Here you will find the complete recording and the full transcript of the 2015 EPSO AST Secretary Competition's Information Webcast held on 8 January, 2015.
Contents include:
- 2015 EPSO secretary competition tips & tricks
- Qualification, diplomas needed for the exam
- EU language and citizenship requirements
- Test types
- Test-taking strategies, timeline and best practices
Recording
Presentation for EPSO Secretary Information Webcast
Transcript
Information Webcast on the 2015 EPSO SC1 & SC2 Exam
EPSO/AST-SC/03/15
Welcome everyone. We will begin in two minutes.
We will begin in one minute.
Hi and welcome to Online EU Training’s latest webcast. This is Andras Baneth speaking from the cold and chilly and dark Brussels on this afternoon at 5 o’clock local time. This is 8th of January and we are going to be covering a fascinating topic, the biggest competition that EPSO, the European Personnel Selection Office, has announced in years which is for this time for Secretaries/Assistants of different kinds, three different types of exams are announced and this is something that we will discuss in detail.
So a warm welcome to everyone who’s online and also those who might be watching this later as a recording. This is my pleasure to have you here so we can share a few ideas, a bit of better understanding of the kind of exam that provides an excellent opportunity to pursue an EU career in Brussels and Luxembourg or possibly in other locations.
In case you miss something
So let’s get started but before that a few technical notes in case you miss something. As I mentioned, there will be a recording available of this webcast freely on our website and it’s going to be emailed to everyone who registered and a few days we will upload it on the website along with a transcript. So if you prefer reading my precious words or reading about the exams, it’s our pleasure that we will share this sort of transcript for you so you can print it and discuss the details not just the audio and the video recording.
About Online EU Training
Apart from that a few words about Online EU Training which you may or may not be aware of. We were proud that we are the largest platform in Europe or dare I say in the world for anyone and everyone who would like to prepare for the EPSO, the European Personnel Selection Office, competitions and not just for preparing. Our ultimate goal is to help you realize your dream and get an EU job and we are proud that several hundred of EU officials who have started preparing with our services are now in all sorts of roles that the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Court of Auditors and various other EU institutions.
Do join our Facebook page and please like us because we share lots of updates and valuable information. We’re trying to keep our eyes as open as humanly possible for not just the exams and competitions administered by EPSO but we also screen and monitor other job opportunities in Brussels and beyond which relate to the EU, especially for EU agencies and various other organisations. So the test packages and webinars we offer for your preparation that’s something that you can certainly explore for yourself.
Today’s agenda
Let’s look at the essence and reason why you are spending this roughly one hour with us and with my voice and the screen which is your interest in the largest competition since 2010 that EPSO has just announced a couple of hours ago.
Now this Competition is a special kind because it’s the first time that a selection process and selection procedure is being launched for the so-called SC which is Secretary Category which is a new category under the EU’s Revised Staff Regulations.
So let’s look at a brief agenda for today. I’m going to be covering a few points on the: One Day in the Life of an Assistant or Secretary, these two terms are fairly interchangeable because a Secretary Category is a subset of the larger group of Assistants.
And then a couple of words on the positions that are available under this current Competition followed by a few words on Eligibility which is a crucial and fundamental issue whether your profile, your background and your professional experience makes you or may not make you eligible for a specific profile. And then we’ll follow up with a few words on why this is a great opportunity. This probably doesn’t need a lot of words and I don’t want to preach to the converted as I usually say but definitely it’s worth knowing what the benefits of an EU job are.
This will be followed by a few words on the specific exam that you need to sit in order to fulfil your goal and reach your goal to become an EU official, a permanent EU official which is a very important distinction to make because all these competitions administered by EPSO with the exception of the so-called CAST, all other competitions are with the aim of getting a permanent EU contract which is open ended and not limited in time in any way whatsoever.
So we will look at the Pre-selection Test which is the first step towards the Competition which is followed by the second step provided you are successful in the first one, which is the Assessment Centre that’s compulsory for every profile. And then a couple of words, and pieces of advice on how to best prepare for these competitions and then a special exclusive offer for those of you who are here with us live or you may be watching this or hearing about this within the next 48 hours for which our special offer and special discount is valid.
