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.
Hi relex candidates,
I saw that some people got a phone interview, Then, let’s hope.
In December or January, Epso will give us the possibility to change the choice of country. So, I would like to know which are these “terrible african countries” where EU is desperately looking for people. Personnally, I’m very much willing to go there. I guess that other’s too… Can anybody give us names of these countries?
Hi,
I understand the ERCEA and REA are interviewing right now for Temporary Agents posts.
Is there anyone who passed the interviews who would like to share her/his experences ?
What kind of questions do they ask?
@Dante K
You must be able to translate every kind of legal texts (mainly from legal textbooks). Don´t concentrate just to Eu-law, you have to cover all legal areas. As far as I am concerned I had to translate a labour law text, in the first exam, and in the second – an EU-legal text. I heard from others who translated from other language, they had civil law-first; and second-something about limited companies (commercial law). Look what Jon has on his files. I did not find the texts very difficult, but other than me took the place. I guess if you have some work experience(having a legal language routine)will be easier for you. Thus…very hard competition…Work hard and good luck!
Sorry but I made a mix in my previous comment:
The message directed to “George” was actually directed to “A” and I was refering to the messages “George” received from REA and ERCEA.
@Olivier
Each time I wrote you, I could not send the message. So I will make it shorter- Thank´s/Look on the link Fata Morgana provided.
@fata_morgana
Thank you for the link you provided on EPSO planning
@George
I received exactly the same message as “A” for my REA application, nothing from ERCEA: I hope that “no news are good news”.
@George
Many thanks for your answer!
I’m still waiting for the news.
@ A
I received an e-mail that there is a new message in my EPSO profile. I got identical letters for REA and ERCEA. The text of these messages is:
Further to your application for the post referred to above, I can inform you that the examination of candidates’ files has now been completed. I regret to inform you that, as a result of this process, the Selection Committee has decided not to call you for an interview.
On the basis of the submitted CVs, the Selection Committee made a careful comparison of candidates’ qualifications for the post concerned and decided to call for an interview only the best qualified applicants who fulfil the general conditions of eligibility.
However, I would like to assure you that this decision will not in anyway affect any application that you may submit for any other selection or competition organised by the European Personnel Selection Office.
http://europa.eu/epso/competitions/EPSO_planning_en.pdf
@Olivia:
I heard from a school organizing the preparation of the concours that results for 2008 AST concours should be published end of november.
@Olive70
Hi Oliver, I also don´t have any answer concerning 51/2008. It takes longer than expected. There are some delays…in respect to the examination pannels…
Hi all, does anybody have info on lawyer-linguist open competitions? I’m preparing my application, and there’s scarce information on this type of concours. I would like to know something about the type of translation and its degree of difficulty. Any hints?
Dear Roman, Niccolo, and colleagues of EPSO 99/07 (building),
I get the date for the interview (end of January).
If you have material about EPSO 99/07 interview, it would be more than welcome (pinojumb (at) libero.it).
Thanks in advance! P
About castrelex
Hi colleagues, I see you have a lot of info. I could understand the need to give a more stable position to exhisting CAs, but it is really strange that they have made a public job competition open to hundreds of citizens which have no chances at all. So, even if I am not in any EU institution, I think there could be some openings (even if in remote delegations – I passed as Infrastructure Adviser).
For this reason I still would like to hear someone (if he/she exists) who get a (1st) contract following a Cast competition. Thanks J
@fata_morgana
True what you said , the rule of 6 years is valid for all agents with temporary contracts.
but after 6 years the agent can go work in another institution , Council or Parliament
@fata_morgana
cast 2005 was published in begining 2007 and is valid 3 year – expiration would be 2010
cast 27 was published begining 2008 so valid until 2011
it would be great to have some leagl grounds for this
or it could be case by case sitution (desperation of an institution to keep an expert etc)
@simpucis:
You have to also take into account the validity of those lists. I do not think that CAST2007 will be valid for other years, till the contract as a laureate of CAST 2005 expires…
I know this practically, from some colleagues in my unit, who were in this situation… so I do not have any legal clue. Yet.
@Caro,
OK, I’ve sent off an e-mail… I’ll let you know if I get any more info.
Oral tests are between 8 and 16 December, but they haven’t given me a definite date yet 🙂
Kiwi
@caro
Sorry to hear you were eliminated by just 1.5 points. I too was eliminated from AD/100/07 for linguistic administrators (English) by just a tiny fraction of a percent in the MCQs and I don’t even know what the text to translate was like in terms of difficulty.
