Would you believe it? A year has already passed since EPSO launched its brand new recruitment system, starting with the recruitment of EU officials in March last year. Now the 2011 AD cycle is about to be launched again, and offers more and better opportunities than ever! Why? Here are the top 7 reasons:
- AD5 & AD7 both available: you not only have administrator exams open for anyone from the European Union’s 27 Member States, but you can even choose between AD5 and AD7 levels. The former is entry-level, whereas the latter is for professionals who have at least 6 years of work experience since they obtained their diploma. This also shows in the salary prospects: for AD7, the starting salary (depending on various circumstances) is above 5000 euro net per month.
- Graduates are welcome: getting an EU job is now possible for those who are in their last year of university studies (B.A or M.A) as long as you get your diploma before the reserve list comes out sometime in February 2012. So law students, economists, language students, historians and scientist: EPSO welcomes you with their arms and doors wide open.
- Your EU mother tongue is appreciated: starting from this March, pre-selection tests, meaning verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning and numerical reasoning for EU administrators can be taken in any of the European Union’s 23 official languages, independent of your citizenship. So if you are Romanian who lives in London, you can take the tests in Romanian or you can choose English or Latvian, provided you are an EU citizen and the chosen language is among the EU official ones… and, obviously, you speak that language perfectly. The situational judgment tests (SJT) are most likely still going to be in English, French or German only (to be confirmed), similarly to the exams in the assessment centre. The great news is that Online EU Training offers verbal reasoning tests in 16 EU languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Polish and Greek (available from 15 March).
- You can take EPSO tests anywhere in the world: finding an EU job should have no barriers, and from this year the Personnel Selection Office offers the possibility to take the pre-selection tests in any of the 37 locations around the globe! If your destiny has taken you to be a volunteer worker in Brasil or a backpacker in Thailand, you can find the place closest to your location where the first exam can be taken. No more costly flights, hotels and lots of time to find a test centre: simply book a date and go to the nearest location.
- A large selection of profiles and domains: similarly to last year, the 2011 exams are also offering you the chance to select your area of expertise and get a great EU job at the European Commission, the Parliament, European Court of Justice or any other EU institution with the right profile: you can apply for European Public Administration, Economics, Law, Finance, Audit and Statistics, offering a large variety of choices and career paths.
- Tons of free information on how to prepare: this is the information age, and never before could you get so many tips, hints and tricks for free as in 2011 on how to prepare for the administrator exams. We offer you several free online EU tests, tons of advice and tips, FREE information webcasts and methodology webinars, dozens of study materials, a number of professionally written free e-books, a highly interactive Facebook page, a popular forum, super-fast free advice, and even some background knowledge to prepare for the EU career and the Assessment Centre in the form of interactive e-learning courses on EU institutions, European affairs and policies. Take advantage of this huge opportunity and we are positive you will succeed in getting an EU career!
- The annual cycle EPSO system works as planned: as with every new system, there are always some risks and teething problems, but the reformed, streamlined EU selection procedure has proven to be a success: 308 names have appeared in the reserve list within less than a year from the start of the first competition, which is encouraging and promising for all future candidates as well. This also means that you can count on a relatively speedy selection in which the exams are announced on 16 March 2011, the pre-selection tests are likely to take place in April and May, the results are probably out by mid- or late June, the assessment centre is organized from mid-September until mid-December, and the list is out by late January-early February. Works like a charm – so time start preparing! :)