The sheer number of comments at the main post ‘So I Won’t Be A Commission Official‘ has been causing problems, so all the old comments are here instead, and hence searchable.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
@ Sebastian: thank you very much for your advice. I intend to take all exams in English, even though I speak also French and German (I was told I would have to speak in both languages in the oral exam) because I think I can do it better in English, so I will get that book you mentioned . 😉
Just one more question, what is the “leading case” for the oral exam you mentioned? I thought the oral exam was general and not specific for the Law part. I didn’t read anything about preparing a concrete case for the oral exam or so, when are you told it? Or is it the same case as in the written exam?
Thanks again for your advice!
Guys, how does one properly lobby? Is e-mail professional enough? Whom do you write to – head of unit /DG, general contact point, or? Do you enclose cover letter, CV and the like or a text of interest suffices? I guess, there’s no ‘official’ way to do it, but some methods of doing it probably work (and look) better… Also, about earmarking and other branding mechanisms — do the people on the Selection Board do it, or is it done after the reserve list goes out to institutions. And, also, besides the Commission, do the EU Parliament, Council, CoR, EESC, the Ombudsman , etc. actively recruit people from the reserve list or does one have to be more proactive than with the Commission? Whew, three questions. Any info is mucho appreciated. Cheers.
Hi everybody! I am currently involve in the CAST 27. I have pass the preselection exam and now I have the competence test on december . My profile is FGIV-Graduate Engineer-specialization: civil engineering. Does anyone knows which material do I need to study? which kind of questions should I expect? Any manual, book, notes,…?Is there anybody in the same situation or that already have gone through this exam? I just feel quite lost in this matter because the field of civil engineering is so broad and it seems that there are not many precedent cases like mine.
I would really appreciate some help.
Thank you
Law competitions sound like a lot of (rote) work.
@isabel: For law it very much depends in which languages you are going to take the tests. I took them in English for the preselections-tests and in German for the written part. The oral exam was about 25% English, 75 % German, so I naturally studied more German legal literature.
If you want to get a book e.g. in English, the book of Craig/DeBurca still seems to be a good choice even though the publication of the long-awaited 4th edition has been postponed once more. The 3rd edition is a bit outdated by now (it dates back to 2002).
What you could also do without the need to buy a “foreign” textbook, is to get a copy of the treaties in your second language of choice and read the Scadplus-website in that language as well to familiarize yourself with the different terminology. From my past experience in a law competition, it seems quite vital that you acquire a somewhat encyclopaedic knowledge of case law. I’d suggest to get a grasp of all the “famous” decisions (Costa/ENEL; vand Gend & Loos; Dassonville etc.) plus keep track of the development of the last 24 months before you take the test. For the oral exam you should have the leading case memorized for any subject-matter, since at least in my competition, the exam was very much knowledge-based.
Good luck!
hi everybody,
just discovered this site.
Anybody with the same experience as me: I’ve been on the reserve list (AD/25/05 Public admin and HR) since April this year. No single reaction of the institutions, even after 100 individuel spontanious applications…
Bit frustrating if you ask me. Wondering why they organise a “concours” if “old MS” are “blocked”.
@Stefano
Grazie mille.
marco
@Milda
Same to you. Anyway I won a position as Temporary Agent and I’ll start anyway next 16th Nov.
So, if I win, it will be the second position for me for this year, and I think can be a opportunity for someone else.
Have a nice evening you too.
Stefano
@ Stefano
Thank you for information and have a nice evening! I hope you will finally receive a possitive answer – after such a long time!
@marco
My colleagues probably could better help. Anyway, after CAST you receive an E-Mail, you must still wait for an interview. After this they have a shortlist and the director/committee can decide from the final shortlist. Usually the ones who receive an E-Mail are already a subset of the list, based on the expertise and the needs of the DG/Delegation/Agency which is looking for them.
There is not a real “workflow” for this, every part of the EU Commission have the same resources, but basically everyone can decide to use them in a different way.
Just to give you a better understanding, some DGs do not take CAs from CAST, but they create their own lists, with their own standards.
Anyway the thing they usually do is to give to all transparency to all the procedure.
@ Stefano
Thank you, Stefano.
