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.
Hello everybody!
Need a “Wise Advice” .I must register for a competition and I have 2 options : AD5 EPA and AD5 Microeconomics/Business Administration. Deadline is tomorrow. Have qualification for both. Battle is hard for both :-D.. EPA is an “old and well known” profile but “M/BA” is quite new . Wich one to choose to make my life a bit easier :-D? Need urgently tips,tricks and statistics for the most convenient option 😀 (especially from 2008 EUR 10 candidates for similar positions)
Thaaaanks in advance.
@Kiwi, or Linguist or other expert in the translation field
I have a doubt on the translation of legal texts. How should be translated a word or a concept that does not exists in another language?
For exemple, in the last competition for Spanish lawyer-linguist, you had to translate from the Italian “Legge Prodi” and some special procedures on bankruptcy law like “Liquidazione coatta amministrativa” that are typical of the Italian Law and does not have an equivalent in Spanish Law.
Is it correct to leave (with quotation marks) some typical expressions in the original language?
Thanks in advance
@N
Afraid I have no idea about interpreters, it’s a totally different skill requiring special training (in my view!). Try and find an old competition notice and see what they ask for…
I just wanted to thank Stafano, Ricardo and New Boy for their replies 😉
I notice that the reserve list for Swedish translators (97/07) is twice the length of the English one and has three merit groups. This despite Swedish being such a “small” language.
@kiwi
thanks for the comments. What about interpreters? Do you know how many years of experience it is usually needed to be able to participate in a concours? Or is it only relevant academic qualifications that they want? Is it generally more difficult to succeed than in the case of the translators?
@N
I don’t think it’s easy, but some do succeed who aren’t professional translators.
Rather than reading texts, I would practise translating them – find texts on the EU website in the source and target language, practise a translation and then compare with the official versions. They’ll be very different to your translation (so don’t be disheartened) but should give you an idea, at least of whether you’ve understood correctly and also some ideas for phrasing etc. I found there was a fair bit on the Lisbon Treaty in all 3 languages so focused on that. I also practised a lot with articles from newspapers or preferably current affairs magazines, though obviously here you have nothing to check against (although I got a tutor who was a native speaker of the source language so she was at least able to check my comprehension).
@ Linguist,
Yes I’ve reconciled myself to Lux… especially with a young family. Pity the cost of accommodation is so high (and I don’t think the EU adds any extra for it), but hopefully you get a better quality of life. City was attractive, if freezing, and on a very human scale.
@A
Another question as well, if you don’t mind: I don’t know if you are a professional translator, but do you think it is difficult for a non-professional to succeed in an EU competition for translators, if it’s not his/her work field? What would you recommend someone to study for the written part? Various texts related to EU policies in..the 3 chosen languages?
Thanks a lot.
@A
Here is their answer…
“Thank you for your question:
Only the section choice of countries will be reopened without any additional information”..
????????? I wrote back to ask for some more clarification..let’s see whay they say this time..
Thanks for the info on the written test for translators. What about the oral one? 🙂
Rgds.
sorry I meant @ A & N…
@ A & K
Just like both of you, I have not been contacted. But I heard that even for the people inside the system it is very difficult. I know of one lucky case – still, that person lobbied really hard from INSIDE for over a year (was from 2007 list).
Linguist, the “extra something to cover the higher costs of living compared to Brussels”, as you call it, is… the extra calm atmoshpere of the little country. And its richness. And its decadency. And nothing else.
Linguist, well, too bad you missed the competition that has been just finalised. Nothing for English translators planned for 1st nor 2nd semester 2009 according to epso data (and anything that should begin in 2009, would finish in …. we know the production speed).
So perhaps something in 2010? No details available. But…. Remember the past “good news for future eu job seekers” or sth like this? If I recall correclty there should be annual competitions for all fields and levels. I imagine English translators will be included as a priority.
So you have 2-3 years for practicing!!!
Kiwi, it sounds like you’ll soon be working for the EP – congratulations. Have you reconciled yourself with the idea of living in Luxembourg? What was the city like? I wonder if the EU pays an extra something to cover the higher costs of living compared to Brussels.
Thanks for your encouragement. I plan to take part in the next concours for English translators.
@A and Linguist,
Just a short reply for now – my interview went fine and I’m awaiting a job offer. Happy to give more details once things are finalised…
I really have no idea how they choose people from the reserve lists except that it does depend on the language combinations they need at any given time (ie who is retiring/leaving) and also previous experience.
A, I’m afraid I have passed on my oral exams book to a friend who is doing the Spanish translator competition…
Incidentally, I think that competition does have an extra component in the written part (or the CBT, can’t remember) with some kind of test in Spanish.
Linguist, I think if it’s what you really want to do you just have to go for it and have faith it will work out eventually (my understanding is that people do eventually get taken even if it takes a while). At my i/v they did say that the English translator lists are always shorter than they’re meant to be, which can only be positive for those of us who are on them.
