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.
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@jan, that’s cool :-] Great if they had such a (public!) page for the written / oral exams too. Cheers.
Try this:
– Login on your EPSO profile
– Choose a competition
– Click and load one of these links: “Information about the admission tests” or “Results of the admission tests”
– Copy and paste in the web address toolbar: https://europa.eu/epso/application/cv_new/letters/test_result_en.cfm
you will see!
@frustrated:
I believe here’s what you’re actually referring to:
http://www.edps.europa.eu/EDPSWEB/webdav/site/mySite/shared/Documents/Supervision/Priorchecks/Opinions/2006/06-02-24_Commission_concours_permanents_EN.pdf
I don’t have the time to go through it in detail right now, but it does say that the data subject should be notified when there’s a transfer between the current information controller (EPSO) and a new controlling owner (e.g. an institution which obtains your file). There are also cool things in there which say, for one that you have the right to know the overall mark of your oral test, etc. Have fun & Merry X-mas.
1) Data Protection/Privacy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_95/46/EC_on_the_protection_of_personal_data
Perhaps I am misinterpreting this directive, but I know that the national law in pursuance of this directive in my home country is pretty clear about this: subjects can access, see and change data kept on them by third parties. I don’t have a legal background, but if recruitment is an ongoing, continuous process, this would imply three month intervals are based on thin air. As your recruitment status can change say any second and one is not informed about this change automatically one should be allowed to take the initiative every new second to inform oneself about flag data on one’s own subject? The fact they could wait several weeks before answering you, would still not excuse them from the obligation to answer to every single request of a given subject (even if they do it in one big mail every three weeks in which they refer to all emails sent by the subject in the three preceding weeks)?
2) 1-year embargo period: googled down one of epso’s replies:
“As this stage you haven’t been reserved yet. Assignment is a precondition in order to be considered for recruitment. It is based on the CV of the SC and the short and medium term recruitment perspectives within an institution. One year after the list has become operational, the quota system is neutralised so recruitment is then based on a first come first served basis, respecting the assignment procedure which is in this phase only a formality. This means means that right now it does not make any sense for you to apply for any vacancy, since your candidature cannot be considered because the assignment has not taken place.â€
3)e-RL…. All the nice docs (including the preliminary e-RL manual) on this topic have vanished from the internet…those were very interesting docs, but of course too much transparency might hurt. I believe the European Data Protection Guruh (or how is that office called) has an indirect discussion on the e-RL… google around folks.
More questions every time you ask the sulpher-gulping oracles at epso something.
Hi everybody,
Now, I certainly agree that the post-concour period could be arranged in a more reasonable way so we could keep our dignity intact even if we are not EU-servants yet. What I was irritated about and what I reacted on in my previous opinion was the tendency to blame EPSO for every minor mistake they make and use it as a proof for their lack of professionalism.
I shut up when Breach started talking about systematic problems (because he was right).
I agree that sharing information about such facts like the flagging of a laureate would be more than helpful. And technically, introducing a more transparent system shouldn’t be that complicated. The flagged people could be informed about it through their EPSO-profile. They could then get the possibility to look at the vacancies in the institution they are assigned to and send their application from their profile.
Now, the lack of transparency is, in my opinion, not to be blamed on EPSO alone. Introducing a more civilized system would require an interinstitutional cooperation. For us, EPSO stands as a symbol for the recruitment. Thus we are mad at them. It is, however, the whole system which is rotten.
I also reacted on the allegations that the people working in the institutions are not professional. I am convinced that the vast majority of them are professional. It is just not easy to change the way a large bureaucratic organism is functioning in. The decision making procedures are slow and take long time. I think that coping with this fact will be one of the most frustrating challenges we will encounter when we eventually get an EU-job.
@frustrated:
>Sure they have to inform you; there’s a European directive on this. — are you sure? Got a link? It’s probably a decision too as it concerns EPSO exclusively.
>no flag no interview. -> I actually was invited to an interview, though I am not flagged.
@frustrated
I didn’t hear from these restrictions of the first year yet, ist a new info for me (and how many infos we don’t know!!!) I know that some people from my list are already working with the EU, so this restriction can not be a general thing. (I am EU25)
during the first year after the official publication of the list, due to various checks/balances/embargoes/first call rights it’s harder to get flagged… no flag no interview. Of course when some DG has a warrant period on you, but is not allowed to flag EU15 people it becomes a genuine Catch 22…. some other HoU wanting to flag you, will not be allowed to whereas those allowed to are told not to. Up to now I still haven’t had a satisfactory explanation on various restrictions applying to the first year inspite of having mailed about it and having prompted the topic to a senior epso official in the flesh.
