What Does It Really Take to Work in International Affairs? Inês Monteiro’s Journey from Portugal to the UN and Brussels

When you hear the words international affairs, what do you picture? Diplomats in suits, important meetings, people sitting around huge tables discussing world politics, or maybe someone constantly flying from one country to another with a passport that probably has more stamps than pages left.

That was more or less the image I had in my head before speaking to Inês Monteiro, a Portuguese International Relations graduate who has already gained experience in international affairs through university, volunteering, an internship at the United Nations, and now a new opportunity at the European Commission in Brussels.

I recently had the chance to interview Inês and talk to her about her academic journey, her experience at the UN, what it is actually like to work in an international environment, and what she has learned along the way. You can also find her on TikTok as @inesmmonteiro16, where she shares content about her experiences and interests.

After our conversation, my original idea of what a career in international affairs looks like became a lot more complicated, but also much more interesting. It turns out that there is no single path into this world. There is not one perfect degree, one perfect internship, or one magic formula that guarantees you will end up working in diplomacy or an international organisation. Instead, it is a combination of education, experience, curiosity, communication, and, sometimes, simply being willing to take a different route when your original plan does not work out.

Inês studied International Relations with a minor in Diplomacy before going on to complete a master's degree. However, getting to university was not quite as straightforward as she had originally expected.

Because of the disruption caused by COVID-19 and the circumstances surrounding university entrance exams, she did not receive the grade she needed to enter the programme she wanted through the route she had originally planned. Instead of giving up on the subject she was interested in, she decided to save money and attend a private university.

At the time, having to change plans could easily have felt like a massive setback. Looking back, however, Inês believes that the change actually worked in her favour. The programme she eventually attended had a broader curriculum and covered more areas, giving her the opportunity to explore different aspects of international affairs rather than focusing on only one specific area.

Her interest in international affairs was also not the result of one dramatic moment. There was no single experience that suddenly made her think, “This is definitely what I want to do.” Instead, international affairs had always been somewhere in the back of her mind. As she got older and learned more about the field, that interest gradually became something she wanted to pursue professionally.

That is something I found particularly interesting about her story, because there is often a lot of pressure on young people to know exactly what they want to do. Inês's experience shows that sometimes an interest can exist for years before you really understand where it might take you.

You do not necessarily need to have your entire career planned out at eighteen. Sometimes you just need to notice what you keep coming back to.

It Started With a Different Route

One of the first things I wanted to understand during my conversation with Inês was what people working in international affairs actually do.

The problem is that international affairs is such a broad field that there is not really one simple answer. It can involve relationships between governments, international organisations, businesses, NGOs and other institutions, and people working in the field can specialise in completely different areas.

Someone might work in diplomacy, international law, economics, international development, human rights, security, trade, communications, public policy, humanitarian work, or many other areas.

This also means that working in international affairs does not automatically mean becoming a diplomat.

In fact, one of the biggest misconceptions Inês talked about was the idea that everyone who works in diplomacy or international organisations must have studied International Relations or Political Science. In reality, international institutions need people with a huge variety of academic backgrounds. Lawyers, economists, communications specialists, researchers, policy experts and people with scientific or technical backgrounds can all contribute to international work.

The United Nations itself employs people across a very wide range of professional areas, which makes sense when you think about how many different skills an organisation operating on a global scale needs.

So if you are interested in international affairs but do not study International Relations, that does not mean that the field is closed to you. In fact, one of the most interesting things about it is precisely how many different directions you can take.

There are a lot more doors than people realize.

So, What Does International Affairs Actually Mean?

One of the most important experiences in Inês's journey so far has been her internship at the United Nations in New York.

The United Nations is one of the world's most recognisable international organisations. Founded in 1945, it currently has 193 Member States and provides a space where countries can work together on issues including peace and security, human rights, humanitarian affairs, sustainable development and international law.

For many students interested in international relations, working at the UN sounds almost like the ultimate career experience. From the outside, it can be easy to imagine dramatic negotiations, world leaders, important decisions and constant excitement.

In reality, as Inês explained to me, a lot of the experience involved something much less glamorous but equally important: conferences and meetings.

