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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Elena,
Now how should i picture that… you’re sitting in some studio in Brussels ad spend your evenings cramming for concours?
You should be out making yourself popular with the EU folk; get drunk and silly with some married men.
I’m too old for that crap, past my prime… can’t handle my booze any-more and have to rub the Mrs’ feet every night…. but you young, independent things… aarhhh the world’s yar oyster.
@frustrated
Well, I’ve seen that before too. I actually wanted to apply for a mangement position, but in the last moment I changed my mind because it was crystal clear that the whole selection process was a sort of alibi. And I was right.
Anyway, this time my books about EU will get bored on the shelf 😉
Besides… who cares… those posts are probably already spoken for… as soon as their man/woman makes the interview round it’s bagged… I’ve seen this crap happen from close-up when working in some public organisation: first round only one guy made the threshold… lo an behold we had a recount (eat that, Al Gore) and starting counting halves for “partially correct” answers too… If things don’t measure up, just change your metre.
My $0.02 w/o VAT: For management / senior management positions EU knowledge matters less, greater experience does matter though. Honestly, I don’t see many people who are about 40, and who have the credentials / expertise / experience to be willing to get down to EU Q&A like most of us nerdy new entrants. So the selection filter is coarse, but you get to interview them in person. It’s ironic in the way that their own selection system gets in the way, so they have to apply the double standard to get to interview the people they want.
On a related, humoresque note, here’s a contribution to the world from my fun time in Brussels :-]
http://www.ivanchev.org/EU/goround.jpg
@ Elena,
Maybe they don’t want to attract people that find time with their current agenda (or are naturally inclined) to cram EU trivia and they’ll just stick with IQ testing… perhaps they actually need genuine candidates because the jobs are of strategic importance?
Just second-guessing 😉
At last, IQ matters. Should stay that way.
That’s strange. The participants in the HoU competitions sit preselection tests consisting only in verbal and numerical reasoning. No questions about EU.
@Oscar
And thank you for sharing the information about accommodation!
milda.
@Oscar
Hi Oscar,
Since I had an interview already passed more than two months. Actually about two months after the interview I had the medical check-up and hope to receive final “ok” in the nearest future (at least I was told so). So total process would be about +/- 3 months.
bye,
milda.
Hi there,
just a quick question concerning the Council of the EU…According to the Treaty of Lisbon the system of the Presidency of the Council of the EU will be as today? (each country holding the Presidency of the EU for six months?)….I had read something about a group of three countries holding the Presidency for 1 year and a half…I read part of the Treaty of Lisbon and it is not that clear….thanks
@Milda
Hi Milda,
What has been the time frame for your whole process? I mean, from the interview, how much time has passed? Do you already have the ok?
Best,
Oscar
@all
Thank you very much. Of course I’ll ask EPSO again. Maybe I won’t write them every day, but once a week 😉
Have a nice day!
Btw, THANKS Lia :)!
Elena, indeed Lia was right. I called today at EPSO and they told me I was assigned to the EC. Well, at least some good news.
Call and find out the news for you, their 3 months waiting time recommendation is so evil, for me the situation changed in 10 days!!
@ Elena…
me fears thou art not worthy yet.
The cave will be shaped by the water drop… your way should become that of a constant trickle, not a violent torrent.
Greetingz
@frustrated
You are right, I was selfish and thought only about me 😉
Actually, I don’t want to send a email every day, it doesn’t make any sense to wake up every morning thinking “Jesus, I must not forget to write EPSO!”. This is anyway only my second open competition, maybe I have to be patient 😉
@ elena…
but what would all those nice people over at epso have to do all day long then?
😉
And do not listen to their “3 months” blablah… send an email every day if you want to.
I don’t understand why they cannot insert a notice in your EPSO-File saying “assigned by…” This could be done automatically. I know, we had this discussion already, but it still amazes me.
Oh geez, they amaze me! I didn’t know that part…I called EPSO 10 days ago I think and I wasn’t assigned, when do you think the had another round of assignments?
This reservation lasts for 3 months?
thanks :*
@sirena, what you say is logical but this is not the logic of the Commission. They prefer not to consider applications by unreserved candidates because , if they actually hire those, they can exceed the initial number of laureates they have reserved.
@Elena, I would advise you though to ask EPSO (it seems that there has been a new round of earmarking lately). Otherwise you risk wasting your energy and time in sending applications to the wrong institution (i.e. not the one which has reserved you).
i also find it pretty pathetic to keep asking about this assignment. in the end, i take it that not being assigned is even better than being, because it means you are eligible to ANY institution.
@Lia
Indeed, not that bad.
I did not hear anything and I won’t ask again, whether I am earmarked or not, because it’s somehow silly.
@Breach and the rest concerned, any developments around the AD 46-47 list? Any other weird messages?
I was very surprised how helpful the HR assistant at one DG was. She actually took the trouble to call me back on my mobile and inform me that I have been reserved by another institution, which means she cannot help me at the moment but if things do not work out with the other institution, I can call her again to see if there are opportunities for me in her DG. Not that bad, he?
errata: 8-10 -> 8-10 years
@Elena, I registered my sister 🙂 Don’t have the necessary (8-10 personnel management) experience myself, or I would.