Of course there is no rush, just when you don’t know the rules very well, sometimes feel a bit confused. For example – if you are selected from reserve list (cast27) and contacted by email – does it mean that there already have been made some kind of selection, or contacted all in the profile (I suppose not? )?
@Milda
Last selection I have seen we received the advise that we were passed 6 weeks before to get an invitation for the interview. Can take a lot of time, don’t worry. It depends on the number of applications. I’m waiting for an answer since 2 months.
Don’t worry.
Stefano
Good evening,
Just wondering – if you receive from EU institution an inquiry to express an interest in possition within several days and after this no any feedback for 3 weeks – does it mean that you were not shortlisted for an interview? Or the procedure could take so long?
Thank you!
@Marco
Basically the best thing you can provide are all the previous contracts and anything you declare on CV. If you are Italian, it is good also to have a proof of military service (I think they ask also for other coutries).
No problem with your actual employer, if you didn’t give the EU commission the permission to contact them, they will not do it. In the past I gave them this permission and they contacted them, but it was clear that I was in the middle of a selection and I hadn’t any problem.
Usually they (EU Commission) suggest to tell it to your employer after the Medical Examination and the final confirmation letter.
Stefano
@student
hey, how did you get to know your score at the written exam? i’d be curious to know at least that, since we get no merit groups and have been given no hints at all on how well we’ve done in the process. obviously, too bad we couldn’t have done, else we would not have passed..
@nicky
i’d like to add too some words on my experience with the oral exam, hoping it will be of help.
my “strategy”, if you can call it that, was to read as much as possible on any EU issues, in order to get my self very familiar with concepts, policies, arguments. the idea was to feel as much at home as possible when talking about the EU. reading a lot, not necessarily forcing yourself to memorise, allows you nevertheless to feel confident when speaking, to make connections and build an argument.
the month before the interview i signed up for European Voice (they give you a free one-month subscription, and you have both access to the online version and archives and receive the printed copy at home) and read as much as i could. i found it useful, because it not only talked about topical issues, but also offered me arguments. I was expecting to receive also questions like “what do you think about..?”, so i tried to think through my own opinion on this and that (i.e. immigration and asylum, constitution, CAP reform and the like), starting from those arguments. EurActiv is also a good online source, completely free.
For the interview itself, i tried to remind myself that i was well prepared, I had a good CV, and that if i concentrated and not stressed too much i should make it. So i faced them bearing in mind that i had to show them that i was good, and that i was prepared. It helps seeing them as people there to hear what you have to say, to select the best people, not to fail as many as possible.
ultimately, the best advice is: prepare as much as possible, read as much as possible from as varied sources as possible. i don’t believe there is any magic formula. i’ve read people on this forum saying they did not prepare that much and they passed. maybe they got lucky. but that’s certainly not something you can count on, especially if you really want to succeed..
Good evening all,
Just a short technical note… As we’ve reached 937 comments on this one post the page was getting a bit hard to manage, and slow to load too. So I have added a comment pages function. Just like before the oldest comments are at the top, and the newest at the bottom – currently the 24th page! If you do want to see *all* the comments at once you can do so by clicking ‘Show All’
Hi
Could someone tell me when the proofs of employment are to be provided (at the time of the interview with the institutions or later)?
And also in what they consist. I didn’t tell my employer I expect a job with the EU and would like to keep it that way as long as possible.
Thanks a lot
Marco
Hi everyone!
I was wondering if maybe any of you could help me. I live in Spain and I am currently working full-time so unfortunately I can’t take a course abroad… Apart from the recommended books for the verbla and numerical stuff and the general EU trivia questions (they look OK, thanks for the post!) I would like to know specific books and/or brochures which could help me prepare the concours in the “Law specialty”. Specifically, I read that Sebastian and her sister did really good in that specialty, and I would be grateful if I could get a couple of book’s names or so.
Thank you very much!
@ frustrated
Yes, I agree about job security and family issues (e.g. decent working hours, etc). But I work already in an international organization so job security is already “secured”. However, it has to be said the a EC job might not be as futile as you think… Imagine you’re involved in the Airbus-Boeing or Microsoft case.
@ Corina,
Don’t worry; my kind won’t ascend into SNE-ship… I’m a silly private sector tax payer… no perks for idiots like me, just whip lashes and amphetamine shots.