Good luck…
@N
I wanted to say “copy and paste”
:)))
@N
The written part in a competition for translators includes translating two texts drafted in two different foreign languages into your mother tongue. Have a look at the competition notice. Texts are not difficult (might be something in a magazine article style). But you have to understand well and then express it very well in Spanish in your case.
Could you please paste and copy the answer about delegations in relation to relex competition you got from epso?
thanks
@ A and Kiwi,
Hope your interview went well, Kiwi.
As someone interested in an English translator’s career in the EU, I’ve also been wondering how the EU chooses translators from the reserve lists. They do have a shortage of English translators, so why then are there people left on old reserve lists? It would be a shame to work hard for a year, pass all the tests but never be selected. Like A pointed out, this newest list of English translators is very short, and there are only two merit groups instead of 3 or 4.
@A
I have the exact same question, what does this serve if we haven’t got any job offer from a Delegation? I mean if we had a list of countries where vacancies DO exist, then fair enough. Otherwise, what’s the point? I wrote to EPSO raising this question and they avoided to answer properly. They only told me that no other information will be given, only the list with all countries…
I haven’t heard from any Delegation yet. By the way, are you a translator? I am participating in a concours for Spanish translators and I was wondering what the test would be about (not the first CBT one).
Thanks.
N.
@Kiwi
No news from you… How was your interview? Hope you are continuing your good EU path!
We were talking about shortage of English translators due to the ever smaller number of British native speakers learning foreign languages. The reserve list probably is a proof of it. The number of people included in this list is much smaller than the target number was. This, however, does not explain why someone you mentioned stayed on some previous reserve list for a long time. There must be some other reason (not useful language combination, her unavailability etc.).
By the way, I would ask you about something. I have had an interview recently. Unfortunately, I was not taken. I will have to improve my skills needed during oral competitions. Do you still need the book of Christos, which you said was useful. If not, would you mind sharing it with me? I would be grateful.
Thanks!
A
@anyone who knows something/cast relex successful participants
Does anyone know what this meassage from epso means?
Please note that candidates of EPSO CAST RELEX 2008 will have the possibility to modify the choice of countries in their CV from the second half of March 2009 on. Candidates will be informed via the EPSO web site (Latest News) of the exact dates of the opening and closing of this section in their CV. EPSO apologises for the delay.
My question is: If – as a successful participant – I have never been contacted regarding any job proposal, what kind of change in my choice of countries should I make? Would someone contact me?
Could someone who was contacted and perhaps got a job could give me an advice? What country did they contact you from?
Thanks!
@etni
Have you heard anything from anyone since you passed the cast relex? I have done it in good gov. and security IV. No one contacted me. Do you have any news? Do you know anything?
A
Pamela,
Pressume it’s a weekend skimming over all that you’ve “Learnt” about the EU MAZE!
Have a look at the following “Free” websites http://www.depondt.eu/ and http://www.quizzeuro.com/inscription.php?lang=en might help you brush up on your final revision
Do let us know how it goes (especially the gruelling EU Knowldedge Part) & Good luck for the exam, Fingers crossed all goes well!
@ Pamela,
As you are sitting the admission test (and not the written exam), there is nothing to know about the security at this stage: only EU knowledge, verbal and numerical reasoning will be tested. Only after you pass this stage, you can start to worry about the security field…
Dear Pamela,
yes, the EC and EU Bodies manage the security of their own facilities.
So you will find that every body has a Security Officer with one of more assistants in the best case, plus for IT there is an IT Security Officer.
I have seen them doing a lot of works, from deciding what is the better policy to implement to have access to the buildings, accreditation procedures to have access to the buildings, how to protect and locate sensible data, or how to transport confidential data.
There are certain procedures for all those things that they must know and understand.
This just to help…. And to give you a better understanding.
Stefano
Hello everybody,
I’ll seat the concour on security on Monday, but I am not really sure what it is meant by “security”.
Is it the security of facilities owned by EU institutions?
Or the security of the EU in the framework of the CFSP?
Has anyone done the tests already and could advice?
Hello all.
I would be very grateful if someone could give me a hint on how the subjects for the microeconomics/businessadministration look like. I know that there was such a concours one year ago for EU-10, but I son’t know anyone who actually took the tests in this field (the written exam).
Thank you in advance for any info.
Thanks for the reply John!
I don’t know your politics but a quick Google search shows me that you might be refering to environmental and social controversys of projects funded by the EIB.
I guess there is this difficult pay-off between economic growth and environmental/social concerns. Hopefully the EU can get this right with its policy making!
Who do we vote for to get this right. I wish it was clearer what the MEPs positions were on the different projects the EU is invloved in.
Pierre,
Working for the EIB does not imply the exact conditions as working for the Comm. or other institution. It is much better. You only need to take a look at its website, they have bonus, higher salaries, much higher pension, subsidized mortgages and much much more. Off course, one can not be very proud to work for such an organisation but we all work for money right?
@ dodo
Thank you for your response. I also find Wikipedia as a great source to learn and prepare for EU questions. My nationality is BG.
Good luck to you too!
