The European Union with its official bodies and institutions offers a wide range of career opportunities and is an attractive employer for many applicants. EU institutions include the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the EU Commission, the European Court of Justice and many other organisations ranging from the European Court of Auditors to the Committee of the Regions.
In 2023 alone, all these EU institutions had around 1,300 posts to fill. Anyone who is enthused by European ideas, is an EU citizen and shares European values such as peace, freedom, democracy, equality and human rights will find very interesting job prospects at EU institutions. The subjects and areas of work are extremely international and varied – for example, climate change, digital communications, migration, economic development and the sciences to name just a few.
The EU offers different career paths. Firstly, there is the generalist career path which requires a degree in law, economics or public administration. Secondly, there are the specialised careers for which experts are recruited from the fields of technology, medicine, finance or translation.

The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is responsible for the procedure for selecting permanent employees and contract staff, who are generally given fixed-term contracts. The EPSO website provides extensive information about current vacancies, the selection procedure and requirements and also includes sample exercises by way of preparation.
Before making an application, you first create a personal account containing personal details and information on education and continuous training. Requirements on the level of training and work experience vary depending on the personnel category. For example, the generalists do not require special work experience, just a university bachelor's degree. In contrast, for the specialists appropriate work experience in addition to specialised training is crucial.

In the past, participation in the selection procedure, called the EU Concours or competition, used to be complex and time consuming. Since 2023, the entire application process is shorter and only takes place online.

What it is important to know is that normally you apply to be included in the pool of applicants, called the reserve list. It is not unusual for the process to last for six to nine months from making the application to getting on to the list.
The EU Concours involves exercises and test procedures, based on a newly designed competence model (see box below). There are three steps in the selection process. First are multiple choice tests on verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning. The second step contains different knowledge tests. In the third step applicants work through a case study and a written test on an EU topic.
Candidates with the best results in the three selection steps are included in the reserve list. When relevant vacancies arise, they are contacted by the EU institutions and invited to attend a job interview.
The job interview assesses competence. It is essential to investigate the current competence model in detail and prepare thoroughly for possible questions that relate to competence. You should also produce your own practical examples so that you have evidence and can demonstrate your own competencies in a convincing way.

It is absolutely essential to prepare for the EU Concours thoroughly but this is also very time consuming. Experience has shown that you should allow ten to twelve weeks for this and invest around ten hours a week on preparation.
Multiple-choice tests require a methodological approach and you have to practice them. It's all about practise, practise and more practise. Very good practical training opportunities, including many simulated training sessions, are available. Knowledge of the EU should also be up to date and, here too, extensive material can be found on the EPSO website. The same applies to the competence-based interview. Interview training is also advisable in order to prepare.

An application to EU institutions may be an interesting career opportunity for specialists returning from development assignments and the chances here are very good, if the criteria are met.

Website European Personel Selection Office

The text was published in transfer issue 01-2024 “Working in the public sector”

Stephanie Boeker is Graduate psychologist at the zfm - Zentrum für Management- und Personalberatung (Centre for Management and HR Consultancy). As an HR manager, she supports the AGdD seminars on job application training.