@ santmartino
For a single person with a few years of experience below the belt the post-Kinsey conditions are below par…, but for some-one starting out a family the fringe benefits and job security compensate for the intrinsic futility of the job.
Hi! I would like to invite all of you interested in EU competitions to join the group “EU competitions” on the skype-based forum http://www.soziety.com
So we could have the chance to speak or chat about everything related with the EU jobs and competitions.
See you there!
i hope i will not disappoint too many if I say i am one of those who passed a concours and now has second thoughts about it. my current job and salary still look better than what the Commission is prepared to offer. life is so ironic sometimes…
Yes, but my regular salary is maybe 1/5 comparing with yours. So the per diem is much more and guess who enters in the system… I am frustrated too 🙂
Got it in one, Corina.
Don’t forget the per diem payment SNEs receive on top of their regular salary. A good month’s work can get you 7000 euro’s (and that’s after taxes).
@Corina: These are positions for so-called seconded national experts. You may want to read the following:
http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/job/sne/index_en.htm
These positions are very much distinct from positions for EU officials respectively Competition Lauréats. You should actually know that if you have managed to pass a concours 😉
Do you know something about the positions published here?
http://www.es-ue.org/Default.asp?section=777&lg=2
Are they for EPSO laureats? I found them on the Reseach Ministry site, but they were announced for everyone, on the basis of no competition, just a CV and supporting letter from the employer. Is it correctly to pass over EPSO competitions, as they announced that positions will be filled from the reserve lists?
@ Lia
Thank you very much, it was a very useful info. Now I feel booked, flagged and earmarked – just like a cow 🙂
@ Nicki
So sorry to hear that…
As Breach already said, we don´t get the results and I didn´t manage to find out the pass mark for the oral (for the written it was 32,5/50).
I can tell you that during the interview I was very stressed, and at the beginning it was getting worse and worse because I presented my CV but they didn´t ask any questions on it (and they had asked everybody else a lot of CV-related questions…). I thought “my profile is not good enough, they are not interested, etc…” However, after the first EU-related question I felt relaxed and I just took it easy – the Selection Board was nodding approval, smiling and even laughing… At the end it was like talking to a group of nice people and my overall impression of the interview was that it was not as stressful as I expected. Of course, during the long months after that I have been thinking on the way I had approached this or that question or situation; there were much better answers and ways to show my knowledge, creativity and experience. But it seems that it has been enough and I have been lucky.
If I can give you a good piece of advice, that is: be yourself, don’t overreact, don’t lie, and if you don`t know something, just say “I don’t know”. You may also decide to try to guess making clear that you don`t know the answer, but you are trying to find it by thinking.
Hi all,
I have passed the first phase of the CAST 27 selection process. I am applying for Graduate Engineer Profile (Function Group IV) and would like to know how I could prepare the competence test. I don’t know what to study!
Hi and congratulations to everyone who succeeded in AD/46-47.
I made it too and because there is a discussion on merit groups let me just tell you that for EPA there are no merit groups resp there is only one. This is information I got from EPSO on my explicit question.
But to be honest I do not think it really matters that much since it is rather experience and your profile that is relevant for recruiters and not just points. Good luck.
Medo
@Nicki, Sorry to hear you didn’t make it. It really sucks to get this far and fail. Look on the bright side though — you have an edge for the next AD recruitment round next year! Successful candidates don’t get their scores for neither the written nor the oral exam, so we don’t know. I didn’t have in mind any strategy, I just did a great good amount of reading a month before the test. Didn’t perform in a stellar way, cause I was way nervous, but actually I think the board took notice of this in a positive way. What I did manage was to convey broad and extensive EU knowledge and the ability to improvise in a convincing manner 🙂 Good luck to you and don’t give up!
Hi all!
Nice and useful forum!
@Breach and Student:
Congrats on making it to the reserve list!!!! I was unsuccessful in the oral exam for this competition:(
I wanted to ask you (if U have nothing against to share this info), how many points did U get in the written exams, just to see if I had a chance to get in, in case I was successful in the oral exam. ….and what was the strategy to be successful in the oral exam:)
10X in advance!
