The results of the concours for administrators are now out, and – surprise, surprise – I did not manage to pass. Here’s the extract of the letter:
The selection board for the above competition has now finished marking the pre-selection tests in which you participated. I regret to inform you that although the marks you obtained in these tests were above or equal to the pass mark, you were not amongst the top 630 candidates.
Point B.1 of the competition notice stipulates that only those candidates with the 630 highest marks in the pre-selection tests would be asked to submit a full application with a view to their possible admission to the competition.
Your marks are as follows (1):
Test a): 38.333 /60 (pass mark 30)
Test b): 15.263 /20 (pass mark 10)
Test c): 30.769 /40 (pass mark 20)Total: 84.365/ 120
For your information, the candidates who obtained the 630 highest combined scores had at least 92.611 points.
I would add that the Selection Board’s decision does not preclude you from taking part in any future competitions organised by the European Personnel Selection Office.
It’s beyond me how one can get 15.263 / 20 when there were 40 questions, but anyway, c’est la vie. All the best to all the geeks who know who won the Sakharov prize in the year X or other equally useful everyday facts.
FILE DOWNLOADS
Blog commenter ‘viking’ has made some new test files available for download, and he had also supplied the manual for electronic Reserve Lists. Some additional test files have been provided by Sorina (see comment #1003) – download 342kb, ZIPped. Enjoy!
SOCIAL NETWORKS
If anyone is a member of Facebook there’s the ‘So I won’t be a Commission official’ Facebook Group, and the EU Integration Traveler IQ challenge (you need to add the Traveler IQ Facebook application) – a more fun way to revise for the concours…
NOTE
Due to such an enormous number of comments here I have had to divide the comments function. The latest few hundred comments are below, and all the older comments are archived here. All should work technically now.
@ Bacchus
Committee of the Regions
http://www.cor.europa.eu/pages/PresentationTemplate.aspx?view=folder&id=b3c0a1ba-c996-4236-b480-bcb4a8c17277&sm=b3c0a1ba-c996-4236-b480-bcb4a8c17277
@ everyone who sat an interview at JRC – Ispra
Hello! Looking for any useful hints regarding the interview for a CA position (FG II – assistant in the financial/contracts domain) with one of JRC Ispra Institutes . Grateful ever! 🙂
Dear A,
Where do I find the ad about translation into Swedish?
Regards
Someone was asking about the possibility of recruitment with Swedish language…
Have a look at this:
AVIS DE VACANCE D’EMPLOI N° CDR/AST1-AST3/31/09 : FR – EN
concernant un emploi d’ASSISTANT LINGUISTIQUE (H/F) aux Services conjoints (CdR/CESE), Direction de la Traduction, Traduction suédoise
Date limite d’introduction des candidatures : 23/10/2009 à 12h
@ fd,
and the post-2004 EU officials are at a par salary-wise with your national administration? Must be Luxemburg ;-).
I consider myself lucky, some people before me got even luckier…. big deal. It’s the mid-level executives being pushed harder and harder in the corporate treadmill that are to be pitied above all from where I’m standing.
happens in all government, but if I compare the EU to my national administration I see that (pre-2004) fonctionnaires are paid (much) more, work much less, the quality is far less consistent, the training is not so good. although, they speak more languages…
“But the problem is that after sometime you become lazy, you know no one will throw you away, your job is ensured till pension time, your money is largely enough … what stimulus can you have to stay up-to-date, motivated and willing to work hard?!”
Yup, and as we are not talking jobs that can directly linked to some tangible output (as in employees having to make some annual profit target), it’s very hard to avoid the above behaviour. Happens in all types of goverment administrations.
Being Bulgarian you have the priority of recruitment until 2011, there is no grounds to worry. By that time your RL will be exausted long ago. But it’s true that EPSO procedures are not transparent and if I were you, I’d worry too.
“Weren’t European officials picked following a thorough selection procedure?” Yes, most of them probably did, it depends however on the moment one has entered the institution – the competitions in the past weren’t as difficult as they are today, and there are unfortunately some who never passed through any competition, especially people from EU10). But the problem is that after sometime you become lazy, you know no one will throw you away, your job is ensured till pension time, your money is largely enough … what stimulus can you have to stay up-to-date, motivated and willing to work hard?!
