The Y7 is the youth engagement group of the G7, an international summit of the seven largest advanced economies in the world. The purpose of the youth engagement group is to highlight the most pressing issues affecting young people and to connect with young leaders in order to solicit their solutions to tackle these challenges. The Y7 summit itself typically takes the form of a week-long summit in the host country, bringing together young leaders from across the globe, to discuss and debate the big issues. The output of the summit is a communique which is presented world leaders as part of the official G7 summit. This is a unique opportunity to influence at the highest level.
When selecting for the delegation we are looking for leadership, both experience with leadership and potential for leadership in the future. The application process assesses several aspects of that can help us identify these candidates. Most of our applicants are quite young, either in their last year of university or recently graduated, so their personal leadership experience is often from university or with community organisations. We are assessing the quality of the experiences and what the applicant has learned from these moments of leadership. Applicants are advised not to list accolades and positions of leadership without complementing them with a reflection of how they have helped developed the leadership skills of the applicant.
We are also look for people who have the interpersonal skills necessary to work through complex problems with people of different points of view. When representing your country at an international summit, one will require strong communication skills with the ability to present a clear argument. Delegates from across the world will arrive to the summit with their own priorities and policy agendas. It is important to be able to read the room and understand how your perspective could be more attractive if articulated differently. Being able to demonstrate your negotiating skills will not form an active component of the application process, however we will be assessing applicant’s ability to make and defend balanced and pragmatic policy arguments.
I hope this helps candidates in refining their applications, and I would encourage applicants to head over to the recruitment page now and begin your application!
Jordan Abdi
Head of Recruitment