We are happy to inform you that the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) has just announced a new competiton for assistants in the parliamentary field.
This is the first time such a competition (EPSO/AST/134/14) is launched, so it’s a brand new opportunity for all who wish to work in the centre of the European Union, close to decision-making. They are looking for 30 candidates to draw up a reserve list. Would you give it a try?
The deadline for application is 13 January 2015 at 12.00 (midday), Brussels time.
As a future assistant, you will work for one or more of the following fields relating to parliamentary assistance:
- assistance in parliamentary work (e.g. preparation of official documents and sending them for translation, assistance in planning and organising meetings, reception of invited visitors, keeping electronic registers and files, assistance with missions and events outside the three places of work of the European Parliament (Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg)
- communication activities (e.g. assistance in drafting explanatory texts for the general public, producing and finalising page layout, updating websites, drafting newsletters)
- correspondence and mail management (e.g. mailbox processing, preparation and sending e-mails)
- support tasks relating to the daily work of a committee/delegation/unit secretariat (e.g. general assistance, administrative support)
Required skills for the work:
- as you will use specific IT tools, you are required to have good IT literacy skills
- you will need excellent communication skills for making connections with different assistants, officers and outside stakeholders
- the duties may require travel away from Brussels regularly, namely to Strasbourg during the European Parliament’s part-sessions.
Eligibility:
- you must be a citizen of one of the Member States of the EU
- you need to have a post-secondary diploma in a relevant field and at least three years’ professional experience, OR a secondary diploma followed by at least six years’ professional experience
- your main language has to be one of the EU official languages (preferably your mother tongue), and you should have satisfactory knowledge of English, French or German as your second language
If the number of candidates exceeds a certain threshold, EPSO will organise the following computer-based admission tests:
- verbal reasoning
- numerical reasoning and
- abstract reasoning in your main language.
If admission tests are not held, these reasoning tests will form part of the second stage of evaluation in the assessment centre. After the tests, the selection will be based mainly on your qualifications and selected candidates will be invited to the assessment centre.
You can find more details in the notice of competition.
To best prepare for the tests:
Online EU Training offers verbal reasoning tests in 12 languages (Bulgarian, German, English, Spanish, French, Greek, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Romanian), along with numerical and abstract reasoning tests in English and French.
We also offer practice materials for the Assessment Centre examinations.
If you are interested in applying for the competition, you can find useful tips and tricks on exam strategies and competiton structures and a large number of free preparational materials on our site.
If you would like to know how much you could earn in this position before you decide to apply, you can also check out our online EU salary calculation tool.
Photo credit: David Iliff