It might be nice to post this regulation somewhere as now you have numerous laureates writing numerous letters to numerous HoU who aren’t even allowed to consider those laureates for flagging…. massive waste of human energy all of this.
I asked it once, but I still don’t know, if I could arrange an interview if I am not flagged? The EPSO official (who writes me every time, I should ask again in three months) wrote me, that I can’t be invited for an interview until I am “not flagged” (and I am actually not).
EPSO said also, that neither me, nor they can help me to being flagged. But it seems to me not realistic.., people are lobbying, and seeking connections, and sometimes with success, than ist that not true… or I am wrong?
Hi,
For me is a little bit strange all this annoyance about beeing flagged, or not beeing flagged, by whom and etc. Maybe I don’t understand something, but what is the difference if you will know that (except the wish to know)? Does it increase your chances to get the job? Or for lobying? Or its a question of transparency?
Sure they have to inform you; there’s a European directive on this. What bothers me further is that apparently epso sent round some internal memo to its staff saying that each time they should tell laureates to contact them three months down the road. If you are naïve you might assume every three months some administrative procedure is taking place … but actually this is just meant to brush you off for a while. This clearly shows they are facing operational problems due to the influx of mails on flag status (ie try to keep the number of emails down to 4 per laureate). Instead of dealing with the problem efficiently they choose to treat laureates like toddlers.
I would suggest every-one to start mailing epso every day “please check status as of XXXXâ€, maybe we could write some script and link it up to a database with laureate email addresses. As recruitment is an ongoing and continuous process your flag status can change every nanosecond. If epso has to answer every mail in a reasonable period this will soon bog their organization down even further and perhaps then they’ll start disclosing information on laureates to laureates. I do take pity on people working at that place; hard to imagine any job satisfaction/pride this way.
@frustrated: It’s hardly a technological feasability issue, and IMHO it’s not related to ‘incompetency’ — it’s more of a distinct mentality problem you get with most public services — ‘it’s internal so we keep it behind the firewall, as we don’t want to expose stuff like that’. But, obviously, EPSO do supply this information on request, hence it’s apparent that a) Replying back to individuals is an unnecessary administrative overhead (personally I don’t think that many laureates are even aware of the ‘flagging’ and the existence of e-RL) and b) It really doesn’t help transparency and goes way against creating a positive mindset, as far as the actual concerned people (us) are.
@ Viking,
the whole flagging procedure is done automatically through the so-called e-RL (electronic reserve list). Even my 14 yo nephew can link a database to a automated mailing (for christ’s sake… we are talking 200 people at most per list, with what… 50 lists? MS Office-VBA would do for this).
If people at epso then spend their days answering phones and mails from laureates inquiring half of the time whether they have been flagged, than that’s borderline retarded as far as incompetency goes.
@ Milda
Thank you very much.
@ Sophia
Hello,
Yes, the lists have already been published internally. And interviews have already started.
@Amber
No, it’s for another competition.
So my request:
CAST 27
FG III Assistant Information Specialist (Library/Documentation)
FG IV Information Specialist (Library/Documentation)
Could you please provide me with a copy of the MCQ questions (in English, French or German), strictly for my personal use?
My mail: sandrina_lopezlopez@yahoo.com
Many thanks!
@Breach – Sumnyavam se, che shte sum priyatno iznenadana kato teb, no dano. Chestno kazano, strah me e da proverya kolko ot otgovorite mi sa bili verni i kolko ne. Anyway, thanks again and I am not counting my EU chickens yet. 🙂
Hi everyone!
Do you know maybe whether the CAST 27 reserve lists are already prepared for those who sat the competency test together with the V&N (economists, ICT advisors, etc). If yes, have they been published internally, to the institutions?
Thank you for your answer
Rgrds
@Sasha,
because I was not able to attend the competency test – Project Adviser last Friday, could I ask you kindly to give me some information about the topics of the MCQ in this field? Many thanks and best wishes for your next steps!
@Sasha: Don’t be too sure that you have failed. That was my gut feeling too when I took the CAST27 FGIV competence test, and I was actually and honestly surprised when it turned out that I had passed. On the recruitment side, yes, if you do pass the test chances probably are that EU-2 candidates should in theory have better chances. Yet, from what I see so far, even if you are successful in the tests the chances of actually getting an interview and a contract are rather slim — in most fields the number of successful candidates vastly outnumbers the number of available posts… and the institutions typically recruit internally or semi-externally (which means they switch to local agents, hire ‘people they know’, etc.). Good luck anyhow!