Oops, A and fd, please excuse my mistake in quoting 🙂
@A
“The good news for laureates is that a high percentage of fonctionnaires in the EU are lazy, overpaid, generally not suitable, and management knows it.”
And how could this have happened? Weren’t they picked following a thorough selection procedure? Or this is subsequent to some HR staff improvement courses? Or maybe this is the problem of any public organization… Probably EU indstitutions need to be a little closer by any means to real business and relations.
“EU institutions do recruit people from the reserve list, even those who are fresh from the university and have no experience. It depends on the needs, preferences of HoUs and sometimes some political goals (like in case of the new Member States – the need to achieve certain employment goals).”
I didnt say they never did – it’s true that especially to meet nationality quotas that people may be taken off the list. But that is the WORST possible use of the lists, nothing to do with merit.
btw – there is an obligation under the Staff Regulations to consider internal candidates before laureates. The rule is not always applied consistently, but it makes life harder for the laureate if you don’t have some relevant qualities.
The good news for laureates is that a high percentage of fonctionnaires in the EU are lazy, overpaid, generally not suitable, and management knows it. This means that they are often very interested to recruit new staff with relevant experience.
as a personal reflection, it’s quite amusing to see that people from coutnries like romania and bulgaria are complaining that the EU recruitment procedures are untransparent, out of date. You are right of course. Welcome to the world of the EU institutions.
@ A
“So if there is a vacancy for a person with a competition, where will HoU search people? Of course on the reserve list. They go through CVs and search for people whose profiles they like. I have seen this.”
In my experience, this is not the norm, but the exception. I even had HoUs ask why I didn’t apply as they had the perfect job for me “some months ago”. Answer: “I don’t have access to the internal vacancies”. They expect you to come forward and show your interest when a particular vacancy occurs. The procedure “internal vacancy – no (good) internal candidates – screening of CVs – invitation of laureate” only happened once to me and as far as I gather was based on a string of keywords appearing in my CV (I declined, as an alternative, more “informal” procedure was more promising).
In conclusion, if you sit and wait you may have a very limited chance of being contacted; proactive self-promotion is the key… you need to deliver you pitch to as many people as possible… sitting on your arses won’t help… unless you are a Romanian, left-handed one-legged lesbian non-white woman graduated summa cum laude from MIT in astrophysics, boasting fluency in 10 languages (among which mandarin Chinese and Russian) with 10 years of experience in various multinationals at top executive level.
@A
My calculations were optimistic and opposing to people saying that having specific contacts and lobbying is the only way to be recruited. Namely not speculating, but trying to work with figures. I suspect there are many official having been chosen the straightforward way of hiring. It is more or less a question of chance.
As for my frustration, it grows out the slow and clumsy procedures, and of course me personally not having the chance to go further in what I have undertaken.
@nova
I slightly suppose what might come after, thank you for your support. I would prefer to be in an AD 10 reserve list, but that’s the way life is.
Still, this “project” stays open until it will have been closed 🙂
Siana, sorry, I forgot to reply to your previous message. I was called for an interview, which was result of my spontaneous application. It turned out to be an internal concour, so I was chosen from more then 50 applicants, but had to concour with other 10. There is almost no chance for external people to compet with internal candidates. In addition I had to pay all the travel expences, since I am not from Bru. I do not complain about those who called me for the interview, they did their best to chose the best person, and treated me on the equal grounds with others, but still I feel as if I have to go through the testing procedures I have gone before being included in the RL, and even more. Many EU officials trying to help on personal level, they also understand candidates concerns, but they are also part of the system, and if the system does not work properly candidates are left alone with their problems.
I also can say that even on national level (I am from EU-12 and our public sector system still has enough room for improvement) competitions in the public sector are more transparent and do not cause so much concern as it happens at EU level. I am trying to stay optimistic, but problem really exists, and this is why we all trying to share our experiences and look for solutions at this forum.