A day in the life of…
In the meantime as far as I’m aware, you can ask questions if you logged in to the Livestream system with your Facebook account, so you can ask live questions from my colleagues which they will filter and convey to me so I can answer them in real time but if I cannot, then we will send you either a follow up memo or write a tips and tricks article with the most commonly asked questions so we can be as useful to you and as helpful in your success as possible.
So a few words on the job and the kind of positions that are available in as one day in the life of a Secretary and a few words on the place of work, which Institutions you can possibly work for and couple of words on the typical tasks that you would be required to perform.
Place of Work
Now the place of work as in the case of most competitions or as a result of most competitions is Brussels or Luxembourg. As it is written in the Notice of Competition which is pretty much the Bible and the main source of information when it comes to any competition, as it is written in Notice of Competition or NOC as commonly abbreviated, for the second profile, the so-called SC2 which is a bit more senior level because it requires some work experience, the place of work for the SC2 profile is most likely going to be Luxembourg.
They do not specify which EU institutions you are likely going to be working at but considering the EU institutions that are in Luxembourg that may just as well be the European Commission which has a few Directorates General, DGs, in Luxembourg just as while it could be the Court of Justice, the European Court of Auditors, possibly the European Parliament which has part of its administration in Luxembourg. So it doesn’t limit the Institutions but it’s an indication that if your profile and work experience qualifies you for a more senior job meaning also a higher salary, that chances are you will be located and based in Luxembourg.
And the reason why Strasbourg is in parenthesis is because only a handful of jobs are available in Strasbourg, those related to the European Ombudsman but even the European Ombudsman has an office in Brussels so the number of jobs in Strasbourg is extremely limited when it comes to EU institutions.
When it comes to the various EU delegations around the 28 member states or EU representations around, sorry vice versa so various representations in the EU member states or delegations around the world which are under the European External Action Service as a special service of the EU, that might also be a place of work though in most cases, your job will be linked to the Commission, Parliament and so-called classic EU institutions so you will either be working in Brussels or if you are more senior and you’re qualified for the SC2 level then you will likely be based in Luxembourg.
EU Institutions
So going further where is the Selection and eventually the Recruitment, I mentioned many of these institutions including the Council of Ministers, Economic and Social Committee, Committee of Regions. All of which are connected or linked to the EPSO because EPSO helps them in selecting candidates but as you may already be familiar with the system, that EPSO does not recruit candidates. So you will never be recruited by EPSO, what EPSO does it guides you. Let’s put it euphemistically this way it guides you through the selection process which culminates in you being placed on the so-called Reserve List. But ultimately, the recruitment, the act of you being hired, offered a contract by an EU institution it’s going to be done by the specific institution in question. This is important to understand because it also means that the tasks that you need to perform in the course of the Selection Process, these tasks are not related to any particular institution and the kind of questions that you can expect at any point are not going to be linked to the Court of Auditors or the Council of Ministers or the European Parliament.
So these are the institutions that can potentially hire you once you have gone through the selection system and then the recruitment is done by them directly.
And as I mentioned before, this is only decided at the moment of recruitment so you’re not going to know when you start on the journey of getting on the reserve list and ultimately reaching an EU job, you’re not going to know which EU institution you may end up working for, because this is only decided at the moment of recruitment based on your profile, based on your experience and based on the needs of the given institutions.
Assistant Positions Available
Then in terms of the kind of positions that are available, well in this particular Competition, you look at the title or the specific name of the competition it includes the word AST and as I mentioned the SC the Secretary sub-profile that’s what it is, it’s a sub-profile, it’s not as a category on its own, so this is the first time that there is a Secretary competition and there are two grades within this competition. There is SC1 which is more junior and SC2 which is more senior as you will see that requires four years of additional work experience to make sure that you are eligible for that. So if you do not have those four years of additional work experience, you will probably qualify for SC1. The main difference is of course in the salary and apart from that the level of responsibility that you will be assigned.
Very important is that you can only apply for one of these two grades and one field only. So altogether you have a choice to make whether it’s SC1 or SC2 which depends on your work experience, the number of years in that work experience and then the second choice you make is whether you apply for field one, two or three within that category. So out of the six options you must only choose one because if you choose two then you might be disqualified but I believe that when you are filling in the online application on the EPSO system, you will not be even given the opportunity to make such a mistake as to choose two options, you can only choose one of the six.