Why doesn’t EPSO eliminate FIRST based on translation ability and THEN on reasoning skills?
If anybody could send me a copy of the French /Spanish text I would be very grateful.
Thanks in advance
@fata_morgana
i am in 2 different lists of CA – cast 2005 and cast 2007.
so does that really mean that i have the possibillity to work in EC on temporary contract longer than the mentioned 6 years (3 CA and 3 other temp.contracts)
could you indicate where i can see that in staff regulation or what is the legal base for this.
thank you in advance
Comment # 2218 on November 16th, 2008 at 21:43
fata_morgana Says:
If a CA has worked for a institution (Commission) for 6 years (3 initial contract + other 3 of extension), then that person cannot get a new assignment in the institutions as a CA, unless he/she is on the list of another CAST competition, this entitling this person to get a job for other 6 years.
Hi everyone,
Does anyone have a clue when we will receive confirmation of our admittance (or not) to EPSO AST 53/08
I have sent my application on 10/10 however still no answer.
Many thanx,
Olivier
@Kiwi
It’s totally frustrating but I knew it was touch and go on the day – it was my second language that I didn’t have much time to work on in the run-up to the tests. You can probably ask them to let you know your results, when I wrote to them asking for feedback they even sent me my scripts with the examiners’ comments. It would be interesting to know if you have to have an average of, say, 30 to get through to the interviews, or if 25 might have been enough. My first paper was in my strongest language by far and I would have difficulty improving much beyond 26.
The reason they won’t divulge the lowest average mark is for data protection reasons, they claim.
When is your interview? Good luck for that!
Caro
@ Caro
Sorry to hear you didn’t quite pass the test – how frustrating to get so close!
Unfortunately they didn’t disclose the points I got for the translation tests, maybe they only do that if you don’t go through to the next stage? I would have been interested to know, especially as my second language was a bit dodgy.
I don’t understand why they won’t give you that information – seems crazy!
I’d also be interested to know how many people they are interviewing, as they initially said 80 but they’ve only allowed 7 working days, which doesn’t really seem enough for 80 interviews.
Good luck if you do decide to try again…
Kiwi
CAST 27
Jerome, you are rigth, the whole purpose of the cast 27 relex was to offer a way to people hired as CA in Delegations to obtain a permanent contract. In Brussels it is not possible to obtain the permanent CA figure but in a Delegation that does not apply. Off course, DG Admin dared to ask them to pass the CAST 27, unfortunately since most of them failed they organised a new CAST 27 for them last summer. The whole idea is to offer those guys a permanent contract soon but homest candidates were mislead to think there was any chance of being recruited.
The only chance of being recruited is if you passed finance and contracts, they are always desperate to hire new people, but most of the places offered are generally in Africa. This helps with the money but also explains why only newcomers are willing to go there.
Good luck
I had my results for the written tests for AD/100/07 for linguistic administrators (English) and I passed the first translation but failed the second (by one and a half points – how depressing!). EPSO won’t tell me what the minimum average in the translation tests was to proceed to interview, but I’d be interested to know if it’s worth applying again or not. I had 26/40 for test 1 and 18.5/40 for test 2.
@Kiwi – congrats on passing, could you reveal your aggregate score for the translations?
Would be interested to hear from any other applicants who passed/failed this stage of the test.
Caro
If a CA has worked for a institution (Commission) for 6 years (3 initial contract + other 3 of extension), then that person cannot get a new assignment in the institutions as a CA, unless he/she is on the list of another CAST competition, this entitling this person to get a job for other 6 years.
@ J
It seems that internal CAs need to pass an exam to became permanent servant (very typical in the civil service). Probably cast selections have been repeated because many of them didn’t pass at first round.
Anyway it seems that a very small number of winning external candidates could find an opportunity in remore unconfortable areas.
Has anybody heard of someone (not already employed by EU bodies) who has been recruited from past or last CAST Relex list?
@J
Good point! I bet bet who has the answer won’t give it.:)
Hi,
I read that CAST RELEX 2008 will mainly benefit to the contractual agents already recruited. How did they start to work for EU and why would they need to pass relex 08?
@cosnic
Business casual is the name of the game.
Which basically for men means a suit and a tie.
On AD/99/07 competition (administrators in the building sector)
Hi everybody, a question on the oral test for the “experienced” folks: does anybody of you have any suggestion on the most suitable dress code? I see this is a minor issue and might seem a dumb question, but I want to avoid to wear a polo shirt when all the selection board members are wearing suit and tie (or the other way around)…
As it seems most of the members are from southern Europe or from latin countries anyway (Portugal, Greece, Italy, France) I would be more inclined to a formal attire, but I might be wrong and maybe EU officials prefer casual clothes…
Any tips are very welcome!