I went to the test in Germany and the EPSO people didn’t really follow the rules. People were talking during the test and all could bring their bags with books altough it said they were strictly forbidden in the room.
I don’t know if you want the questions for the next ad 94 07 test (COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA) — of course, what i wanted to say is: “if you want the questions of the CAST in order to prepare the next…”.
😉
Dear Sandrina,
I don’t know if you want the questions for the next ad 94 07 test (COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA), that will take place on january. If that is the case, you should already have seen that the test concerning our specific knowledge has been cancelled.
Although EPSO has not provided any reason, there are rumours about a massive rejection of candidates that could not fit the conditions for the admission (upto 40 per cent). They say, for example, that the POL. SCIENCES graduates have been rejected. So, according to this, three exams would have become too much with a lesser amount of candidates.
Is there anyone with info about this? Has it happened before?
My only complain about it is that they have informed us with one month left. Jesus, I have studied like a dog, haha.
(sorry for my bad English. Actually, it is not my second language)
Good luck!
Hi all of you!
Did anyone of you take part on Friday 14th December at the CAST 27 competition in these profiles?:
FG III Assistant Information Specialist (Library/Documentation)
FG IV Information Specialist (Library/Documentation)
Could you please provide me with a copy of the MCQ questions (in English, French or German)?
Of course the copies will be strictly for my personal use and I WILL NOT provide them to other persons.
My mail: sandrina_lopezlopez@yahoo.com
Many thanks!
@Kostas – Kosta, it doesn’t matter what nationality you are if you don’t pass the test. More specifically, the requirement for FGIV is to pass 55% of the competency test. So whether I’m Bulgarian or one of the Belgian royal family makes no difference, if I only got 20% of the answers right.
@lia
here you are:
http://ombudsman.europa.eu/decision/en/epso.htm
Elena
@Sasha,
I strongly believe you have many chances to get in. Because you are a Bulgarian, and because you already live abroad. So, be patient!!!
@sasha
i sat the competence test for FGIV-public.admin. Most of the questions were as expected, and i think i did OK..
What surprised me however, is the fact that this time some questions had quite obvious answers, whereas some had 2-3 answer options which differed slightly and it made it v.difficult to guess, a lot of in-depth/technical knowledge was required..also, some of the questions were derived from theories in the field, but without any reference and until now i havent yet managed to find out what the correct answer is
@sasha
i sat the competence test for FGIV-public.admin. Most of the questions were as expected, and i think i did OK..
What surprised me however, is the fact that this time some questions had quite obvious answers, whereas some had 2-3 answer options which differed slightly and it made it v.difficult to guess, a lot of in-depth/technical knowledge was required..also, some of the questions were derived from theories in the field, but without any reference and until now i havent yet managed to find out what the correct answer is..
Hi everyone,
Just wondering what people who sat the CAST27 competency test this Friday thought of the exam. It was nothing what I expected it to be and having guessed most of the answers, I am now absolutely certain that ‘I won’t be a Commission official’. What did other people think? I did the Project Adviser FGIV competency test. Hope you did better than me!
@Elena
could you please paste the link to that decision? i’d be interested…
@viking, breach and the others
indeed, that’s the point: because they’re boasting they’re recruiting the best of the best, and the contact with EPSO is the first experience you get, you cannot help feeling that bitter taste…
@Viking
It is not about writing Sir instead of Madam. It is for example about the fact that they manage to make a secret out of everything. This is their job and they should or at least try to do it properly. That’s why they get their money every month. They want to have high-qualified people in the European Institution but in the same time they let the competitors beg for information. Bitter taste…
By the way, did you have a look to the decisions of the European Ombudsman concerning EPSO? I did and it was very interesting.
Cheers,
Elena
@ Breach
Fair enough.
@viking: I’m not playing along :-] All I’m saying is that technical errors happen every so often, but when they start to happen systematically then there’s an obvious problem. So let’s end it at this. I think you, yourself have summarized it perfectly in a previous comment:
“Well let’s hope EPSO is not representative for the whole of the EU-administration”
Cheers.
@ Breach
You have forgotten to press “Enter” after “@ Viking,”. This is a technical error. Does it mean that you are not the best of the best?