Thanks and appreciation to the officials who share their valuable opinions, but I believe the matter is something different: why some people have access to the vacancies and some do not: isn’t it a discrimination among laureates? Between candidates already working in the EU or not, between candidates having some “connection” or not, or even depending on the willingness of the Perm Reps (as per former comments)!!
Sorry if I am naive, but has anybody contacted Ombudsman on this subject?
It might well be we could regret one day to leave our job to join the EU, but as long as we don’t get a chance we will never know…
“Of course, there is no legal right to be recruited, but there is a right to be informed what is going on, to know about recruitment needs and percentage of people recruited from each RL, recruitment perspectives and so on. None of this info is provided, so people start making own speculations and investigations.”
ina, you are so right!
and
A ,
I hope you are right when you say “Now, if you are on the reserve list, be happy because it is a great start. It is the only way to be recruited as an official. Those who don’t have a concour have no chance at all, including those who are already inside. They are there only temporarily which is far worse compared to the status of EU permanent officials.”
I will stay calm and optimistic. But I believe the system needs more transparency. After all, we are talking about European Union Institutions….
Even at national level, (my country is one of the EU15), the proceedings of a general concour I passed to become a civil servant were much more transparent and precise (the number of vacant posts, the results of every candidate, the final recruitment were all published and known to anyone interested). Of course, in my country there are a lot of other “ways” to get a job in the public sector but when there is a general concour (and there were two of them during last 10 years) things work properly.
@user2008
I’d like helping you looking more optimistically on the possibility of recruitment. I know the most important for you now is to be recruited. But have you ever thought about what comes after? I know a Bulgarian girl from your RL who was recruited some 3 months ago in an institution other than the Commission and she is not happy at all, because what she’s doing has nothing to do with financial area. She’s some way sorry to have left a good job in her country. And she’s not the only one thinking about be back. So, don’t complain, you never know what comes next!
@ A
Thank you, I like your messages and your attitude. I am frustrated of course for now, but it is important not to forget to look at the bright side of life:-)
So what is my conclusion?
More optimism! Less frustration!
But “the joke factory” is a nice message too!
@ina
You say:
“If RL are full of candidates and new competitions are initiated the frustration is a normal way to react and to ask competent authorities for reasonable explanations.”
I read that there is some rule that new competition are organized when x% of the reserve list is used. If this rule is followed (we would have to have some statistics to check it), then we should not say that there are too many competitions.
You say: “None of this info is provided, so people start making own speculations and investigations.”
Do you know about public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents? There is a regulation in this regard. If asked EPSO should provide you with requested information. Have to tried? I have not because I am not interested in such statistics.
General comment: It seems that the EU wants to recruit good people, so it is rather normal that they invest in the recuitment process (interviews, admission tests etc.). Of course the EU institutions are not commercial companies and they do behave differently.
You also mention “recruitment perspectives”… Again it seems clear from the start that the placement of your name on the reserve list is no guarantee of a job. However, in case of some list like “English translators” it might be almost a guarantee because the EU lacks English translators.
Now, if you are on the reserve list, be happy because it is a great start. It is the only way to be recruited as an official. Those who don’t have a concour have no chance at all, including those who are already inside. They are there only temporarily which is far worse compared to the status of EU permanent officials.
So if there is a vacancy for a person with a competition, where will HoU search people? Of course on the reserve list. They go through CVs and search for people whose profiles they like. I have seen this!
@A
“And when you were signing up for the competition it should had been clear to you that the employers has a list bigger than needs, i.e. they want to have “a reserve” of potential candidates from which they can choose suitable people.”
Let’s not forget, that EU institutions cannot be considered as any other employer. People on the RL are sorted out from many others (people in EPSO are getting paid for that), money is paid for their trips to Bru for oral tests (this is tax-payers money!), and it is natural to predict that EPSO did planning of the recruitment needs before RL are being formed (it should and it says it does). Having RL just it case it will be needed one day does not put an institution into favorable light. And I do not think people in EU institutions do not understand that. Of course, there is no legal right to be recruited, but there is a right to be informed what is going on, to know about recruitment needs and percentage of people recruited from each RL, recruitment perspectives and so on. None of this info is provided, so people start making own speculations and investigations. If RL are full of candidates and new competitions are initiated the frustration is a normal way to react and to ask competent authorities for reasonable explanations.