Thank you very much Elena,
Unfortunately, I’m a Spaniard, so no option for me!
Oscar
@oscar
HEADS OF UNIT
of Bulgarian and Romanian citizenship
EPSO/AD/101/07 (AD9) and EPSO/AD/102/07 (AD12) BG
in the following fields:
1. Law
2. Economics
3. European public administration
4. External relations (diplomacy, trade and aid management)
5. Information, press and public relations
EPSO/AD/103/07 (AD9) and EPSO/AD/104/07 (AD12) RO
in the following fields:
1. Law
2. Economics
3. European public administration
4. External relations (diplomacy, trade and aid management)
5. Information, press and public relations
@ oscar
http://europa.eu/epso/competitions/news_en.cfm#807
Hi Elena,
What does HoU stand for? Head of Unit?
Can you provide us with a link? (just to check them)
Thanks in advance,
Oscar
Hi,
does anyone registered for the HoU-competitions for EU2?
@Marco
Actually the Commission is using the telephone interviews to speed up the process (consider the fact that after this you should receive the contract, have a medical examination and so on, and it takes at least other two months). If you are in a reserve list (as I can imagine) you could be in a short list for the institution or DG. The value is the same as an interview and could decide your future in the commission, so try to be prepared.
I must admit that the telephone interviews are never so technical, also because we have the probation period to assure that you are techincally suitable to the task.
They could ask you if you can also use a videoconference, I have done it in in the past, another way to have a more formal impact on the candidate.
Good luck.
Stefano
@marco
Yes, they call you for an informal phone interview to guage whether they should even bother to invite you to a formal interview. It can be anything from a very friendly chat on the phone to a structured interview. Try to be as friendly as possible.
I’ve got a phone call from the commission on my answering machine. i have to call them back. Do you know if the commission organises phone interviews? do you have any idea what it would be like?
Thanks a lot for the help
People outside the commission have a warped concept of time… too linear.
“In Tantric Buddhism, a wheel of time concept known as the Kalachakra expresses the idea of an endless cycle of existence and knowledge”
The wheel passes and passes in a periodic metrum… Behold the wheel, you will feel yourselves sliding into a state of content… every three months the lice lady at epso answers your mail… close and open your eyes; the wheel’s spokes will become one… revelation/elevation is nigh.
Read lots of Russian 19th century novels (so you can accustom yourselves to the caste system with dantesque circles of civil service ranks) and savour lots of herbal tea… one day you may find yourselves reincarnated into Margot Wallström.
@sadstory, I asked after the initial reserve list for this competition was published on the EPSO site / OJ with EPA nowhere in sight. I was basically told that since the EPA oral exams “only ended in Oct” it would take them some time to officially publish these for the EPA domain. So, if the Audit/Law/Economics oral exams took place between Jun and Aug (AFAIK), and then it took 3 months to publish the results for these, I’d guess the reserve list for EPA will (should) be published… well, momentarily. Of course, there’s the slight chance they altogether forgot they need to publish the EPA list still. Anyway, why should you care? The list is published internally (there’s a strong evidence which supports that, though I haven’t heard of anybody actually recruited so far). Remember, patience is a virtue:
Quote of the Day:
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day…”
Cheers.
@ sadstory,
As Johny Logan, the Irish people’s poet, so poignantly puts it in his unsurpassable campy way:
What’s another year (in a laureate’s career).
EP 25th OCT 2007:
“37. In this context, deplores the inefficiencies inherent in a competition system that can leave “approved candidates” languishing on a reserve list for years with no guarantee of being offered a position; considers that maintaining this approach would contribute to lowering the average standard of new EU officials as the best candidates will seek employment in more dynamic sectors of the EU economy;”
There’s a hidden hint in the above passage 😉
Hi all,
do you have any idea why EPSO and the Official Journal have not yet published the full reserve list of EPSO/AD/46-47/06 ?
If you check out the lists available here http://europa.eu/epso/laureats/liste_a_ad_en.htm, you will find out that they do not have the names of the candidates that made the competition in the EPA field. Those results are already known by each of the candidates since the end of October 2007 (well, why so late, at 17 months after the beginning of the procedure, is another sad story).
My question is, are these lists available somewhere else? Were the guys in EPSO just lazy to refresh their site, or do they keep the lists out of the public eye for a purpose?
@ Milda,
self-criticism is all very well, but what I would first like to see before I start pondering my apparent ineptitude is a nice multivariate analysis plotting waiting time on reserve list prior to recruitment in function of nationality (or quota country dummy), sex, merit group, the fact whether a laureate had worked/did an internship before at the EU services…
Once I can correct my personal profile for these average incremental (detremental effects I’d say in my case) I will start the painful process of reflecting on my lack of competences…
but for now, with all the shite they had me wade through, I remain sceptically yours,
Frusti-bear
Hi guys,
Just a quick question : as I mentionned earlier, I passed the CAST27 RELEX FGIII admin exam and I have been asked if I would be interested in a job at the Angola EU delegation.