This is not to say that you should not apply to other Competitions that EPSO administers, you can definitely apply for as many competitions as you like with the caveat that you can only apply for one field if a given competition has a single administrative number. So in this case, its EPSO/AST-SC03/15 so this is considered as single competition so within this you can apply for one profile. But if EPSO launches another competition for Administrators and you have the right qualifications to be eligible for that or another Assistant Competition, you can do that or you can definitely try multiple channels to apply for these Competitions because this obviously increases your chances of succeeding in at least one of them.
Number of Positions Available
And going further what are the fields in question both for SC1 and SC2, you essentially have three subfields, field 1, 2 and 3 and these 3 are the following: you can apply for the Administrative support field; you can apply for the Financial Support field or the Secretarial Support field.
Now the choice to make this is probably going to be the biggest headache for everyone who is interested in this Competition of which area or which field should I apply for?
Well one consideration could be the number of places available for each of these because in total there are 495 places available which is huge. It’s really, really an enormously good opportunity and we at Online EU Training, we’ve been screening and following EPSO Competitions for quite a number of years and we don’t recall such a big Competition at least since 2010 and even maybe ‘04 though I believe in 2009, there was a fairly large competition still in the context of the Romanian and Bulgarian enlargement. But in the past couple of years this is an excellent opportunity and definitely a good chance to succeed.
And as they say in Sales and Marketing, the best way of selling something, in this case your employment opportunities, is to have a foot in the door so even if you would like to have worked in a slightly different field or you have a long term ambition; this is definitely a very good entry point to get familiar with the Institutions to get a great work experience and obviously the financial considerations are just as important, something we will look at in a few moments.
So going further in terms of your dilemma which field to apply for, certainly you can look at the number of places available in each of these.
So there’s a certain arbitrage or a certain shopping of opportunities that you can look at but before you make such a decision purely on the basis of these numbers, the most important thing is really to look at your formal qualifications and which of these profiles would you qualify for.
Because if you make a choice to apply for the Financial Support, but you don’t have the relevant work experience or you apply for the Administrative Support and you do not have that sort of job profile or work experience or diplomas or degrees, then you may be disqualified. So the first and foremost, really the most important thing that I suggest you do is you look very closely at you own diploma background, work experience and on that basis, you decide which field would be most suitable for you.
And then in terms of what constitutes a relevant work experience, this is probably going to be the number one question, that the Selection Board which is the body composed of EU officials, the one that administers any given competition like this one, so that’s the issue that the Selection Board is going to be looking at when they look at the candidates, when they look at your qualifications and your declarations that you made in the course of the application and they decide whether or not a certain experience or certain degree or certain study qualifies as relevant work experience, as a relevant diploma.
There is a certain level of guidance that EPSO provides and then if you look at the Notice of Competition you see quite a detailed description in the Annex of the Notice of Competition on what the job would be, what are the so-called nature of the duties that you would be required to perform if you apply for the Administrative support position.
So in that part they mention things like you need to draft technical reports under specifications, that you would deal with the purchase of products like office equipment, supplies and goods.
That you would draft correspondence, letters, emails, notes. You would sit-in in meetings and take notes and provide the minutes afterwards. And then you would be helping in coordination planning of the department work. So if this is the kind of job that you have done so far or you specifically studied in a school which is officially accredited and that qualifies as a relevant training for this type of job then you will very likely succeed in convincing the Selection Board that your profile matches these criteria.
And then for instance when it comes to the Financial Support, that is a little bit more specific so that requires experience or the kind of duties that you have performed and that you will likely be required to perform such as bookkeeping, checking invoices, handling invoicing, handling financial files, the relevant IT tools, software that you can use to perform these sort of tasks. This is the kind of thing they are looking for.
And then when it comes to Secretarial Support, it’s more related to back office issues as organising, travel, organising meetings, researching information for instance updating a database. Or the unit in the European Commission’s Environment Directorate would like to organise a conference, you would be tasked with identifying conference venues, making sure that the catering is in place, ensuring that the speakers and their travel arrangements and the reimbursement of their travel cost are taken care of.
And then once you have that, once you have established that your profile or degree and I’m not saying the word diploma but your degree is relevant, then you can look as a second criterion at the number of places available, where are your chances higher. And it’s of course not just the sheer number of places available but where are more people likely to apply. So what is the proportion which is pure guesswork and it’s pure lottery but still you might have a certain gut feeling, a certain indication of how many people are likely to apply for SC2 Administrative Support as opposed to SC2 Secretarial Support. Because if the proportion favours the field that you would like to apply for then that’s the field you can do.