@user2008
You say that 75 percent got the job, right? What is so frustrating about it then? This is a good result. What do you know about the rest (25 percent)? Maybe most of them are not interested because they took part in a competition as one of the possible options, but prefer to do other things (say they are happy with other jobs where they got promotion)? Or maybe they married on another continent and are not interested or cannot live and work in Europe any more? Do not speculate until you know the facts.
And when you were signing up for the competition it should had been clear to you that the employers has a list bigger than needs, i.e. they want to have “a reserve” of potential candidates from which they can choose suitable people. So being on reserve list is not a promise of recruitment!!! That is always written black on white, yet somehow all seem frustrated.
@fd
It is simply not true what you are saying. EU institutions do recruit people from the reserve list, even those who are fresh from the university and have no experience. It depends on the needs, preferences of HoUs and sometimes some political goals (like in case of the new Member States – the need to achieve certain employment goals).
Hi all,
I am not lobbying and do not have any contacts in any institutions. And, from the very beginning, for 11 months I have had no contact or whatever around me being on the RL. And it occurs this is a common case.
I am in an AST 3 BG financial assistants list and have 6 years professional experience.
There had to be 40 lucky laureates (the list shows 34, probably 6 have chosen their names not to be published). Browsing the Commision Directory in the free Internet shows that up to now 14 appear to be working for the Commision, which is 35% (out of 40) or 41% (out of 34) for 11 months. Of these 10 are from Merit Group 1 and 4 – from Merit Group 2. If we assume that other institutions (ECA, Parliament, etc) have hired half or less of these 14 each, the total number of people from my RL hired is probably around 30. I do not think that each of these 75% lucky guys have lobbied, but still I am frustrated like many of you, and wonder where the truth is and what’s wrong with the system.
And I still would like to see a comparison of recruitment ratios and time-to-recruitment comparing
1) laureates across merit groups
2) laureates that yes/no declared already having relatives to DG ADMIN at an EU institution in their entry forms. A subgroup here should for instance be made between laureates with relatives at the same DG and at another DG.
That would really make my (field) day.
Perhaps I should send the question to some eurosceptic MP? 😉
Well fd,
“We all know that someone with 10 years of relevant competition, but ranked 100th, is going to get recruited quicker than someone ranked 2nd just out of university.”
Perhaps they should keep the AD5 level for new graduates only then and have more AD8 comps…. as it used to be before 2004, but this is a long ball of yarn. Just saying that if you invoke yet another problem as an obstacle to a solution, then perhaps we should look for multiple, simultaneous solutions. Not that I suffer from the faintest illussion anything might change in the near future, but at the bloody least they could make the internal AD vacancy lists public in the short run. Most Perm Reps are circulating them around… some however, don’t. What’s the point of keeping them a secret?
My experience in the private sector tells me that as soon as you are not talking about jobs with a directly quantifiable output (eg consultant doing projects with deadlines and making annual targets) the non-meritocratic shit begins, whether it be a private or public environment. At least the general procedures should be made somewhat transparant and geared toward meritocracy, cause lord know, people will get up to anything when it comes to playing Santaclaus with other people’s money.
Other than that, I wouldn’t go as far as saying nobody puts any trust in the output of a concours…. the comps aren’t made to select the pick of the pick, they just weed out the worst elements and then you hope some of the best haven’t been weeded out along. I’d say they constitute a certain guarantee. HoUs, however, are looking for some-one who can hit the ground running, often in a very specific field. Then again, the commission as a whole wants generalists able and willing to take on various projects, rotate between jobs, etc. Somehow a middleground should be found and HoUs (who basically decide on whom to pick from the RL) should get more realistic about the learning curve time new recruits might need.
