Categories of Staff

Working for the European Union is an opportunity to become part of the world’s most unique political and social entity.

Today’s EU is the culmination of over five decades of hard work by dedicated people striving to make life better for Europe’s 500 million citizens and helping to develop the world into a better, fairer place.

The EU needs employees motivated to continue this work and who are also eager to learn and develop their own knowledge and skills.

Applicants for positions should also be strong on analytical, organisational and communication skills and be able to adapt to a variety of environments. Working for the EU is tough, but it’s also very rewarding.

All of the jobs require knowledge of a second or even a third language. For administrators a university degree is required but graduates can sometimes make their applications in the final year of study. Candidates usually apply for positions on the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) website.

Here’s a list of the most common type of jobs available in the European Union.

• Administrators:

Administrators are permanent officials in the EU’s civil service and usually work at drafting policies and making sure EU law is implemented fairly and properly.

It’s a very responsible job that could cover the EU's legislative or budgetary processes, coordinating policies of member states, taking part in trade negotiations with non-EU countries, or representing the EU on the international stage.

• Assistants

Assistants, like Administrators, are also permanent officials who work in a supporting role carrying out secretarial, administrative, financial, communication, policy development or implementation duties.

Their job involves the internal management of the EU’s institutions, working on budgetary and financial affairs, personnel work, computing or document management.

• Contract Agents

Contract agents are recruited by EU institutions to carry out work in specialised fields and are employed for a fixed maximum period.

Positions are available for a wide range of jobs, requiring different levels of qualifications. Depending on the level, the work can include manual or administrative jobs in a number of areas including: clerical or secretarial tasks; office management; executive tasks; accountancy; advisory; or linguistic work.

• Temporary agents

Temporary agents can be employed by the EU to perform highly specialised or temporary tasks for a maximum period of six years. Interested candidates can apply to be a Temporary Agent by submitting details into the EU CV online database, which is managed by the European Commission’s Human Resources and Security DG.

Selection competitions for Temporary Agents are generally run by EU institutions and agencies themselves, rather than EPSO. Job seekers interested in becoming a Temporary Agent should regularly visit websites of the institutions and the agencies to check if opportunities are available.

• Seconded National Experts (SNEs)

SNEs are civil servants or people employed in the public sector who work temporarily for an EU Institution. They bring to Europe their experience on issues that they’re used to dealing with, and in return get a new knowledge of EU policies and procedures that they can bring back to their home administration.

SNEs work alongside EU officials, helping to achieve strategic objectives of the EU institute they’re working with. They work under the instructions of an EU official according to a detailed job description and are governed by rules that help avoid any risk of a conflict of interests.

SNEs are selected through a specific procedure, which does not involve EPSO or the EU CV database. Information about current opportunities can be obtained from the offices of the Permanent Representations of the Member States to the EU in Brussels.
The Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU is run by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs.

• Interim Staff

Some EU Institutions employ local staff on a short term and temporary basis for up to six months. These opportunities mainly involve secretarial work and employees are sourced through official temping agencies.

Applying for Positions

The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) introduced a new, easier procedure for selecting permanent staff for EU institutions in 2010.

Although it takes up to nine months to complete from start to finish, the process is actually much quicker than before with fewer steps involved in applying for a position.

Every year an annual cycle of competitions is held to decide on places for the most common jobs and a list of current open applications is published and updated regularly on the EPSO website.

Applicants first need to register on the website and EPSO has produced a useful manual packed with handy tips and advice to explain the application process in detail.

Applications are fairly detailed and even completion of the initial application form takes time, so reading the manual is important for applicants to fully understand what’s involved.

After reading the manual and filling out the application form candidates are invited to take a multiple choice, computer based test to assess their general numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning ability.

That might mean explaining a table of statistics or showing that a paragraph of text is understood and while the test itself isn’t too difficult, it’s usually done in a candidate’s chosen second language.

After the test, successful applicants are invited to Brussels for an assessment course that usually includes a group negotiation, a policy decision-making exercise, a presentation and a detailed interview.

After assessment, the best candidates are placed on a reserve list from which EU institutions select staff.

More

On 10 March 2011, Jane Pedder from the European Personnel Selection Office in Brussels gave a public lecture at the European Commission Representation in Ireland on the selection and recruitment procedures and upcoming opportunities for university graduates and final year students.

Click here [16 MB] to listen to her address.

Click here [19 MB] to listen to the Q&A that followed.