@Viking, and I grow more and more tired of the lack of transparency, total lack of administrative expediency and a ton of routine technical administrative errors. 🙂 When you claim you recruit the best you got to act like ‘the best’ and be an exemplary public administration. If you’re saying they’re understaffed, well, too bad for them. If they *are* understaffed that’s nothing less, but demonstrating shortsighted in setting priorities, and well, mismanagement. I’m not saying EPSO are doing a despicably poor job, but they’re way far from doing the perfect job. Cheers.
@ lia and elena
of course it is an automatic replay. there are quite many laureates on the different lists. thus, EPSO is bombarded with quite many mails a day.
they could have written “Dear Laureate” instead of “Dear Sir” but this is not the most important thing. they have given you the information you need and a time perspective to work with. if I were you I would concentrate on that and not on such minor mistakes.
@ all
generally I must admit that I grow more and more tired of people who treat EPSO as a place where “they never get things right”. look at how many employees they have and at the number of the on-going competitions and rethink your know-all attitude, please!
Hello everybody
Can someone give me some information or sample tests for administrative clerk messenger FG I.
Thanks in advance
@ Elena
Indeed, though, it’s a pity i have to dilute more and more the pinky rose with which I was depicting to myself the image of the EU institutions, i.e. their professionalism… Everyone is only human, aren’t they? 😉
@lia & other AD/46-47/06-EPA
I’ve got yesterday the same answer (including “Dear Sir,” 🙂
Maybe they just want to have their peace in quiet so this could be a sort of automatic replay 😉
@breach & other AD 46-47/06 – EPA
I finally got an email yesterday, and it reads like this
Dear Sir,
[though i’m a Ms., and i’m wondering how much you can be unsure of the gender of someone called Lia!! 😉 ]
Thank you for your e-mail and congratulations!
Further to your question, I inform you that the publication of the reserve list in the OJ and on the EPSO-website is only a formality and will be done in due course, (no date fixed yet.) Far more important, is the publication on the interinstitutional intranet, enabling institutions to consult and recruit.This process is already ongoing.
In order to be recruited, you must first be assigned to an institution. This process is based on the CV and the short and medium term recruitment perspectives within the institutions. So far you haven’t been assigned yet. As this is an ongoing process, I suggest you contact me again early February 2008.
Kind regards,
@bogus @sunflower
You are both rigth. Epso has canceled two V&N questions (N°31 and 46) in all linguistic versions of CAST27 Relex IV. Epso replied to my request for revision due to the mistakes in the text.
@bogus
As I was informed of this situation by a friend (the questions deleted actually were more than one, but it is not clear if only in the RELEX tests there were mistakes or also in the CBT version: the reason, why everything came out, is that with the RELEX test, people could take home the paper with the test and check for results and answers and discovered there were mistakes), I wrote to EPSO at the beginning of november (after they officially stated at the end of october they had to review all the RELEX tests) but I had no reply.
@ RAF
What do you mean by ” after deletion of question 31 of VN test RELEX IV”? Do you mean there were some mistakes in the verbal and numerical paper and certain questions were not taken into consideration? If that’s the case it’s no wonder that so many candidates, including myself, have been succesful!!!
You are rigth Maria. The list is issued only internally. Do you know if this list has been already released?
I’ve been successful in EPSO/AD/47/06 (EPA) and I just found out that I wasn’t yet “earmarked”. Does anyone know if there are 90 people included in the reserve list or less? Besides, how long could it take untill we get an invitation for an intreview? Many thanks.
@Raf
Do you mean that the final list in CAST RELEX IV will be published? I thought it was only going to be presented internally?
I wanted to wish the best of luck to those of us “here” taking the competence test on friday all across Europe for CAST27. 🙂
Greetz
Daniel
After deletion of question 31 of VN test RELEX IV, the 21st November I got an email from Epso stating that I was succesful in CAST Relex IV . They promised to update profiles and to issue the final list in few days, but no news from then on. Does anyone here in the same situation?
@lia, actually they did reply to me almost immediately:
Please note that it can take a while in order to publish the list in the OJ/on our website, as the candidates were informed of their results on 29 October 2007. We can inform you that the reserve list has been sent to all institutions of the European Union which are responsible for the recruiting process.
So. a) Publishing a list of 50 people which they already have takes at least 2 months. b) It’s easier to publish a separate list in the OJ then get it done and over with. I won’t comment on any of these. Patience is a virtue.