I am an EU official – EU will NEVER recruit in an ordinal way off the concours lists because, frankly, passing the concours is not a sign that you have relevant qualities.
We all know that someone with 10 years of relevant competition, but ranked 100th, is going to get recruited quicker than someone ranked 2nd just out of university. And of course, nobody has any faith the concours recruits the right people anyway – all those stupid multiple choice tests…
Elated is also right – they will HARDLY EVER call you unless you have a particularly outstanding profile (and how are they supposed to know that from the list?)
Does this undermine people’s faith in the concours? Yes. Is it fair? No. Welcome to the EU. Once you work here it doesn’t get any better.
ina
from what I read on previous page you are also in a reserve list and you were invited to an interview. How was it? Do you know the result? Will you take the job?
What is the usual way they invite a laureate? e-mail, phone, letter…?
I agree with siana. What is a point in organizing competitions then? To make people distrustful in European Union? The recruitment process turns out to be an ordeal for people on RL, HoU are overwhelmed with applications they cannot accept. And new and new competetions are initiated. For what? People on the RL are in much worse position then those who are not. Are there any way to at least make a request, ask for explanations (EPSO, ombudsmen, etc)? It all looks more then weird.
Yup, for a short stint the apple cart got upset (the EU12 quota* proved a bizarre era in the history of EU recruitment because it did have far-reaching consequences… some harmful to a generation of EU15 laureates, others beneficial to a generation of EU12 laureates).
*in the past there were of course iberic quota, an informal anti-Belgian quotum late eighthies, scandi quota… and laureates hailing from less represented MSs always had/will have a leg up.
Now it’s back to business and business is
1) family, friends, cognoscenti first
2) living in/around Lu-Bru –> definite advantage as money and time do matter
3) information wants to be free like a roaming wolf, but will be locked up and only shown to “paying” visitors (that’s the “internal” vacancies, folks)
When will they finally get their heads around it and just recruit in order of RL ranking? It should then be made at lot more easy and common to fire some-one during the probationary period (and thereafter) provided this is done in a transparent, fact-based, written manner. The alternative is this continuing charade/cavalcade of good intentions with bad consequences as their working procedures are slow and intransparant as maple treacle.
DG Admin actually asks furture officials whether they are related to people alreday working in an EU institution. These data are stored electronically.
Can we have some summary tables?
Over for now….
Hi Siana
I have started contacting HoU (although I am not expecting to receive any reply) but at least they will perhaps remember my name when I apply for a position that comes up in their unit.
One thing you need to do is to get the list of open positions (form Sysper 2) from someone at the commission or from your country’s permanent representation. You need to send targeted applications otherwise you stand no chance…
R
elated,
thank you for opening my eyes…
So, it really takes years…
Of course, I will get on with my life/career, but I wonder: What is the point in organising competitions just to end up with reserve lists with laureates who will never been recruited?
I don’t live in Bru/Lux, I don’t intend to do so, I don’ t have any inside information as I don’t know anyone there, so my chances are very very slim….
And I think I don’t have the energy for the effort that lobbying requires…
So I can only hope for “a miracle” to happen.
roberto & darcy
thank you for your comments.
Roberto, does your reserve list mention any merit groups? My reserve list does not mention anything which, I suppose, means that we all have the same chances to be called for an interview (without priority). How long do you think it is appropriate to wait before contacting HoUs? Have you already done it?
Darcy, your comment was very enlighting about the situation and, I have to admit, very discouraging. I mean that, from what I see, recruitment seems more difficult than succeeding in a concours. The difficult part has just begun… Of course, being still optimistic and insisting, you set a very good exemple for the rest of us who have just joined the club of “laureates on a reserve list”. Did they call you first or you were called after you had contacted them? Can you tell us how long it took before you started contacting? Thanks for sharing your experience with us. It is very helpful to understand how things work.
I wish the best to both of you.
Siana,
it may take years or worse, infinity (as the new selection scheme being rolled out from March 2010 on may see old RLs abolished, if not de jure at least de facto).
