United NationsCore Value
Integrity — UN competency
Acting in line with the standards and values of the United Nations, and doing the right thing even when it is difficult or unpopular.
What this competency means
Integrity in the UN framework is about upholding the principles of the Charter in daily work: honesty, impartiality, fairness and incorruptibility. It covers how staff handle resources entrusted to them, how they respond to pressure, and whether their conduct stands up to scrutiny.
Based on the UN Competency Framework
Behavioural indicators
- Upholds the principles of the UN Charter in daily work and decisions
- Acts without consideration of personal gain and resists undue political pressure
- Handles funds, assets and information entrusted to the Organization responsibly
- Takes prompt action in cases of unprofessional or unethical behaviour
- Behaves consistently, so that words and actions match
Our interpretation for interview preparation
Behaviours that weaken an answer
- Bends rules or standards for convenience or personal advantage
- Stays silent when witnessing misconduct
- Shifts position depending on who is in the room
PanelPrep interview guidance
What a strong example might demonstrate
Candidates preparing for competency-based interviews can use this competency to think about a moment when they had to choose between what was easy and what was correct. A strong behavioural example would demonstrate the specific pressure faced, the standard applied, the action taken, and the consequences accepted.
PanelPrep interview guidance
How to prepare for questions on this competency
Integrity is usually probed through situations where the honest choice carried a cost — reporting an error, refusing a favour, or challenging a practice that was accepted but wrong.
STAR preparation
- Situation — set the context in two sentences: where, when, who was involved.
- Task — state precisely what you were responsible for, not what the team was responsible for.
- Action — spend most of the answer here, in the first person, showing the indicators above in practice.
- Result — quantify the outcome and add what you learned or changed afterwards.
PanelPrep interview guidance
Common interview question patterns
Illustrative patterns written by PanelPrep to help you practise. They are not published or endorsed by UN.
- Tell us about a time you had to take an unpopular decision because it was the right one.
- Describe a situation where you were asked to do something you considered improper.
- Give an example of when you reported or corrected a mistake that could have gone unnoticed.
PanelPrep interview guidance
Common mistakes
- Choosing an example with no real cost or risk
- Describing values in the abstract instead of a concrete situation
- Presenting a colleague's misconduct story without showing your own action
Practise Integrity with an AI panel
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The competency name, category and behavioural concepts on this page are based on United Nations, "UN Competency Development – A Practical Guide". Summaries, interview guidance, question patterns and preparation advice are original PanelPrep content.
Framework version: UN Competency Development – A Practical Guide. Source date: 2010-01-01. Last verified: 2026-08-09.
PanelPrep is an independent interview-preparation service. It is not an official website of UN and is not endorsed by or affiliated with UN.