Her time at the UN gave her the opportunity to see what an international institution actually looks like from the inside. Rather than simply reading about international organisations in a textbook, she was able to experience the environment for herself and see how people from different countries and professional backgrounds work together.

The UN itself describes internships as opportunities where interns can support meetings and conferences, conduct research, prepare documents, analyse information and contribute to the work of different departments. The exact experience obviously depends on the specific office and position, but the important point is that an internship is not simply about having an impressive organisation on your CV. It is about actually seeing how the organisation functions.

And sometimes that means sitting through a lot of meetings.

The UN, Less Movie, More Meetings

One of the things that surprised Inês most about her experience at the UN was not the work itself, but the people.

There is a common stereotype surrounding diplomacy and international organisations that the people working in these environments are extremely elite, intimidating, or somehow completely different from everyone else. Inês's experience challenged that idea.

Of course, she acknowledged that there are elitist people in these environments, just as there are in any other professional field. But when she arrived at the UN, she also discovered that many of the people she met were simply normal people. They were friendly, approachable and human, despite having impressive careers and working in one of the most recognisable international organisations in the world.

I think this is one of the most useful things to remember when looking at careers from the outside. When you see someone working at the UN, the European Commission or another international institution, it can be easy to think that they somehow belong to a completely different category of person.

They do not.

They also had to apply for things. They also had to study. They also had to gain experience. They also had to convince someone to give them their first opportunity. Seeing that reality can make an intimidating career feel a little more achievable.

The People Were Not What She Expected

Inês's UN experience also meant living in New York, which sounds like a pretty incredible addition to the story.

Before going, however, she did not have particularly strong expectations. A lot of the process had happened online while she was living in Portugal, and at one point she even wondered whether the opportunity could really be what it seemed.

Once she arrived, though, she ended up enjoying the experience enormously.

New York is obviously one of the world's most international cities, and living there meant being surrounded by people from completely different countries, cultures and backgrounds. That kind of environment can be incredibly valuable for someone interested in international affairs because you are constantly exposed to different perspectives.

At the same time, although the work could be very busy, Inês managed to balance her professional responsibilities with her free time and was able to experience a lot of what the city had to offer, even after work hours.

There were moments when the whole experience genuinely felt like a movie: living in New York while working at the United Nations, something she had always dreamed of but had never really believed would be possible.

Because of that, her time in New York was not simply about conferences, meetings and work. It was also about experiencing the city, meeting people from different backgrounds and living an experience that had once seemed almost impossible.

Living in New York gave her something that is difficult to recreate in a classroom. It allowed her to experience an international environment as part of her everyday life rather than simply studying it.

And when it comes to international affairs, that experience can be just as valuable as anything you learn from a textbook.

What Was It Like Living in New York?

The next step in Inês's journey is taking her to Brussels, where she is preparing to start a traineeship at the European Commission.

For anyone who is not familiar with the European Commission, it is one of the main institutions of the European Union. It is the EU's executive body and is responsible for proposing legislation and policies, helping implement EU law, managing the EU budget and representing the EU internationally in certain areas.

Basically, if the European Union were a massive organisation with a very complicated group project, the European Commission would be one of the teams doing a huge amount of the day-to-day work behind the scenes.

For someone interested in European affairs, working there is a significant opportunity. The European Commission's traineeships allow graduates to gain practical experience inside the EU institutions and to learn more about European policymaking and administration.

For Inês, this next opportunity makes sense as part of the path she has already been building. Her degree gave her an academic foundation, her volunteering and university activities gave her additional experience, the UN exposed her to an international institution, and now the European Commission will give her another perspective, this time from within the European Union.

It is a good example of how different experiences can gradually build into a career.

From New York to Brussels

Of course, none of this means that getting there is easy.

One of the biggest things Inês emphasised when we talked about careers in international affairs was how competitive the field can be.

A lot of people want to work in diplomacy, international organisations and European institutions. Many applicants have strong degrees, master's qualifications, international experience, languages, volunteering and extracurricular activities. That means that simply having a degree is not always enough.

