After graduation: information about jobs and
internships at European and international
organizations
Jozef Vanraepenbusch
EUROGUIDANCE Flanders
EPOS vzw
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Options
1. Working at the EU institutions.
2. Working for EU related organisms.
3. Working for EU projects.
4. Working as independent expert for
the EU institutions.
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (1)
• Permanent position:
European Personnel Selection Office (Epso),
http://europa.eu/epso/index_en.htm
- mainly Scientific management;
- programme Officers for EU General
Directorates (Research, Environment,
Fisheries, Internal Market, Education & Culture,…).
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (2)
• Selection:
From 2010, EPSO is introducing a new procedure for
selecting permanent staff for EU institutions.
What has changed?
 Much quicker competitions with fewer steps in the
procedure;
 Annual cycle of competitions for the most common job
profiles;
 Competency-based testing (and not purely based on
knowledge!)
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (3)
In addition to specific professional skills and knowledge, the following 7 core
competencies will be assessed:
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
EU
Analysis and Problem Solving – Identifies the critical facts in complex issues and develops
creative and practical solutions;
Communicating – Communicates clearly and precisely both orally and in writing;
Delivering Quality and Results – Takes personal responsibility and initiative for delivering work to
a high standard of quality within set procedures;
Learning and Development – Develops and improves personal skills and knowledge of the
organisation and its environment;
Prioritising and Organising – Prioritises the most important tasks, works flexibly and organises
own workload efficiently;
Resilience – Remains effective under a heavy workload, handles organisational frustrations
positively and adapts to a changing work environment;
Working with Others – Works co-operatively with others in teams and across organisational
boundaries and respects differences between people.
staff selection procedure is to be competency driven, and no longer purely based on
knowledge. In addition to competency in the field of the competition, those 7 core competencies
were identified as being the most relevant for all people working within the EU Institutions. All
such competencies will be assessed in at least two different exercises.
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (4)
 Candidates wishing to take part in a selection procedure need to complete an online application form, and to submit this to EPSO prior to a specific deadline for
registrations. Such applications are not to be taken lightly – even completion of the
application form itself requires a substantial time commitment.
 There will be two stages in the new selection procedure – computer-based
admission testing in individual EU countries (and some non-EU countries) and an
assessment stage in Brussels. Detailed information about each competition will be
published on the EPSO-website and in the Official Journal of the European Union.
 Candidates successful at the assessment stage will be placed on a 'reserve list'.
This is a database from which the EU Institutions can select staff who have
successfully passed the EU Careers selection procedures.
 All participants will receive feedback on their performance.
 For the most common job profiles, the reserve lists will remain valid until the
following year’s competition cycle for a corresponding profile is completed (i.e. for 1
year only). For other profiles, reserve lists will remain valid for a longer period .
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (5)
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (6)
In the new system, the admission test stage
will feature competency-based testing (rather
than knowledge-based testing). The test on EU
knowledge has been removed from this stage.
Admission testing will involve computer-based
tests (CBT) of cognitive ability (verbal,
numerical and abstract reasoning) and
situational judgement, plus professional
competency, depending on the profile sought.
 EU knowledge will be part of the job-related
exercises during the assessment phase.
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1. Working at the EU
institutions (7)
• Requirements
- Diplomatic skills;
- multilingual; 2 languages
- scientific Management, administrative tasks;
- EU spirit;
- being able to remain neutral and not to express
your personnel opinion if necessary.
! No fundamental or applied research tasks !
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (8)
• Recommendations
- Read the calls very carefully and only apply if your profile
corresponds to the description;
- follow the guidelines very precisely;
- study from the recommended lectures (brochures from the EU, Infopoints, recommended books from the European library (use always
the latest publications, even if there is just one year between two
applications, buy the new books));
- train yourself by doing the available online tests and multiple choice
test books;
- participate eventually to nationally organized preparatory training
courses.
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (9)
• During the tests
- Follow strictly the instructions;
- remain calm even if you do not finish all
questions in time (it is almost impossible to
achieve on purpose);
- the results are machine corrected (grid where
you have to mark dots) so do not be messy;
- if written test, write clearly;
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (10)
• Temporary positions/contract agent
- Fixed term contracts :
http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/job/temp/index_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/job/contract/index_en.htm
- very specific tasks;
- apply on calls;
- short term contracts;
- no guaranty for a permanent position in anyway (have to
pass the tests as others);
- limited number of times your contracts can be renewed;
- interesting to gain experience.