@ dodo,
I’ll appreciate also your help if you could specify any litterature to prepare for the preselection tests of competitions AD 147-151.
Thank you.
Here is a question/suggestion. I’ve failed the concours twice and I’m not sure I can raise myself for a third attempt. I have however heard recently that the European Investment Bank (EU institution, Europe’s answer to the World Bank in Luxembourg) doesn’t recruit through the concours but through its own processes.
Has anyone any knowledge/experience of this? I heard that you get exactly the same permenent contract, pay and benefits there as with the other institutions but there is no concours application required..
Any feedback welcome
Pierre
@A
In my interview I had some general questions on the field and many specific cases related to your day-to-day task. I manage to answer all questions. The general questions related to the field, I found them quite easy. The specific cases related to the tasks, I managed, but you never know if the committee wants to hear something else.
Does anyone have any experience of an EU job interview? I have one with the Parliament next week and am not really sure what to expect. How many people do they normally interview for each post? and what does it generally involve? There doesn’t seem to be much info around…
@IA
How was your REA interview? I had my interview at REA some two weeks ago. I am curious to know the result. I am not very happy how it went. It was ok, but not too good. It was very formal (something like general EU concours), but with a bit emphasis on the post for which I applied at REA.
I am worried what the final outcome will be. What about you?
Thanks
@ AAA
For the UE konwledge the best thing it’s to go on the Europa site and read there .
http://europa.eu/
there are some examples of tests on it and there exist some sites where you can buy packages for training on MCQ, for example this one I found it good :
http://www.eutests.eu/
sometimes, there are groups of discussion related to competitions, generaly by language or nationality, that’s why I have asked what is your nationality .
and of course , there area lot of books , to much to write it here , but you can search about on the library:
http://www.libeurop.be/home.php
Good luck,
Dodo
@ Harald
I’ve my interview at REA one week ago and I haven’t received any response yet, but it depends on which field/level are you in since some people already had a negative response.
Laureates reserve list for AST/41 is out, any new from people already contacted by any institution?
Any Institution needs info?
thanks in advance.
@dodo
Thank you for offering your help!
I am registered for AD149 exam, and this is my first time participating in any competition within the EU. My main concern is the test of EU knowledge. Any advice that you have regarding this matter is greatly appreciated (etc. tests, web sites where I could effectively prepare)
@ Marina & AAA
I am registered too for AD151 Exam (audit), I also participated to AD126 written tests and I’m already official AST3 grade in financial field. So, wan can I help you ?
Are you bulgarian or romanian ?
OK folks, the concours forum is back! Sorry for the delay, I’ve been having some server woes. It should all be fast and simple to use now.
Temporary agents REA
just wondering :
has anyone heard anything yet ?
6K first six months perhaps or what was that removal allowance thing?
Step2, AD5, household allowance… yup, 5K more like it; half of that you’ll need for residing among the few.
@ Marina
I am also going for the same exam.
I think it’s 5K rather than 6 isn’t it?
I think we would prefer to live in Lux itself if we can, mainly because of having young children – it will be a change for us to have me working full-time and I don’t want to lose a whole lot more time on travelling. I’d also be keen to send them to the European school as they can then learn English to a much higher standard (and the French education system after age 6 is one of this country’s big downsides for me).
And it seems to me that if everyone goes on about Lux being a great place to bring up kids, then you miss out on that by living in France.
Decisions, decisions… not that I’m complaining of course 🙂
Kiwi,
6K nett will be fine. The expat allowance is based on place of employment so you can just keep living in France too.
@ John Doe,
Yes, that’s what I thought, especially when you look at the house prices. Though I had to laugh when I saw adverts for “small” houses of 120 sq. m, which would be classed as big houses here in France.
It’s hard to work out what living there would actually be like in terms of quality of life v. purchasing power etc.
I’m not fussed about not being in the top income bracket, but don’t want to be among the poorest either! Not that I think that would be the case (AD5 rather than a CA).
@ John Doe
That is indeed by and large the case, although
1) the banking crisis will have taken the edge off, as the bulk of private employment in LuLu-town is in financial wizzardry.
2) Gasoline is relatively cheap there, public transportation (also cross-frontrier) is a bargain and you can rent at roughly 60% of LuLu prices in Belgium/France. Fast train from Arlon to LuLu-town takes about 25′.
But yes, it would be like being delegated to Swiss as a mid-level manager but keeping your nett Belgian pay…. the mailboy probably makes more than you 😉
Salaries in LUX are the same than in BXL. Other cities/places than those, considered as sieges, are indexed to compensate for the cost of living. Since BXL is the place to fix the salary, the inflation in LUX is not taken into consideration for the increases.
LUX is much better than BXL is you are a quiet person, but there is an important different with BXL: while in BXL as an EU official you may be into the top earning class in LUX you will be earning less (even now) than national civil servants or banking employees. That implies more problems to find decent housing. There is a weekly newspaper in LUX that in 2008 published an article in front page about the new poors of the country (the contractual agents recruited by the institutions, earning less than the minimun salary in the country).