@ AD/EPA 46-47/07 laureates but not only
Hi guys, seems that the rumor about the “booking”, “flagging” or “earmarking” of laureates by the various institutions is actually true. Check this para from the EPSO ANNUAL ACTIVITY REPORT 2006, point 1.3.4. Administer and check reserve lists
During 2006, EPSO continued the development of its IT tool e-RL, which permits the
consultation of all reserve lists of competition laureates. e-RL is now being used by
approximately 1900 people throughout the Institutions. However, discussions between EPSO
and the Institutions on the management of reserve lists and the need for improvement of both
this technical tool eRL and the agreed rules for exploitation have taken place in the course of
2006. In light of these issues, and on a proposal from EPSO, the time during which an
Institution may earmark a candidate has been reduced from 6 to 3 months. This will have a
very positive impact on the speed with which the actual recruitment procedure takes.
At the same time EPSO has developed a search tool named CARL for the exploitation of the
lists of successful candidates in the Contract Agents selection procedure (CAST 25).
Well, it seems to me that things are moving pretty fast in this competition at least. If some people got invited for interviews after only two months since the results were known, it really sounds encouraging (August is a dead month when it comes to recruitment).
Congratulations to the ones that have made it to the AD 46-47/06 reserve list! From here on there is one thing you should not forget – patience is a virtue…
I speak from experience, being a laureate from the same competition but another field.
What Student said about the flagging by institutions is true, so the best is to find out which institution you are assigned to by writing a letter to EPSO. But I think you should wait for a while as I doubt that the list has already been made available to the institutions (you just got your results).
Merit groups are really decided per competition. In our field there are four merit groups and we were informed in which of them we are placed right from the beginning.
It is true that merit groups are based on the results from the competition but the institutions are not required first to recruit laureautes from the first group. Everything depends on the CV and the vacancies. In our field laureates from the third group were among the first invited to an interview.
Good luck and don’t forget my tip about the patience.
@ student
I have been told that you gan be flagged by a particular institution. If there is a competing institution that wants you they have to resolve the flagging. It doesn’t mean that they cannot hire you.
@Student — Congrats!
That sounds like a rumor to me, just how reliable your source is? Anyhow, anything is possible… Still no word from EPSO, but they usually take a while to respond. From what I have gathered merit groups are decided per competition, so it’s perfectly possible that there’s no such breakdown. The rule of thumb is that institutions are to contact available people from the first Merit Group before moving on to the next one. But. They don’t always do that. Also, if you’re beyond the necessary threshold you can’t really tell which place you’re at, grades-wise, as the candidates’ names are sorted in alphabetical order within each merit group. Cheers.
@Sorina, Buz and Breach
Congratulations! I’m also in for 46/06 EPA.
Do you know that each institution “books” a number of candidates and for a few months it’s only up to it to offer jobs to those people? I.e. you will not be contacted by anybody else and if you send a CV to another institution, you’ll get a refusal? I’ve been told too that if you don’t get an offer for X months, then they “unbook” you and the other institutions may contact you too.
I sent a mail to EPSO to check that, I’ll let you know.
@ AD 46-47/07 laureates
Hi guys! I was also wondering how about those merit groups. I believe they should be drawing them up for our section of the competition too. But since they did not inform us in the results letters, it may be that we have to wait until they publish the list, as it seems, in a month or so. However, I would be interested to know what they replied to Breach.
Cheers everyone and good luck now with the interview invitations!
Hi everybody,
I also succeed in CAST27 FGIII for Finance/Accounts Officer, but not sure if there is any possibility to expect any proposal if you have experience only in private sector?
Thanks!
@Sorina
Thanks for the info and good luck with the interview!
@Sorina, thanks. Mine notification (EPA) did not mention this detail. Wrote to EPSO. Will get back. Thanks.
Hi everybody. Thanks for the advice.
Buz, Breach. I was told that I am in merit group 1. You should get it in the letter that tells that you passed the oral exam. I read somewhere that they arrange candidates in merit groups according to their marks (1 means higher mark). The number of groups depends on the number of successful candidates, and they can be maximum 4. I have no idea how many are in this competition.
Also, it seems that when they have a vacancy, they have to check first with persons from the first groups.
Hey, thanks. By the way, what really’s the significance of Merit Groups? I’d assume Merit Group 1 consists of individuals who have the highest scores? Does it really influence the hiring process though? That is to ask, if you’re into Merit Group 4, do your chances drop significantly? TIA.