And of course I have talked about the chances on a very formalistic way but in an ideal world, you would look at the third and probably the most important factor: what are you personally interested in. So as long as you have the right qualifications, as long as you feel that your chances are fairly high, of course you need to look at what are you interested in. Because the job satisfaction is a very important factor but I fully understand that I know first-hand from candidates that this is an important but not an all decisive factor in the big formula of deciding which competition or which specific profile you choose to apply for.
So I have talked about the certain degrees and qualifications and this is a very important aspect I will come back to in a few moments and because we need to understand and we need to have a clear idea of the formal requirements that you need to fulfil in order to be eligible for the Competition.
Before that a few words on the languages. There is the concept of a first language and second language. And in the EU universe and in the EPSO universe, they never use the term mother tongue and this is for the reason because you may be a Russian speaker or you may be a Chinese speaker or you may be any other language, you may have grown up with any other language because of your family or your heritage but that may not be an official EU language. So the first language is pretty much the language that you speak fluently. It’s a language that you’re extremely comfortable working in, writing in, drafting in, understanding texts in. So it’s a language that you master, it doesn’t necessarily have to be really your mother tongue because I speak fairly good English, I probably could consider using first language as English besides my native Hungarian.
And this means that if you happen to have another language, you possess the right level of language skills because of your studies, because of your language education that you master well, then that can definitely be a first language. The first language can be any of the EU’s 28, 23, so you see its late afternoon, I’m confusing numbers so any of the EU’s 24 official languages, so it’s up to you which one you choose. But the second language which has to be a satisfactory knowledge, has to be English, French or German. And it has to be different from the language one.
So if you are a French speaker as first language, then the second language has to be either English or German.
And then the citizenship, you need to have EU citizenship but obviously or maybe not so obviously but at least since 2010, I can say obviously any of the EU’s 28 member states. So there’s no limitation whether you’re Croatian, whether you’re Romanian, whether you’re Estonian, Spanish or Brit, you can have any of the EU’s 28 citizenship that is not a specific criteria apart from having one of the 28.
So the language is a determining factor for many people.
And then the application deadline 10th of February please, please, please I beg you literally, virtually, live and recorded, not to leave your application to the last moment because servers might fail, because the system might break down, because you might get a call from your girlfriend or boyfriend saying that you need to go out and see the latest blockbuster hit from Hollywood, you never know but make sure not to leave it for the last moment because you want to spend sufficient amount of time in calm environment to carefully consider your answers, fill in the fields and not to make a false click that may endanger your entire application.
So you can apply right now and I urge you not to leave it for the last moment.
And then going further in terms of the languages, this is something I’m going to discuss any official EU language and the second language being different and one of the three: English, French or German.
Eligibility
So let’s look at the formal part and probably the most crucial one that will make or break your application and let me admit I’m quite sure, unfortunately, that this will probably give rise to quite a number of complaints and issues with the Selection Board because the terminology that is being used in the Notice of Competition is not 100% specific. Of course there’s a good reason for that when they say that your background or your education has to be either relevant field or mostly related to the nature of duties and I highlight the word mostly related. So if you worked three years in a law firm as an assistant does it mean that your work was more legalistic or legal related as opposed to being Secretarial? Or if you worked in a construction company as a Secretary, did the kind of the work that you did because it was partly project management and partly dealing with administrative issues with invoices, with meeting organizations etc.? Which one was sort of the dominant element in your job profile so there is a certain room for interpretation and that’s where the Selection Board needs to be convinced that your background in that specific experience really is relevant.
So looking at this chart, you see the following thing. This chart only deals with the background, the qualifications side. This is very important to understand because within the qualifications they might require a certain number of years of work experience but that relates to the qualification element.
Okay, so this is very important distinction. This is all about you being formally qualified and then when it comes to the work experience as such that is not required in SC1 and four years of work experience is required in SC2.
So let’s go back to the qualification part, the things that you see on the screen. There are essentially three scenarios and you might be in either of these three:
So you could have completed a secondary school and followed by three years of relevant experience. As I mentioned that you did secondary school in Croatia or in Greece or in Sweden and then you worked three years in a job which was relevant to the nature of the duties that are described and the one that you can see in the Annex of the Notice of Competition. You did this, fantastic, you’re eligible.