One eye-opener for me was a document posted on here quite some time ago from DG ADMIN plotting head count in terms of actual needs versus laureates. Especially for EU15 laureates the conclusion was gruesome… DG ADMIN has been organizing comps for years now knowing full well that most of the AD/AST laureates will not be recruited eventually.
I got lucky (after years on some some RL as well)… 1) I have a particular profile which happened to be on demand and the HoU needed some-one asap 2) I was lurking around in Brussels 3) I knew about the vacancy, yet another one of those unequal barriers-to-entry.
I wish I could say “get on with your life/career, if the commission wants you, they’ll come knocking one day”, but it actually takes a continuous effort of lobbying people, getting key info, making sure some-one recommends you and not being within a stone’s throw of Bru-Lu is actually a problem as well for the “lingering” laurates (usually those not hailing from some preference group / lacking the necessary clout among insiders, etc. ).
So I would have to say: “if you want it, move to Bru-Lu, get connected to some network, keep up the lobbying efforts and then get on with your life”.
So yes, it is only meant for the farcically-minded.
Quote of the week:
“I cannot resist thinking I am looking for posts in a joke factory”
Darcy, guest on “so i won’t be a commission official” forum, on his experience of being a candidate for an EU post.
Siana,
Welcome to the club. I have been on the RL almost two years despite active search for a job (see my comment of 16.09 at previous page). I did the lawyer competition. I have been invited to a few interviews after which I have been informed that, although being an excellent candidate, the position has been filled with an already established official. On another occassion, the position was going to be vacant but plans changed and it is actually still occupied. One interview was scheduled by mistake but because I have already arrived for the meeting, an ad hoc interview was arranged for a different post. And let me mention one more: I was also invited to an interview that was called off on the same day…. an internal candidate was “just” hired.
Well, with this experience I cannot resist thinking I am looking for posts in a joke factory but – because I really like working with the European legislation – I keep applying.
Hi Siana
I am in the same situation as you. I recently passed the audit concours and I feel it is going to take a very long time to find a position in the commission. We just need to be patient and keep applying for jobs / contacting HoU to get known. It will eventually work…
Good luck!
hi all!
it’s nice to hear from all of you guys, sharing your experience.
this is mine: I passed a lawyer-linguist competition and now I am on a reserve list. It seems to me that this situation will last for a long time (being on the rl and not recruited), since no one until now showed any interest in flagging me.
Does anyone who had been in the same situation in the past can tell me how long it may last? Has anybody been left outside at all, was never recruited and the list expired?
Thanks in advance.
Hi all,
Quick question regarding the written exams to anyone who may have had experience with this — do you think one would be penalized for using American English spelling conventions in written the exam? Since UK English is the standard for the EU, I guess one would be expected to follow those spelling rules, but would love to hear some feedback on this. Thanks!
@Elated – if your post was a reply to my query, then thank you! (I am a girl. :))
I applied to two vacancies that came up in my DG of interest – it’s been three weeks and I have not even had a notification that my application was received. Is this normal? If I had sent them to the wrong email address, surely it would have bounced?
I will contact people next week to ask if my app was received, unless someone tells me this would be frowned upon.
Important question in view of the upcoming written exam food safety – policy and legislation (for new Member States):
How to prepare for this exam? What subjects to expect? Is there anyone taking this exam? Or perhaps someone who had passed it last time (it was in 2004-2005)?
Thanks for any advice!
I would be very grateful if someone could give me a hint on matters regarding audit exam.I have to sustain written test and I really don’t know what to study, where can I find some info and some past exams with answers.
Thanks a lot
@Svetla
Congrats on the positive outcome, and for sticking out for yourself. I’ll be sitting the same exam as well, so if you would like to exchange any info( essay topics, MCQ, etc.), you could contact me: ustrader007@gmail.com. Better not to clog this forum with back and forth questions to each other.
Take care!
Hello,
thanks for all the great tips and advice. I am currently struggling to find out how to study for the AD5 written test (BG) European Public Administration. The MCQ are straight forward, but what about the essay? would someone recommend some plan for studying/websites/sample essay topics. anything will be of real help.
thank you in advance and good luck!
