IMPORTANT: this article refers to the previous EPSO exam system before March 2010 and may only be partially relevant for the new one
We have received a personal story from Milena (Bulgaria) who has recently been recruited by the European Commission. She has agreed to share with others her experiences and insights which we thought would be very useful - so here it goes:
"I've always wanted to work for the EU but it seemed only privileged people can do that - which is plain wrong, though now that I'm about to start at the Commission, I also feel privileged :-) Two years ago, however, I started the long road to an EU job: searching on the internet, checking EPSO's website and contacting people on Facebook to find out how the procedure goes and if I have a chance at all. During my preparation, I realised many things and collected some advice for others that you may wish to share with your readers. First, my own motivation was the key to success. Several times I almost gave up: waiting for the results and the length of the recruitment procedurewas very frustrating as I didn't know if I passed or not, or whether I should already prepare for the next stage. My advice is that as soon as you get news from EPSO (i.e. they admitted you to the exam or to the next phase), immediately start collecting materials and practice tests online. Many friends left it to the last minute thinking they can cover all materials - they couldn't and failed. I had a weekly plan to study about two hours every night after I put my children to sleep, and a bit more on Sundays. I think a consistent preparation pays off, especially when you have to memorize "crazy" things like which policy is under co-decision or cooperation procedure.
While the EU part is a lot of studying, it is still possible to learn. But numerical reasoning?! I was terrified of numerical reasoning!! I really have no sense of numbers, and I had no idea what secret method I could apply to pass. In fact, the secret method is practicing day and night: I bought an Unlimited package, and did at least one full test with 50 verbal and numerical reasoning questions every second day. I also realised the small tricks of how to speed up my calculation by excluding unnecessary data from the tables, applying proportions instead of actually counting, memorising the % ratios and decimals, and being very focused on the question. This way I managed to increase my correct answers from 8 to 38 (out of 50) while I decreased the "exam time" from 75 minutes to 50. It paid off - I passed the pre-selection!
The written part was much easier for me as I'm a graduate in English literature. What really helped in fact was that three weeks before the exam I had prepared five full essays with names, numbers and loads of data on topics that I thought were quite likely to come up. Two very similar topics did in fact come up, which made me shiver, though this is no rocket science: the essay is always a broad topic with a focus on current affairs. As I memorised my home-made essays quite well, all I had to do was pick the one I remembered most and voila, an essay with so many concrete info that the jury probably thought I had access to Google in the exam hall.
Finally, the oral exam was a bit tricky: I had to travel to Brussels (which was later reimbursed, otherwise I couldn't have afforded it), but the flight was late so I arrived to the hotel almost at midnight. The exam was at 9.00 in the morning the next day, and to my misfortune, bus drivers were on strike the whole morning! In the end I arrived two minutes before the start, which was not a very pleasant feeling, but the jury was quite understanding (even though they were 5 people!). My advice is to give yourself enough time to arrive, find the place etc., making sure you have a 'Plan B' in case something goes wrong. The exam itself was quite tough, with lots of open-ended questions like 'What do you think about the EU's response to the financial crisis?' or 'What major trade or other sensitive issues can you mention in EU-US relations?'. I heard from friends doing law that they were asked about recent case law on the Laval-case and other legal stuff like the upcoming telecoms package. I learned that it's very important to read the news and be up-to-date for the oral exam.
All in all, the procedure is quite tough and rather long (I heard EPSO wants to shorten it from next year which is great) and you must always be very very well prepared for each stage. As I said above, the most important it to keep up your motivation all the time, because you either seriously decide to get an EU career or shouldn't even start at all. Good luck!"