Scenario number two is that, there is that you have a relevant post-secondary education from an accredited institution which means that you may have completed a Secretary school if there is such a thing in the country where you studied at. But it has to be accredited and there’s a list of accredited institutions on an EU website, there is this site of Ploteus and so you can look for European qualification framework and you can see whether the Institute where you completed such a degree is an accredited one. If so, again you are eligible.
And there could be the scenario number three is that you had a professional training of at least one year, could be more but at least one year and three years of relevant experience.
And that’s an interesting scenario because it doesn’t mention any secondary education so if you went to a vocational school or a similar institute as long as you have a professional training of that kind and you worked three years in a relevant job then again you are eligible.
So as you can guess based on that description, it’s fairly broad and fairly vague and this is understandable and I’m not here to defend EPSO or defend anyone, but I’m trying to convey the message that given the nature of the tasks, it’s hard to limit that to a formal qualification. Because if EPSO was selecting for the position of doctor, obviously it would be easy to say why you need to have a medical degree. But given the nature of the duties and the field that they are looking for candidates this has to be fairly flexibly yet in a structured way defined to make sure that unqualified candidates will not apply or they will not be eligible at the same time making sure that there is a certain quality control when it comes to your degrees and qualifications.
So that’s the formal part and then if you have additional four years of experience then you are eligible for the SC2 so let me go back for one second to the previous slide. All the three year work experience whatever it’s there, this is not considered part of the work experience. This is part of the qualification. And then if you have on top of this one, additional four years of professional experience then you are eligible for the SC2 as I said, which is a higher category which is reflected in the salary.
And then as EPSO does usually for the Administrators when it comes to the AD7 competitions and the so-called AD5, they apply the same method for the SC1 and SC2 categories, meaning that if you apply for SC2 and you passed the Pre-Selection test with excellent results, you would be among the top candidates who are eligible for the Assessment Centre. But then they discover that the four years that you claimed to have is not exactly there because the way they counted those years is different from the way you counted it. So for whatever reason the four years criteria is not there, then they can ask you to say: Hey, would you like us to put you in the SC1 list because that might be of interest to you? And then if you say yes, then you have sort of second chance because then you join the ranks of the SC1 team.
Why is it a great opportunity?
Alright, let me go further and look at the benefits. So regarding the salary and the benefits, here’s a slide with a few points on the salary. The salary is of course a subject to a lot of, lot of variables because that basic salary is roughly around 2,200 to 2,400 Euros. This is a net amount plus benefits. So if you were married, if you have children again depending on their age, whether their declared schooling etc. etc., these are all variables that have an impact on your salary. And then you’re given the EU health insurance which is an enormously generous and a very good health insurance and access to European schools, if you have children and your children are of schooling age. So in terms of the monetary and health insurance and the schooling benefits, the job is definitely a big draw and a very attractive opportunity for many.
Steps toward getting a job
So going further the big question, the million dollar question: How to get one of these jobs?
And I am very often asked what is the magic? What is the secret? How do I get these? Andras, you must know! And I wish I did because I wish it was that easy to say: well, you do this single thing and you get it. And if I really have to point out and you pushed me against the wall and say okay, give me the single most important thing for me to get this job. In that case I will say, practice or with another word: perseverance.
Make sure that you’re very persistently, consistently, you have your eyes on the target and you practice as much as you can and of course practice is a little similar to practicing in sports because you don’t just mindlessly start hitting the ball with a tennis racket if you want to learn to play tennis.
Or start running around the house if you want to be a marathon runner, you need a proper method and a proper plan.
So using the right methodology and having that plan lined up in front of you and saying this is the route I’m going to go, that’s a fundamental and crucial element in success.
So we talked about eligibility and the specific tasks that you are required to do and required to pass in the Competition is something I mentioned before: you need to sit a Pre-Selection test, if you are successful there and I definitely hope that you will be and that’s what we are here for, then you are invited to the Assessment Centre which is the step number two in the Selection Process. And then if all goes well, you are placed on the Reserve List. That is already a great opportunity to open a champagne and because sooner or later and rather sooner, you will be invited to a job interview and offered a job.
Pre-Selection
How do these processes look? The Pre-Selection includes essentially five tests as you see on the screen which is, let me go back for one second. There we go.