@A
Hi there! It’s been a while… You had asked about the outcome of my request for review regarding non-admission to the written test in economics. After reviewing the additional documents I sent, the selection board decided I can sit the written exam after all. The time line was like this — I sent the request in mid-July, received a confirmation of receipt in mid-August (so it took 3 weeks to process them, as I know my letter arrived in Brussels within a week), and I received a decision via my epso account on Sept 21st. The process took about 2 months, which wasn’t surprising… Now I have 2 months to prepare for the actual exam; I think I’ll be fine with the MCQs on general econ knowledge, but have no idea where to start from when it comes to the essay…
I guess the moral of the story is that if you think you have a good case, it’s worth to request a review! I feel that some people don’t even bother with that because of the prevalent view that selection boards rarely, if ever, change their minds. But it never hurts to try.
All the best,
Svetla
Hi,
trust me, you have half an hour to write something “intelligent”. I was a journalist in my previous life working for a leading TV channel but under that stress level – just finishing the practical – you cannot even write down your name properly.
The questions regarding the book/ movie came from a Bulgarian source in 2007 after the exam. The one with the lorries and terrorism were for my boyfriend. The other were for me.
And you are welcome
Nitta
A, here’s my concours essay assignment
“A day at the farm.”
“Differential equations and fishery depletion modelling.”
“My smelly armpit.”
“Were such a question answerable, which would the correct mamximum number of angles fitting on a pinhead?”
Hi Nitta. Quite amazing that one could choose between “last movie you saw” (very easy) and “EU and environment” (example of a topic that could be given to AD level candidates)! Or maybe you made something up? 🙂
Anyways, thanks!
Best wishes,
A
Hello,
if I rememebr well the essay questions in 2007 for secretaries were:
– last book you read
– write about a famous person
– last movie you saw
– EU and terrorizm
– EU and environment
– lorries and the effect’s (on the road)
– further enlargement
– How is your country affected by the EU membership?
To choose one out of four. 1 A4 page.
Hi Eric,
Thanks a lot for your reply. Yes, it does sound logical what you write.
Yes, in case of written essay for secretaries the minimum score is 8/10.
However, perhaps in case of your AD126 you were asked to summarize your main written exam, right?
In case of secretaries, first you have a practical test, then you have an essay that I was asking about (part b) in your main language. This essay is in no way connected with the practical test. And I heard that they give you topics like “Current EU’s achievement in the field of … (e.g. roaming prices)”. Well, there we go. I wanted to know more what the past topics were because it seems that with little knowledge about such topics you may be in trouble. No matter how good you are at drafting a good essay (from an intro up to a conclusion) you may fail if you will not get a topic that you have no idea about. Well, there are general life topics where you can invent something, but if they ask you about what the EC does with roaming, then either you have an idea or you just do not know what to write.
So I would be happy to know the past topics from you if you had taken part in competitions for secretaries.
A
Dear “A”,
I have passed the concours Audit AD126, in which there was also a similar question concerning writing skills in one’s main language. Does the notice mention that you should obtain 8 out of 10 points on this part? In that case it really is similar.
According to what I understood from it, the goal is to see that you are able to edit an essay in your main language: being able to write without errors, make a logical build up of the essay, arrive at a conclusion….all quite logical. What you write about is of less importance. The main idea is not to write a brilliant essay that will change the world of literature…but rather to show that you master your main language, you can write an essay without errors that arrives at a conclusion.
I hope that this helps you with the preparation and calms your nerves!
And of course: break a leg ;o)
Erik
@ Secretaries (AST1) who passed competition for EU institutions
The written tests consists of two parts. I have a question about part b) which is described very briefly in the notice of competition in the following way:
Test b) Practical test to assess your writing skills (particularly spelling, syntax, and grammar) in your main language and which will involve writing an essay on the basis of information provided.
Please help me! What are the examples of questions asked for part b). What is “information provided”?
Do they give you just topics and you have to write whatever comes to your mind? Or do you get some material and are asked to summarize?
Many thanks for your hints!