Studies". It was the first time I had to deal with the world of interpreters and everything was new for me. So I started studying the rules of their profession and their schools. Thanks to the help of all the ICV staff who were always ready to answer my questions, I can now say that it was a success. It was also the first time since I had been in Geneva that I was "on the other side of the wall" as we say in Italy. I was now not sending my CV and waiting for an answer, but I was receiving CVs and judging them. Maybe, the fact that I was in the same position of those who were applying has helped me to pay all my attention to all the CVs and cover letters and to answer all of them, knowing how important it is to have an answer when you are waiting for it. Sometimes, it is good to remember how it was before….

I continued at ICV, taking care of other projects and, in particular, thanks to ICV I had the opportunity to work as Assistant for the 2008 Standing Committee Meetings at the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining. My experience there started the 9th May 2008. I was responsible for the Sponsorship Programme, helping with letters and follow-up to assist delegates with visas, coordination with embassies, missions, hotels etc, making contact with participants to check that they received all the information, preparing the rooming list for the hotels, and distributing the per diem. It was very interesting for me to call the embassies around the world and the missions in Geneva to help the delegate with the visas. I worked mainly in English and French but also in Spanish.

I was named "Volunteer of the month" in June/July 2008 and it was a great satisfaction.

Now, after many months of research, I have found a job as Human Resources Manager at the International Rescue Committee and I have to say thank you also to ICV for this. Thank you for the trust you have had in me!

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