Five tests which include classic ones, dare I say, which are Abstract Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, Accuracy and Precision, Organising and Prioritising. The first three: Abstract, Numerical and Verbal Reasoning are conducted in language one, so that’s why it’s very important to choose carefully and with a lot of forethought which is going to be your language one. Because, well, for Abstract Reasoning language is not very important but for Numerical and especially Verbal Reasoning, the language you’ve reading comprehension and ability to quickly answer those questions are very, very important. And then the Accuracy and Precision and the Organising and Prioritising will be conducted already in your second language.
So a few words on this: you have the Abstract Reasoning which is a little bit like an IQ test and always the need to find the next in the series. Meaning if you see these abstract or maybe not so abstract charts on the screen trying to define and decide which one is the logical next one that follows in the line.
Alright. So this is sometimes moving parts or rotating or shifting or taking a different shape which is something that you need to look at and need to identify.
Right, and then going further, Numerical Reasoning is again based on numbers and based on the certain numerical logic where you need to identify relevant fields in a chart and make fairly basic calculations under time pressure. And then again the point is not so much of whether or not you can solve a certain riddle or solve a certain mathematical problem but the question is whether you can do it under time pressure.
And that’s a very, very important element because most people would be able to find these answers but it’s very hard to do it under a strict deadline and high pressure environment.
Right, and in Numerical Reasoning in this example, you see the different elements need to be identified, others ruled out so this is a very important first tip in Numerical Reasoning methodology, is excluding elements on a chart so it doesn’t confuse you and it keeps your focus and increases your speed. So the kind of reasoning skill layers that you are required to possess is this four step methodology that you first interpret the data. What do I need, what is important for solving this specific problem, what is the reasoning that I need to use? Do I need to add, multiply or subtract something? Do I need to compare two proportions or get a percentage?
And then ideally you should be able to do an estimation which means you save time because you may not necessarily need to calculate everything for specifically but you have rough idea which amount is bigger, which one is smaller and you have a good understanding of which could be the right answer. Sometimes, though, you need to calculate specific amounts.
And then going further when it comes to the Verbal Reasoning, there’s always a text passage, there’s always question with four statements and only one correct answer which is different from other systems or other systems might use different types of Verbal Reasoning. If you are familiar with the GMAT which is the American Exam to enter Business schools and there could be other variants or other types of Verbal Reasoning but this one that EPSO uses always has four statements and a single correct answer. So you need to be careful about the outside information because one of the correct answers or one of the incorrect answers may refer to a piece of information which is not contained in the text.
So if the text talks about the EU-Ukraine relation and then the text has nothing to do with Russia, it doesn’t mention anything about Russia but then one of the answer options does mention Russia in its description then it’s probably outside information and that easily confuses candidates because you may have read about it in the news, you may have some prior knowledge, but when it comes to strictly speaking the text passage, yet it simply not in the passage.
And then there could be generalisation so one of the answer options could be too broad and to say that all life outside planet Earth is a living organism and this maybe a very broad statement but in the text passage it only talked about some primitive bacteria that they found on Mars. So this may be a too broad statement and because of this feature it is simply not true and then one of the answer options could be a possibility versus effects so something that’s specifically containing the passage as opposed to a possibility. And then similar wording: a play with synonyms or homonyms and different wordings which may give you the impression, yeah this might be true if they say that this, let’s say the text talks about social benefits and it says this is highly coveted by a lot of, lot of social groups and then one of the answer options says this is desired by lot of social groups so whether coveted and desired, are these two words, do they have the same meaning or they actually have a slightly different interpretation. So these are the kind of tricks that are applied in the Verbal Reasoning text and given that you sit these tests in language one which is the language that you certainly master very, very well, in principle they should not be a big issue. But again, given the time pressure and given the need to read the text extremely fast and interpret the four answer options very fast this is what poses a challenge and requires practice.
Going further the Accuracy and Precision, it has charts similar to the one that you see on screen. By the way as a footnote, we developed all our tests 100% on the basis of EPSO tests. Of course nothing is copied but everything is inspired by the way EPSO runs these tests and we get constant feedback from participants. And we do ask everyone to provide us feedback how our preparation materials compared to the real test so we constantly fine-tuned and constantly update the test to make sure that you get the best possible preparation that you can find online to make sure that when you sit in the test center in front of the computer, no surprises happen even when it comes to the interface or the position of the icons or the timer and this even the tiniest bits of pieces of the interface that you can find.