My dream job has always been to get a job in S-E Asia or in Japan, so I’m still not sure if I will go to the interview for the position in Angola. Do you know if replying to the email and agreeing to go through the interview process would make me “unavailable” to other delegations? I know it’s usually like that with the normal concours and the whole flagging process, but I don’t know if it’s the same for CAST27 jobs.
Thanks.
Dear Milda,
My wife took a CA position in an Agency, in Copenhagen.
In her case, she was eligible for a relocation allowance that was equivalent to one month salary, that she would need to give back proportionally if she left the job before the end of the contract.
In addition, during the first 4 months she received a daily allowance (it was around 28 euros/day). If you meet certain conditions (basically having dependants), you are eligible for 2 months more, and the daily allowance is higher; and after that, you get a monthly household allowance (not too high, but it helps).
To get this 4 months daily allowance, my wife had to show a rental contract. So she surfed the net, and found some short rentals companies. So she managed to rent an appartment for 4 months, 2 minutes walk to the office, completely furnished, and having the allowance into account, she was only paying 550 euro monthly at the end.
When she arrived to CPH airport, the keys of the appartment where in a car rental office.
The only problem was, she had to pay 6.500 euro in advance.
I would suggest trying to find a temporary rental.
Oscar
PS: If she wanted to, she could also have been payed the removal from Spain to Denmark after the four “temporary” months
@Milda
I have always been outside Brussels, I don’t like the city and all my roles were outside the EU Commission Institutional Seat.
Anyway usually you should have someone who knows what to do and who is in charge to help in BRU people from otuside Belgium.
Take care and good luck again.
Stefano
@Stefano,
yes I know aboout different conditions. I certainly will ask the relocation officer, just was wondering about your experience. Thanks for your reply!
Milda,
I’m in Helsinki and not in BRU, I work for an Agency, as you should know we have the same staff regulation.
When I’m in BRU I use the hotels close to the DG ENTR, they are not cheap at all (100 Euros per Night).
No idea if there is some special place to go, I suggest you should ask to your relocation officer (if your institution has one) or it is better to ask simply to your colleagues.
Sorry I cannot be helpful.
CAs get less money and have less rights, you should check on staff regulation before to accept to figure out your rights.
Stefano
Dear Stefano,
As you already have experience in the accommodation, could you advise if there are any hostels, which commission could suggest before you find an appartment to rent or its totaly your own business where you stay and you pay yourself. I can imagine that living in hotel is quite expensive even for a few months and doubt if its possible very quickly to find a suitable place for renting. Or maybe for TA and CA the rules are different?
Thank you!!!
Milda
The rule is quite clear:
‘An installation allowance equal to two months’ basic salary in the case of
an official who is entitled to the household allowance, and equal to one month’s
basic salary in other cases shall be paid to an established official who furnishes
evidence that a change in the place of residence was required in order to satisfy
the requirements of Article 20 of the Staff Regulations.
You were there before, probably if you are a foreigner, you can still hope in the yearly travel expenses and expatriation allowance.
To demonstrate my installation I had to provide a signed rent contract after the date of my starting contract and, again, the Hotel bill for the rest of the period.
Keep in mind that it is not convenient to try to force the rules, as soon as they discover you will get in troubles and the first action they will take will be to take your money back.
PMO is not a nice office to work with and they apply the rules until the last available comma.
Good luck.
Stefano
I am not sure, but I think you need to have lived elsewhere for a few (more) months…6 maybe?
Anyhow, the evidence they accept are bills from electricity, gas, etc companies on your name.
Hope this helps.
Hi guys and girls,
I have the following question:
Am working and living in Brussels for 2 years. Have passed a concour and would like to start at the Commission.
Question: Would it be possible for me to qualify for the “installation allowance” (i.e. coverage of moving expenses provided to ne officials). I was thinking of leaving Belgium for 2-3 months and de-registering from the commune. Would this be sufficient?
Staff regulations speak about “furnishing evidence that a change in the place of residence was required”. But what kind of evidence should it be?..
Thanks much!
Well, dear friend Milda, the numbers are very good with your profile. According to EPSO call, the estimated number of posts for the next 3 years is 364. And there are only 327 successful candidates (among 659 tested)! And you are one of them! So, good luck with your new job. You may start planning your future inside EU if you’d like it! After working for 1 to 2 years as Contract Agent you will keep your eyes open and apply for Temporary Agent posts to other agencies, or maybe, one post for TA will “open” for you in your agency. And you, with your “international experience in a multicultural environment” will have many chances to get it! Thanks a lot for the information you shared with us! Καλό δÏόμο!
Dear Lia,
the approach is the first thing which is considered. The second one is your approach with diversity which is quite common as culture chang from place to place.
Obviously they prefer people which have already worked in a foreign environment, it is much simple and it assures that you have already done an experience.
I don’t think that there is any way to say if the same people in a different environment can achieve the same targets, but at least they are sure you have no interest to leave, and distance from your place of origin will not be a limit.
Probable it doesn’t make sense, but it is a starting point.
Stefano