Thanks a lot
Oh! I haven’t got anything from them. I have just checked in my profile after I had read your comment. Hm… Who has an idea what it means?
Hi Stefano,
I noticed that you worked at the ECHA (that’s where I got my offer). What’s the work environment like? (I mean relaxed or formal?) Also, what do people usually wear to work there? At my current place people use jeans and t-shirts, do people wear dress pants and shirts or suits at the ECHA?
Thanks Stefano for the info. It seems a bit inconvenient to have to wait for the contract before arranging for the removal, since I probably won’t get the contract for another 6-8 weeks (still have to do the medical).
I think it’s very sneaky though, that they don’t say the daily allowance is canceled after removal is complete. Thanks for letting me know.
What about the travel reimbursment.. they said I they would pay for a business class flight (personally I don’t think it’s necessary). Do I need to get approval for that from the PMO as well, and do I have to have the firm contract before I can make travel arrangements? How long does it usually take for them to pay back the ticket?
One more thing, I wanted to ask about the installation allowance, it’s supposed to be 1 month for a single person. Do they pay that together with the first month’s salary, or before/after?
Thanks
Abdel
no, nothing from rea. I started to worry since I saw that the first candidates for administrators are being interviewed from 13 nov till 10 dec… I wonder why I have no good/bad news from them
@ola
I am interested in news about the same post you’re asking for.
I have no response. And you, are you still waiting too?
@ Elisa
Don’t worry, all candidates invited to the written tests received their invitation at the same point of time. As far as I know, they let those who did NOT have the right qualifications know in advance that their application has been rejected. This is due to the fact that whenever you get a negative response, you always have 20 days time to ask to review your case. So – no one had any kind of advantage!
@ Kentia
if you click on ‘latest news’ under your profile you can read:
“Verification of files for competitions AST/46+47+48/08: October/November 2008.
Verification of files for competitions AST/51+52+53/08: October/November 2008.
Due to a delay in the nomination of Selection Board members for competitions EPSO/AST/49/08 (Audit) and EPSO/AST/50/08 (Statistics/economics), the verification of files for the admission/non-admission to the competition will be postponed until further notice. ”
If I understand correctly what has happened in the AD Audit competition is that they confirm selection as they go down the list ordered according to the marks gained in the pre-selection tests. That means that if you had obtained a top mark you receive a competitive advantage in that you have more time to study for the written exam. I do not think that is fair. Pre-selection tests are just that, a manner to pre-select candidates in view of the great numbers applying. You either pass that pre-selection or not, but the pre-selection is not the competition and candiates should not receive an advantage in view of their results.
Hello people!
Anyone who is in AD128 – Nuclear research? How was the written test?
Hello!!
Have anybody had any news from the AST competitions??
If it’s done as in the audit one, they shouldn’t wait to say to the people that have not been selected, so no news are good news 😉
Good luck!!
Sorry folks, not sure what’s happened to the design here again… I’m away from my desk for the moment, will fix it Monday if I can.
TA/REA/08/ADM/AD6 Administrative Officer
Did anyone receive any info? Some people write about the refusals but anyone have heard from this particular field?
my e-mail is: prague1020@yahoo.com
AD-99/07 Hello could you please send me the materials as well? Do you know where the members of the selection board work?
Thank you so much!!
Mark
Hi All !
Has any CAST RELEX 2008 successful candidate been invited for interview?
it seems that 23.66 /30 was the latest to be on the 480 admited to the written test
@ all rejected candidates,
I posted a while back explaining that despite my high score (27) in the pre-selection, I was rejected from the audit concours because of the “level of my qualifications”.
Well… I spent a careful Saturday writing a letter arguing my case (claiming that I did indeed meet the criteria and insisting EPSO take another look at the application). I sent it to the address indicated in the avis de concours and guess what – I’m back in the concours !
– something to bear in mind next time anyone is rejected because of ‘qualifications’.
EPSO/AD/126/08 – Auditeurs – AD5
How do you intend to prepare for the written tests? Do you have have example of Audit MCQ?
It is funny both my wife and I have been selected for the written tests.
Cheers
Jon, please make something to get the forum interface back to normal view.
It’s quite illisible, sometimes.
What happened with your promise?!
@AQ
AQ…Sorry you weren’t invited..for which position did you apply?