So regarding the Accuracy and Precision, the kind of chart that you see, you have different icons and you have different categories and all you need to do if you look at the bottom of it with this line number two is make sure where is the error. So what piece, which piece of information may not be correct and it’s a purely a proofreading kind of exercise with visual elements with icons and tables and stuff like that which on the face of it is extremely easy but again what makes it very hard is that you need to answer 40 questions in 10 minutes. So it’s very, very challenging to do that and it’s perfectly fine if you cannot finish it because I don’t know of anyone who can really finish it properly but then the question is how far can you get and how many correct answers can you get in the shortest amount of time. And then you have this is just what you see on the screen where the errors could be.
And then when it comes to the method of Accuracy and Precision, it’s pretty much error finding. You need to look at the numerical data whether the comma or the dot with the numericals is at the right spot, whether the text is properly spelled if you find a typo, and then you can look at the pictograms and icons, are they in the proper column or the proper box and make sure that you can identify it very, very fast.
And then going further: Organising and Prioritising, it requires more intellectual input because it’s a bit similar to Numerical Reasoning because you need to think about practical organising skills. So as if you were an Assistant who was required to help with finding a solution for cars, so if you look at the text, it says you need to reach transport for nine people, nine colleagues to the airport using chauffeur car service and here are the prices and which is, how much would it cost if price is the main factor.
So we know here that there is a driver so that’s an extra person plus the nine people so it’s ten people and then there is a price which is the main factor so you look at the different considerations and then you find which one works best.
So nine passengers, two drivers because that’s what the description says, so you will certainly be able to find which is the most suitable option.
So the problems there are real work problems so you need to use a lot of common sense. You compare different products, different services which is probably something you do even in your daily life. Lot of logical reasoning is required. Usually it’s one table and there are multiple questions linked to that given table and there are numbers, there’s text, timetables, so as I said it’s a bit similar to Numerical Reasoning with less mathematics and more common sense, more organisational skills and practical skills.
Scoring
So how do they score all of these?
As in any other EPSO competition, there’s always a Pass Mark which is an objective number that you need to have, so for instance in this case of this test that the Verbal Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning it’s scored together so there is (I’ll explain that in the next slide).
So there’s a Pass Mark and once they have a list of people who passed this objective mark, let’s say thousand people, then they look at the best, the top X number of candidates. So that’s where the concept of a competition, a concours, comes into play because you not only need to pass a certain test but you need to be among the highest scoring ones. So that makes the relative element, brings the relative element into the calculation.
So then you have here the Scoring chart, so Accuracy and Precision, Organising and Prioritising, they are considered jointly and the pass mark is 40. So to get the pass mark you might, of course this is just an extreme theoretical exercise to say, you could have 0 point on the Accuracy and Precision, 40 points on the Organising and Prioritising and then you will get the pass mark though you may not be among the top candidates but you still passed the objective hurdle.
And then when it comes to Verbal and Abstract Reasoning, these two are counted together so as you see Verbal Reasoning is on a scale of 20 which usually means that there are 20 questions, Abstract Reasoning means 0-10 so there are usually 10 questions which, if you add to that is 30 points so the pass mark is usually 50% that’s why it’s 15 points.
So again if you answer 0 Abstract Reasoning and all Verbal Reasoning correctly, you can still go ahead but then again comes the question, are you among the top candidates?
All of these is counted together when they establish the ranking of the top candidates. And the interesting thing here and the reason why I put this in Italics and blue is the Numerical Reasoning because it’s scored on a scale of 0-10 and there’s only a pass mark. So the result, the scores you get for Numerical Reasoning does not count in the overall scoring that they base your application on.
So Numerical Reasoning, all you need to do in Numerical Reasoning is pass whether it’s with 4 points if you are in the Administrative support or Secretarial or with 5 points whether if you’re in Financial support field but all you need to do is pass.
Of course you want to answer all questions, of course you want to make sure that you maximize your chances but the fact if you pass with 5 points or with 10 points, it doesn’t make a difference from the perspective of the overall scoring.
So once you’ve done the Pre-Selection and you passed not just the objective pass marks but you are among the top number of candidates then you are admitted to the Assessment Centre.
