The Early Careers Programme (ECP) is the World Economic Forum’s entry route for recent graduates. Each participant joins one Forum team — a Centre, a regional office or another unit — on a six-month full-time onsite employment contract at a Forum office. The Forum is an independent, not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Geneva, with offices in New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Tokyo and Mumbai, and a staff of more than 1,000 people representing over 100 nationalities. Participants carry real delivery work: policy and industry research, drafting briefing notes and thought-leadership material, mapping and engaging stakeholders, and helping design and run Forum meetings and workshops. Cohorts are recruited twice a year, in Spring and in Fall. Hiring for the Fall 2026 cohort is open, with positions at the Beijing Representative Office and the New York office.
Benefits & funding
- Six-month full-time onsite employment contract at a World Economic Forum office.
- Monthly gross compensation of USD 4,550, as published on the Fall 2026 New York position; the Beijing positions publish no figure.
- Start dates for the Fall 2026 cohort fall between 1 September and 1 October 2026.
- Work inside the Forum’s flagship initiatives — the Fall 2026 positions name the Global Lighthouse Network, AI Impact, the Commercial Bioeconomy Initiative (BioBASED), Transitioning Industrial Clusters, SmartStart USA, and the Centre for Nature and Climate’s Earth System and People agendas.
- Direct contact with the Forum’s partner network across business, government and academia, and with the teams that deliver its meetings.
Eligibility
- Best suited to bachelor’s and master’s graduates. Degree requirements vary by position: the Fall 2026 New York position asks for a bachelor’s degree at minimum with a master’s preferred, while one Beijing position asks for a master’s degree or higher, completed or in progress.
- Maximum of three years of cumulated work experience, internships included. No minimum is set; some positions note that one to three years of professional or research experience is a plus.
- No nationality or residency requirement is published.
- Positions are onsite at one named office, so language needs follow the office: all three Fall 2026 Beijing positions require fluency in English and Mandarin Chinese.
- Full-time commitment for the whole six months.
Can you apply?
Worth a closer look
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Education required
Bachelor · Master
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Experience required
≤ 3 yrs
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We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.
Application process
- 1Open the Early Careers job family on the Forum’s Workday careers site to see every position in the cohort now recruiting.
- 2Read each position in full — it names its team, host office, start window and profile requirements.
- 3Apply through Workday, which requires creating a candidate account and submitting a CV.
- 4Wait to be contacted by the Forum. It publishes neither its selection stages nor a closing date for the Fall 2026 positions, and points candidates to its Early Careers talent community for programme updates and application deadlines.
Program timeline
Preferred start window for the Fall 2026 cohort
Sep 1, 2026 to Oct 1, 2026
Six months after the start date
Contract ends (around March 2027 for a September start)
No closing date is published for the Fall 2026 positions