@Sorina
Congrats for passing the concours and for the interview! I just found out I am on the list in the same competition, but in the EPA section. I wonder if you got any info from EPSO on your ranking. Are they still dividing the list into merit groups?
PS: Congrats to Breach, too and thanks for a very interesting discussion!
@sorina
The interview is something different. Generally speaking they ask for your working background, then there is a job related part (for us it was a list of techinical questions), after this they propose organizational questions and some questions about the EU in general or the Delegation or the Agency.
The difficult is strictly related to the committee IMHO, but generally speaking if you are prepared for tests, do not expect something difficult. The most difficult question has been one related to Nuclear Power Plants, I’m an IT Specialist.
After this you receive an “intent letter” which is the first step of the recruitment phase.
You must pass the well known “medical examination” (I have already explained it in some other posts) and it will take 2 months to get an answer to DG ADMIN which can prepare the contract. For man you must also produce evidence about the completed military service. The medical examination is in Brussel.
After this point you receive a formal offer.
You can receive a contract or not, in the reality with the formal offer you have also a contract that you will find the first day at your office (as it is in my case).
You have to communicate leaving period and they will prepare the final contract and also to prepare your office.
You can start the 1st or the 16th of every month, is it for administrative matters (I hadn’t the courage to ask why, I suppose it is much easier to manage).
About the procrastination, I think there is no problem, I gave my immediate availability, after 3 months I’ve completed the entire internal procedure. Anyway they know this, they will tell you about the long period before to get a contract.
After this you can contact the PMO Officer if you need the relocation services. But they will explain to you in detail.
If you need any other info braccos@usa.net
Stefano
Well – but how does one know which Delegations ‘have……more CA posts ‘ ?
@ sorina
1) you will probably be asked some basic information about the bilateral relations between the EU and the country concerned as well as some specifics related to the job.
2) the medical can only be arranged after you have received a “job offer” (not a formal job offer until contract is received).
3) it takes DG ADMIN 2 months to prepare the contract. No need to worry about procrastination.
Hi everybody.
I got a letter from the Commission, asking if I would be interested in an interview.
(For frustrated: I do not know what to believe about quotas. Positive discrimination is always discrimination against somebody else. But on the other hand, if you think about how much troubles a person with a handicap, for example, has, I don´t think giving him/her an extra chance is so outrageous. And yes, in my country the positive discrimination policies give rise to abuse, but also repairs a lot of unjustice that is done on a daily basis, mainly to the Rroma population. It is dificult to say that it is bad on the whole.
Anyway, I have never asked for special treatment, and now that I have an invitation, I would like to believe it´s not only because I am an EU12 female. I worked hard to get here.)
I have some questions for the people that already went through interviews.
How much does this interview differ from the oral examination? I mean, should I revise all the EU facts that I studied, or just prepare for the specific topics mentioned in the job profile? How do you prepare for this kind of intervew?
How do I arrange for the medical tests to be done at the same time with the interview? In case I do not get/accept this job, do I have to do them again later?
The position seems interesting to me, probably I would like to take it in case they want me too, but I would not like to start working immediately. They say I should start working “as soon as possible”. Do you think I can ask them to let me start later? What is a decent delay? How can I procrastinate the recruitment process without endangering my chances to get a job?
@ Rivière
I feel the (ab)use of quota in the commission recruitment procedures is a topic that very much has its place on here:
1) It certainly will not change my personal predicament, but I should hope things would change for future generations. Change tomorrow, start today. So in an ironic way, I’m probably not the cynic I’m made out to be.
2) Would-be candidates looking around at this site should know what they are up to as it will have an impact on their personal lives. If you do not adhere to any of the currently privileged categories recruitment is bound to take a lot more time/effort…. Some stats on this topic by epso would be welcome. It might help people plan their lives.
3) The Commission is currently finalizing a document on ethnic diversity (due for release by the end of this year). In my home country I have seen how accounting for ethnic background brings about almost insurmountable practical problems (which criterion do you pick: place of birth, family name, pigment….) and yes, also malpractices. I should hope a candid debate on these matters is held prior to the introduction of yet another category of quota, which could be imminent.
@ RIV
You’ll just have to take my word for it on New York. Aim at Delegations with deconcentrated budget lines which have more CA posts and consequently more vacancies.
By the way, has anyone else passed the preselection of EPSO/AD/94/07?