How many people are invited to the Assessment Centre? According to EPSO Practice and also mentioned in the Notice of Competition, at least twice as many as there are places so the numbers I showed at one of the beginning of the presentation, you double that. Possible two-and-a-half times that number.
So for instance if there are 98 places in one of the fields then they are going to invite at least 196 people to the Assessment Centre possible a couple dozen more.
It’s very hard in advance to say how many people are going to be eligible if the threshold to pass the scoring is for instance 50 points or if it’s 51 points. So that’s why they cannot give a specific precise number but they can give the indication of how many people are going to be invited.
So if you are invited to the Assessment Centre then there’s a very good opportunity or good chance that you can make it till the very end because your chances are roughly 1:2, so in that case your preparation can be even more targeted and your dedication can increase even more.
This is done in language two. So what type of exercises are there in the Assessment Centre? This is just a snapshot and you certainly will have more time to look into the details when you look at the presentation of the recording but just too quickly give you a rough idea: the specific competencies are tested and so-called general competencies are tested.
And the general competencies, the right side of the screen is the E-tray exercise which is an interactive exercise on a computer screen. A bit similar to Situational Judgement because you are presented with a scenario. You need to read through a number of emails and you need to answer questions of what is the most desirable action to take and the least desirable action to take.
I’m happy to let you know that we have E-tray exercise on our website – a free demo, something you can test yourself with, you can familiarize yourself with and we are also developing extra E-tray exercises because there is a big demand from candidates to practice more for this important exercise.
And then there’s also a Structured Interview which is not a classic job interview. It’s a specific kind of interview which tries to look at your skills and competences. You are going to find a huge amount of information, free e-book, free tips and tricks and the recorded webinars and even personal coaching opportunities on our website so I encourage you to look at that when you get to that stage.
And then if you look at the left side of the screen, you see that there are the specific competencies are also tested in the Assessment Centre which are these specific competencies related to the field that you have applied for. So whether it’s Administrator or Administration, whether it’s Financial or it’s Secretarial, the tests are slightly different in this kind of exercise so it’s an office skill test, practical test or for the Financial, it’s financial skill test and also practical test on your spelling syntax and grammar. And then there could be a practical test on Word, Microsoft Word, Excel formatting exercise and also a practical test on spelling syntax and grammar.
So that’s the Assessment Centre and if all goes well, you are placed on the Reserve List. And then you are eligible to be invited for job interviews and be offered a job as a permanent EU official.
So each Reserve List has a validity, it’s usually one year though it most cases it’s until the next similar competition is launched by EPSO which might be beyond one year. Of course their aim is to recruit as many people as possible from the Reserve List because that’s the very reason why they ranked the competition.
So it’s in everyone’s best interest that you get hired as soon as possible and to the most relevant job and at the most relevant institution.
So how to get it? I mentioned some of this tips and this might sound a bit, bit commonplace but I do know it for a fact because we’ve done numerous surveys and we’ve done research and we’ve asked our users, several thousands of users how did they succeed. We asked those who succeeded, they said well we practiced for a long time. We practiced for eight weeks, twelve weeks, long time. Depends definitely on your personal attitude how good you are in Mathematics, how good you are in Verbal Reasoning, etc. etc. but still in terms of to get to that speed and get to that accuracy, practice was always important. Preparing regularly not just in a rush a few days before the exam but regularly, half an hour every day or every second day. Learning the methodology and doing simulation even with colleagues.
So Numerical Reasoning, it’s a screenshot from our very own interface and we have a practice mode, we have an exam mode, you can take notes in the exam in the interface. And we have the Verbal Reasoning in several languages something I am personally extremely proud of and on behalf of my team, I’m certainly proud of that we offer a Verbal Reasoning in 12 languages which is very unique in this field I believe. Because we offer Verbal Reasoning and I do admit in languages that I can’t fully understand, I can’t even read which includes Greek and Bulgarian and other languages but it’s great, it’s great to see on our interface and the feedback from our users that they could practice in these languages and they could succeed in the Verbal Reasoning test as a result of their preparation.
Accuracy Tests the same story for French, English and even Danish and the Dutch we have all these tests and the Organising and Prioritising tests and various other preparation.
And the discount code that everyone is eligible for and may benefit from is the following which is 15% off so it’s EPSOSEC15 which is valid for 48 hours from now on. And we will of course send out the full recording very, very soon in a few hours.
Thank you very much for your attention.