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (11)
• Working as a researcher/scientist
- Opportunities for research staff are mainly in the Commission,
within its Directorates-General for Research, Joint Research Centre
and Information Society & Media. There are also some research
posts in the Directorates-General Enterprise and Industry, Maritime
Affairs and Fisheries, Energy and Transport;
- permanent research staff are recruited via open competitions in
their specific research field;
- mainly at “A” level , but also other levels;
- for further information about procedures of recruitment for research
staff :
http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/job/research_en.htm
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (12)
• Administrative traineeship
- To give young university graduates a taste of what
working for the EU is like, the Institutions organise
traineeships or "stages", each lasting 3-5 months;
- candidates must have a university degree and, in
principle, have the citizenship of an EU or an accession
country;
- only a limited number of candidates coming from other
countries may apply for traineeships;
- information on traineeships offered by the different EU
Institutions:
http://ec.europa.eu/stages/index_en.htm
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (13)
• Translation traineeship with the
Directorate General for Translation (DGT)
- you must have completed the first cycle of
university studies and hold the corresponding
degree;
- information on ‘translation’ traineeships offered
by the different EU Institutions:
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/workwithus/tr
ainee/index_en.htm
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1. Working at the EU
Institutions (14)
How can I be kept informed about current
and future competitions / selections?
We would advise you to consult the following
website on a regular basis (ideally twice a
week):
http://www.eu-careers.eu/
See also the FAQ at the site of EPSO:
http://europa.eu/epso/doc/faq_as_pdf_en.pdf
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2. Working for EU related
organisms (1)
• Local national organisms or organisms
located in Brussels to be close to the EU
Institutions;
• mainly policy making, lobbying organisms,
fundraising;
• opportunities for example at :
http://www.eurobrussels.com/
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2. Working for EU related
organisms (2)
• Selected examples:
- Head of communication at the European Science
Foundation;
- Turkish Research Analyst (3 to 6 months) at Risk
Management organisms;
- director of Producer Services and Relations in
Fair trade;
- the EU permanent and temporary positions of
EPSO are also published on this site.
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3. Working for EU projects (1)
- For mobility and grant opportunities see
other presentation;
- research in the framework of a project
(scientists, PHD student, Post-Doc …);
- face that there will be always a certain
amount of Administrative and reporting
work. The time passed on this depends on
your position in the project.
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3. Working for EU projects (2)
Where to apply:
- EU projects are a funding source for public
and private bodies;
- apply in Science Institutions, Universities,
research Centers, private companies, …
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3. Working for EU projects (3)
- Gain a lot of experience, frontier research;
- opportunities to meet other scientists in your field in
Europe and world wide;
- interesting long term career opportunities;
- often more applied, infrastructure, services projects with
not much focus on fundamental research;
- not always easy to match the deadlines of the EU
projects and needed flexibility and creativity in the
PhD thesis or research tasks;
- administrative and reporting tasks.
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3. Working for EU projects (4)
- After gaining some experience can seek
for new projects in partnership with
international collaborators;
- initiate and submit projects;
- administrative and reporting workload
grows versus time for doing research;
- fundraising and setting up of research
teams opportunities.
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3. Working for EU projects (5)
- Opportunities at (selected examples not
exhaustive):
- Research : Community Research and Development
Information Service http://cordis.europa.eu/
- EU Culture programs :
http://ec.europa.eu/culture/index.htm
- EU Development :
http://ec.europa.eu/development/index_en.cfm
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4. Working as independent
expert for the EU
- Comes later in your career;
- when gained some experience in specific fields and have
participated or initiated successful EU projects;
- assist in policy making;
- selection of projects to be funded;
- review ongoing funded projects;
- gains a lot of experience by very demanding tasks in time
and efforts;
- register here (example research) :
- http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop
/en/experts/index.html
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Thank you!
Jef Vanraepenbusch
EUROGUIDANCE
Flemish Ministry for Education and Training
EPOS vzw
H. Consciencegebouw
Koning Albert II-laan 15, kamer 2A19
B-1210 Brussel
Belgium
Tel.: +32 (0)2/ 553 87 00
e-mail: [email protected]
url: http://www.euroguidance.be
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