I had a draft of this post sitting in my files. The situation is changing at the World Bank, where I no longer work, so my knowledge is rapidly becoming obsolete. However, there may be a specific opportunity for people with US work authorization willing to move to Washington DC; see (2)(a) below.
There are two common routes into a career at the World Bank. These are not the only options, but they are the most common.
- The Young Professional program, open to applicants 32 years old or younger. The YP application process is structured, legible, and highly competitive. YPs are on the fast track for advancement within the World Bank. YPs typically have PhDs, but some only have a masters (usually/always from a top program).
- Starting as a “short-term consultant” (STC), which allows you to develop a reputation internally as well as apply for internal only positions. STC roles are the focus of this post, but the World Bank plans to abolish them by January 2027. Replacing them will be some combination of independent contractor and “extended-term consultant” (ETC) roles. My guess is that most of what is written here will remain broadly true but with a different contracting modality.
- Potential opportunity for US citizens and permanent residents: Many current STCs working at headquarters are non-Americans. I think (75% confidence) they generally won’t be able to keep their visas if their positions are changed to contractor roles. It’s therefore possible that the Bank will be hiring a lot of DC-based contractors in 2027 for which you wouldn’t be competing against a de facto preferred candidate.
There are also smaller formalized pathways called the JPO and the JPA programs. From memory, I believe the JPO is available only to specific nationalities. The JPA program is a more junior version of the YP program, and it gets canceled and reinstated fairly often.
In general, at least a master’s degree is a prerequisite for an impactful job at the World Bank, though with a bachelor's degree from one of the world’s top 10 universities, it might be possible. Saroj Kumar Jha is a senior Bank official with only a bachelors degree, but he came up through the elite Indian Administrative Service, a much more impressive credential than any master’s degree.
STC positions are not systematically advertised, and they can easily be created for the right person. Task Team Leaders (TTLs) are the middle managers who usually oversee STCs, though more senior staff can also oversee STCs. A TTL who wishes to hire an STC simply has to send an email requesting a contract to be issued, and an STC can be onboarded in a few days. There is no requirement for a formal interview process. Often but not always, the TTL and the new STC agree on “Terms of Reference,” a document laying out the tasks and deliverables for the STC.
To get an STC assignment, you therefore need to make a connection with the right TTL at the right time. TTLs juggle multiple different projects at once. They are often looking for someone, or even if not actively looking, can recognize someone who can meet their needs. TTLs are much more receptive to getting a cold email with a resumé and an inquiry about consulting work than you might expect; hiring is hard, and the Bank doesn’t give TTLs great tools to facilitate it. By all accounts, a warm intro–and especially a recommendation from someone you’ve worked for–is better. But I got hired as an STC by sending a cold email to a TTL whose work looked closely aligned with my expertise and interests according to her web presence. To find relevant TTLs, look at reports, event pages, and project documents hosted on the Bank website.
World Bank internships for (graduate) students can take the form of STC assignments (or “STT” assignments, which are essentially the same thing), with or without pay.
STCs are paid per day, and with some exceptions they can only work 150 days per year. In contrast to STC roles are “staff” positions, full-time employment with benefits, typically for a contract term of several years with a near-certainty of renewal. Once you’re in the system as an STC with a short contract, e.g., 20 days, it creates opportunities to meet other Bank staff and secure other work; it is even easier and faster to add a new assignment (or additional days) to an existing STC’s contract than to hire a new STC.
The work done by STCs is highly varied, but STCs often do detailed research or writing work that TTLs don’t have time for. In contrast, STCs are not allowed to lead financing or research projects–i.e., they cannot be TTLs themselves. Bank staff and consultants very often say that an STC’s experience depends entirely on the TTL, and there is a lot of variation across TTLs in management skill and supportiveness.
In between staff and STC positions, there is a third contract type: “Extended Term Consultant” (ETC). Often, people follow a pathway beginning with an STC contract, advancing to an ETC contract, and then getting a staff job. Like staff, ETCs are selected through a formal, competitive process, and they work the full year like a full-time employee. However, an ETC role is strictly time-limited: you cannot work more than three years as an ETC in your life, and after your third year, you are required to take a 1-year cooling-off period before any other STC engagements. A Bank staff member told me in June 2026 that the policy is currently being changed and it is now possible (or soon will be) to get ETC contracts as short as 3 months.
The exact contract rules change every few years. In the past, there used to be something called “long-term consultants,” and the ETC program has been stopped and started at various points.
