Our Solution:
Get Game-Changing Professional Feedback Before You Submit Your Application

Position Applied For: Program Manager – Humanitarian Response at ReliefAid International 💬 Dear [Your Name], Thank you for your application for the Program Manager – Humanitarian Response position at ReliefAid International. After reviewing your materials, we have decided to move forward with other candidates. However, we’d like to provide constructive, recruiter-level feedback to help you improve future applications. ❌ Why Your Application Wasn’t Selected 🔴 Lack of recent humanitarian field experience ➡️ The role explicitly requires at least three years of recent experience managing humanitarian response programs in conflict zones. Your last field deployment was in 2017, which raises concerns about your up-to-date operational knowledge. 🔴 Cover letter too general ➡️ While you mention experience with emergency response coordination, your cover letter does not directly reference the specific job requirements, such as working with local partners, managing rapid response teams, or handling emergency procurement. 🔴 CV lacks quantifiable impact ➡️ You list impressive responsibilities (budget oversight, team leadership, proposal writing), but there are no concrete results. Instead of “Managed donor-funded projects,” a stronger statement would be: ✔ “Led a $5M USAID-funded emergency nutrition program, reaching 20,000 displaced individuals across three refugee camps.” 🔴 Limited experience with key donors ➡️ This position requires strong experience managing grants from ECHO, BHA, or DFID. Your experience is mainly with private foundations, which may not translate directly to managing large-scale institutional donor projects. ✅ Strengths in Your Application ✔ Strong leadership & coordination skills – Your ability to manage multi-sectoral teams in humanitarian settings is clear. ✔ Proven grant writing experience – You have successfully secured funding for development projects, which is valuable. ✔ Experience working in fragile contexts – Your background in post-conflict settings shows adaptability and resilience. 🔄 How You Can Improve 📌 Make your cover letter more tailored ➡️ Clearly connect your past experience with the specific responsibilities of this role. Use bullet points to make it concise and impactful. 📌 Strengthen your CV with measurable results ➡️ Instead of listing tasks, focus on outcomes: How much funding did you manage? What was the scale of your impact? 📌 Expand your institutional donor experience ➡️ If you want to move into humanitarian program management, gaining hands-on experience with major donors (e.g., ECHO, BHA)—even in a supporting role—will make your application more competitive. 🚀 What You Can Do Next 📍 Short-term (6–12 months): ✔ Take on freelance grant writing for humanitarian agencies to gain ECHO/BHA experience. ✔ Attend donor-related training/webinars on humanitarian financing. ✔ Strengthen M&E skills to improve your ability to track project impact. 📍 Mid-term (1–2 years): ✔ Transition back into a field-based humanitarian role (even in a short-term deployment). ✔ Gain hands-on experience managing institutional donor grants. 🎯 Could You Have Gotten This Job? ❌ Not yet. Your lack of recent field experience and institutional donor expertise made your application weaker than other candidates. ✅ Potential in the future? Yes—with the right steps. If you update your experience and refocus your CV and cover letter, you’ll be a much stronger candidate next time. 💡 Final Thoughts: This feedback is direct but constructive because we want you to succeed. You already have the skills and leadership experience—you just need to position yourself more strategically.