- Name: Cristina D’Alessandro
- Age: 44
- Current location: Tours, France
- Home town: Errouville, France
- Education: PhD in Geography
- Current position: Associate Regional Director for Europe, Institute for Natural Resources and Sustainable Development
- Organization description: The Institute for Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (INRSD) is a networked series of centres, scattered all over the world. They work with governments to create sustainable and inclusive plans for developing natural resources.
- Bio: Cristina D’Alessandro is the Associate Regional Director for Europe at the INRSD, a senior fellow at the Centre on Governance at the University of Ottawa, a research fellow at the Research Centre PRODIG, and a professor at the Paris School of International Affairs. In her 20-year career, she has worked extensively in Africa, along with North America and Europe, and specializes in issues of natural resources governance.
- Years in the field: 20
- Countries I've worked in: Guinea, Senegal, United States, France, Zimbabwe
- Sector / subsectors: International Development, Governance, Academia, Research, Consulting
- Areas of expertise: Natural resource and environmental governance; urban planning, management and transformation; political, economic and territorial governance; institutional capacity building; and leadership, policy,
- Country: Canada, France, Guinea, Senegal, Zimbabwe
- Region: North America, Africa, Europe
- Sector: Education, Environmental, International development
- Degree subject: Geography
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Where are you at the moment, and what do you do there?
Meet Cristine d'Alessandro.
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Can you give us a snapshot of your career up to this point?
Cristina tells us about being a career academic, why she doesn’t like being in a ‘comfortable seat’ for too long, and how she got into consultancy work, in the field.
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How have the sector and your field of study changed over time?
Cristina talks to us about how the concept of sustainable development wasn’t really around when she was starting her career, and how the current way of looking at sustainable resource development is an extra challenge in developing countries.
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What kind of skills or specialities are in demand in this field?
Now more than ever, people need to be flexible, not just with circumstances in a country, but with your entire career path, and area of research interest, so you don’t become outdated.
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When makes people successful in this field? What do they bring to the table?
Find out what skill set Cristina says it’s strategic to start developing now, that will set you apart and set you up for success.
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Are there certain certifications, or educational backgrounds, that will set you up for success?
Find out what Cristina said she’d study for her PhD, if she could go back and do it over, and how you should think about choosing your major.
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You mentioned flexibility, openness, and leadership skills. How can someone show those skills, or demonstrate them in an interview?
“You cannot prove it, if you don’t have it.” Cristina says you can’t fake it, you either truly are flexible and open to things or you aren’t.
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How can someone break out of the Catch-22 of "I need a job to get experience, but I need experience to get a job"?
Cristina says it’s all about meeting as many professionals in your field that you can.
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You mentioned meeting people and networking. What are your tips for young people when it comes to networking, especially someone who might be nervous or intimidated?
Cristina reminds us that everyone has had a bad impression at some point or another, but also that people can surprise you.
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When you’re hiring younger people in this area, what are you looking for? Who gets the position?
You can have great CVs on paper, but that doesn’t mean anything if you can’t work with that person in real life. Cristina talks about the importance of showing potential future colleagues that they can work with you, and would be comfortable doing that.
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You mentioned that hard skills are not enough. But can you tell us about the skills you look for? What makes a CV look good?
When it comes to oral and written communication, you adapt to your audience, and not expect your audience to adapt to you.
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Tell us about the difference between work in this field in a university setting, versus an NGO or private company.
Find out why Cristina says it’s much easier to go from academia to other positions, rather than the other way around.
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Do you have any other advice for young people wanting to enter this field?
Cristina tells us about the day she woke up, three years into an engineering degree, and realized it wasn’t what she wanted. She tells us how young people should be open to switching paths, and admitting when something isn’t right for you, but stresses that you shouldn’t consider it wasted time.