Throughout university, Inês did much more than attend classes. She was involved in volunteering and different activities, building experience outside her academic work. These experiences may not always look as impressive on paper as a degree from a famous university or an internship at an international organisation, but they can help develop the skills that employers actually look for.

And this is where the reality of international affairs becomes much less glamorous and much more practical.

You need to be able to communicate well. You need to work with other people. You need to negotiate. You need to adapt when situations change. You need to understand different perspectives and, ideally, be comfortable working with people who do not necessarily think the same way you do.

In other words, knowing things is important, but knowing how to work with people is just as important.

The Reality of Building a Career

When I asked Inês about the skills that young people should develop if they are interested in this career path, communication and negotiation stood out.

That makes a lot of sense when you think about what international affairs actually involves. You might be working with someone from a completely different cultural background, trying to reach an agreement between people who have completely different priorities, or explaining a complicated political or economic issue to someone who does not have your level of expertise.

Being able to communicate clearly matters. So does knowing how to listen.

Languages are also extremely valuable. English is particularly important because of how widely it is used in international environments, but knowing other languages can give you additional opportunities and make it easier to communicate across cultures.

There is also another skill that is much harder to put on a CV: curiosity. If you want to work in international affairs, you should actually be interested in the world. Not just in the glamorous parts of it.

Pay attention to what is happening internationally. Read the news. Follow major political and economic developments. Learn about international organisations and understand why certain decisions matter.

You do not need to become the person who reads fifty newspapers before breakfast, but you should have a general understanding of what is happening beyond your own country. And more importantly, you should want to know why.

What Skills Actually Matter?

If there is one piece of advice that came through clearly from our conversation, it is that young people interested in international affairs should start paying attention to the world around them.

You do not need to wait until university to become interested in international politics. You can start now by following international news, learning about different countries, volunteering, getting involved in activities at school or university, improving your language skills and looking for opportunities that allow you to meet people with different backgrounds.

Inês's own experience is a good example of why extracurricular activities matter. Her university years were not only about attending lectures and passing exams. She also spent time volunteering and getting involved in different activities, gradually building a wider range of experiences.

These things may seem small when you are doing them, but over several years they can start to create a much bigger picture. You also do not necessarily have to know exactly what your final destination is.

Inês did not have one single moment where everything suddenly became clear. Her path developed gradually, and some of the opportunities came from circumstances she had not originally planned for.

That is probably one of the most reassuring parts of her story. Your career does not have to make perfect sense from the beginning.

Sometimes you take the opportunity that is available, learn from it, meet people, discover something new about yourself, and then use that experience to decide what comes next.

What Would Inês Tell Someone Starting Out?

After talking to Inês, I think the most interesting thing I took away from the conversation was that international affairs is both much more exciting and much more ordinary than I had imagined.

Yes, there are conferences, international cities, the United Nations, European institutions and opportunities to work alongside people from all over the world.

But there are also applications, rejection, competition, studying, volunteering, meetings, long days and a lot of uncertainty.

It is not a career where you simply choose International Relations at university and automatically end up working at the UN or the European Commission. It is much more like building something piece by piece.

Inês's journey began with a university admission problem that forced her to take a different route. That route gave her a broader academic experience. During university, she volunteered and got involved in different activities. She continued her education with a master's degree, gained experience at the United Nations, moved to New York, and is now preparing to begin a new chapter in Brussels.

Looking at the whole journey, none of those experiences seem completely random anymore, because when you step back and see them together, they clearly connect and form a path that makes sense in hindsight.

And maybe that is the biggest lesson for anyone who is currently trying to figure out what they want to do, since you do not need to have the perfect plan, you do not need to study the perfect degree, and you do not need to already know whether you want to work in diplomacy, economics, law, policy or something completely different.

Instead, you can start by being curious, getting involved, volunteering, learning languages, paying attention to the world and saying yes to opportunities that allow you to learn, because sometimes a career is not something you find, but something you build, one opportunity at a time.

So, Is It Worth It?

Editor, Publisher & Author: Lucía Lobato

© 2026. Unfolding The World. All rights reserved.

UNFOLDING THE WORLD

Because the world is complicated,

But understanding It shouldn´t be.