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General Requirements

Stress resistance, what else? Here you can find our general requirements for aid workers from Finland. Please note that in addition to these general requirements there are specific requirements for each profile.

I live in Finland and I have a valid passport.

If you do not live in Finland, you can contact the recruiting office closest to your country of residence. You can find all MSF offices here.

I have travelled or worked in low income countries.

Many of our projects are in low income countries and hence having experience and understanding of them is a basic requirement for working with MSF.

I have at least 2 years of work experience.

All our aid workers need to be experienced experts to work well under difficult circumstances. Aid work requires confidence in professional role and ability to work independently in difficult situations. Most of our aid workers will be training local staff. The work also often entails leading others.

I am flexible and stress resistant.

Flexibility and ability to cope with stress are vital. We often work in conflict areas or close to them and the environment may be chaotic and unstable. The large amount of work and living with new colleagues can also be challenging. The situation in the project may change rapidly which means that your work duties may also change. It is also possible that the date of the return trip or your team changes at a short notice.

I work well in a team.

Aid workers live and work together. The working days are long, standard of life is modest and there is little room for privacy. Aid workers need to be open minded, flexible and self-confident. The ability and desire to interact with people from different backgrounds is essential.

I am healthy and do not require a regular medication.

Aid work can be challenging both physically and mentally, therefore it is important that you are healthy and do not need regular medication, because it is possible that the medication is not always available for one reason or another. In some cases, regular medication might not exclude you from aid work. We recommend you discuss the matter with your doctor before applying. All aid workers will have a medical check before the mission and the doctor will make the final estimate about whether you are fit to work.

I am prepared to work under uncertain circumstances.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. This means working also in conflict areas where the safety situation is unstable. Our aid workers need to understand this and be prepared to work where the need is greatest.

I am committed to working for 12 months or I am a surgeon, anaesthesiologists, gynaecologist and I am committed to working for 3 months.

In order to ensure the quality and stability of our work it is important that the staff does not change continuously. This is why we ask for commitment to aid work for about a year. Specialists like surgeons, anaesthesiologists, gynaecologists often have shorter assignments, because their role often involves being on call.

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