Communications concours – should I go for it?
EPSO will today publish a new concours to enter into the European Institutions, entitled:
EPSO/AD/94/07
ADMINISTRATORS (AD5) IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION AND THE MEDIA
The deadline for applications is the end of March. I really wonder whether I should give this a shot. I did not manage to pass the Administrators concours last year (for a lively debate with almost 300 comments on that, see this post on my blog), but this time I really know what I need to do in order to pass. Yet the question is do I really have the motivation to do all the necessary work to learn for that concours? It’s also AD5 level – really the bottom of the heap in a very hierarchical structure of Commission administrators (see this page for more on pay / grading). Anyway, I’ll sure post my experiences of the concours here.
Hello everyone!
There’s a published competition for doctors & I am looking for past MCQ regarding medical field… I know there was a competition for public health (AD/18/04) and more recent PORTA 25 or CAST27 for medical doctors…
Does anyone have a copy to share? my address is mcndarugirire@yahoo.fr
Thank you very much.
@Fred
Could you send me an email?
will_arrive at hotmail dot com ?
We can exchange documents!
Thanks John!
Hi all,
very interesting discussion. Thanks, Jan, for the link to the test results.
I will take part in the written tests on January 18th as well. Good luck to everyone else who goes for it 🙂
Try this:
– Login on your EPSO profile
– Choose a competition
– Click and load one of these links: “Information about the admission tests” or “Results of the admission tests”
– Copy and paste in the web address toolbar: https://europa.eu/epso/application/cv_new/letters/test_result_en.cfm
u will see!
Hi all,
I have past the EU cast 27 pre-selection test and will sit the competence written test the 14dec07 in London.
In FG IV as Medical Doctor. Unsure about how to prepare and what to expect. If anyone knows about it or have been through, please let me know. Many thanks!!!
And good luck for all !!!
I passed the pre-selection tests for AD/94/07 and I have been admitted to the written tests on January 18th, in Brussels. I was wondering: how did you guys find out about minimum qualification and detailed scores? I only received a letter in my EPSO profile saying I had passed, but no mention of my scores whatsoever. Please let me know. Thank you very much!
Yeah, what about the second phase? information i found was pretty general, what do you expect?
No, I didn’t go for it in the end… It was a good choice I think as I’m now having much more fun working as a website designer than I would have working in the Commission.
jon, have you gone for this Communications concours ?
congratulations amber !
i failed. The minimum qualification was even higher : 24.33/30.
Hi, the results of this competition are there: 23.33/30 was the minimum qualification… But I did it!
Well, if someone knows where can I prepare myself for the second round, I would be thankful. 🙂
Hello,
have any news about this competition? EU tests and V&N tests are ongoing…..
Anna
Hallo all from sunny Italy!
Has anybody taken part in a secretary competition?
I am waiting for EU Cast 27 preselections tests for this category.
Will there be any other exam for this competition other than Verbal/Logical Reasoning and General EU Knowledge? If so, what will it cover?
Jon,
I thought I’d add a quick comment – I started reading your blog when studying for a concours (which I passed – thank God! I wouldn’t want to go through it twice) and living near Clapham North (it’s a bit weird reading something written round the corner). If you decide to go for it, and you can manage the money and time, I would really recommend going on the 2/3 day courses organised by CEES/ENA in Paris: http://www.cees-europe.fr
They give you facts, exam technique and most importantly they tell you what is expected and looked for in the final 2 stages.
Good luck if you do it!
Elephant
Jon,
You can try. I qualified in AD/25 and failed in the written test (30 out of 50 and 31 were needed). I’m not sure to know yet what they are really expecting in the written test so it’s diffucult to learn from experience.
Qualifications for other competition were 25 out of 50 for all of them except law where it was 26. Qualifyng score were in the 83/120 for most competition and +92/120 for AD/25. So the level of difficulty is extremely different from one competition to the other (1 in 50 presents candidates for AD/25 versus 1/8 for audit).
So the feeling is that AD/94/07 will be massively selective and worse than AD/25 : i’ve heard that it is expected to be twice as worse, like 200 candidates for each post with 100 presents.
So i think you should prepare it but knowing that it will be one of the worst competition organized by epso (for candidates) and that futures competitions (like lawyer-linguist or whatever) would certainly be easier.
The (relatively) good thing is that the selection will mosly be on reasoning test wich count 2/3 of the preselection test instead of 1/3 in previous competitions. So it will be next to imposible for people thant don’t get scores > 80% in reasoning tests. to qualify.
Hello,
of course you should participate at “communication” competition. Why don’t you come to http://epsoforum.com where you will find lots of info about these competitions: public adminsitration, law, economics, AST
If this is a position which sounds appealing to you, then definitely go for it! Look at the bright side: you have the experience from AD/25/05 preselection tests, you can build on that!
Dear all,
I applied for AST in the field of communication, also a recent candidate of AST secretary competition. (Awaiting for practice and written test)
Do you think that a 10 years continously membership of a journalist association will prove my journo experience? Of course I have a decent list of my previous articels but as a freelancer there was no proper contract.
thank you,
Anita
I hear you, John. I passed the preselection stage of the last big concours, only to fail the written part with a few points. Have also gone through the horribly drawn-out contract agent “concours” where I’m still waiting for the final word but already know either way that there is no job at the end of it. It is difficult to find the motivation again, to say the least. On the other hand, as you pointed out, my chances should be better this time around, having learned from my mistakes, etc.
Steep: having been a public affairs consultant myself I can assure you that they are too exploited to prepare properly for the concours. They will all apply of course.
I think competition will be fierce, given the vast potential of exploited consultancy associates in Brussels alone.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the level needed to pass the pre-selection tests is going to be extremely high. And it’s EU 27 this time! It will definitely be challenging and as you point out, it is AD 5 only. Good luck if you go for it!
1. Qualifications
You must:
have a level of education corresponding to a full university course of at least three years’ duration attested by a degree in one of the following fields: communication, information, journalism or public relations;
OR
have a level of education corresponding to a full university course of at least three years’ duration attested by a degree and have at least three years’ relevant professional experience acquired in the media, press agencies, public relations agencies, communication consultancies, and/or internal/external/corporate communication in public or private bodies.
Makes the competition rather selective from the beginning, I’d say
Judging by the amount of discussion on your last attempt, I say definitely go for it: You have an antire constituency behind you now!
I can manage to show I have that experience, so that’s not the problem for me. It’s more the annoying EU knowledge tests! 🙁