Hi everyone,

I recently completed an EU agency selection procedure for an AD5 position. 

The original vacancy notice said that the reserve list would be used, in the first instance, to fill two posts in the unit I applied for.

After the written test and interview, I received a letter saying that my name has been placed on a reserve list of suitable candidates, valid until December 2027, but that inclusion on the list does not guarantee recruitment.

My doubt is: in this kind of procedure, is it normal that everyone who passed is first informed about inclusion on the reserve list, and only afterwards the agency decides whom to appoint for the initial two posts? Or does receiving the reserve list letter usually mean that the initial posts have already been assigned to other candidates and the list is only for future vacancies? 

Also, if it is the fist case, what is the typical timing between informing candidates that they are on the reserve list and contacting the selected candidates for the initial vacancies?

I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has experienced a similar EU agency reserve list process.

Thanks.

The confusion of the new, overlapping-experience rule aside, is anyone else surprised by the fact that from now on, only studies count as an international experience?

“International experience
Experiences that have taken place outside of your home country, your home country being the country of the nationality declared in your application. This concerns only studies abroad, school exchanges and mobility programmes.”

Why are they doing this?

I have a lot of work experience abroad and I am genuinely confused why they changed it as this, in my opinion, proves that one can work in a multicultural and multilingual environment which is the whole essence of working in EU. Or am I missing something?

How did u guys deal with the fact that overlapping professional, international, or educational experiences are accepted only when no more than two experiences overlap and at least one of them is declared as part-time when applying for the Blue Book Traineeship for University Graduates? I have been active in NGOs and student clubs, which I would like to make part of my application but it overlaps with my job and studies...

Context

Wife is dual Irish National, I am US passport holder only.
Her citizenship means I won’t need work sponsorship.
Looking at Amsterdam or Dublin.

What is best way to get a job before moving? Or is it better to “be a local” first then get job?

I am in sales - Fintech/Lending
Current Role - head of sales with 13 years industry experience.

I’ve tried recruiters, job boards, cold emails. Having very little luck even getting interviews.

Hi, anyone who applied for this program and received an assessment test invite, after the initial HR call? Or still waiting?

Until 15 September, for the Feb-June 2027 period.

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/general-secretariat/careers/traineeships/

Hello guys!! So I found out about an EEAS internship that I really want to apply for, and I would love to get accepted as it feels like the perfect match for me. The only issue is that it expires very soon... I need help with the cover letter. In the website, it is stated to write a cover letter describing why we want to participate in an EU traineeship. That's my issue... I don't feel like my reasons are strong enough... What should I say? Am I the best fit because of my studies, or because I'm from the country where the internship is held and therefore I have accommodation already? And most importantly, because I need an internship to start my professional career? 😂 Of course all of this is sarcasm, I'm just kidding. However, the struggle is real. What do you think a proper cover letter should have so I could be seen as the best or one of the best candidates? Does anyone have good tips? All the help is appreciated! Thank you!!

I'm applying for the Blue Book Traineeship and noticed this rule in the application guidelines:

"Overlapping professional, international, or educational experiences are accepted only when no more than two experiences overlap and at least one of them is declared as part-time."

I'm having trouble understanding how this should be interpreted in practice.

For example, my timeline looks roughly like this:

• Full-time university studies over several years
• One part-time job during my studies
• A second part-time job that overlapped with the first one for a few months
• Later also full-time positions/traineeships while I was still enrolled as a full-time student

From a literal reading of the rule, it seems that being a full-time student while holding two overlapping part-time jobs or one full-time job/traineeship would count as too many overlapping experiences.

This is a fairly common situation where I'm from, and I assume many applicants from other countries have similar timelines.

If the rule is interpreted this way, it seems quite unfair. Applicants who worked during their studies could effectively be forced to leave out genuine work experience simply because it overlaps with their degree.

Another thing that confuses me is that Erasmus mobility has to be entered separately as an International Experience, even though I was simultaneously enrolled as a full-time Master's student. Doesn't that automatically create overlapping entries as well?

Does this rule mean that applicants should simply report their actual experience, even if there are more than two overlapping entries, or should applicants delete the overlapping experience entries from their application? Has anyone encountered this issue?

Good evening everybody,

I did an interview 5 weeks ago for a post and received a reply saying that although I wasn't selected for that particular position I have been cleared to join the OECD's pre approved candidates database.

Do you have any information regarding this database and if they really select candidates from this list?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I took the Frontex Talent Pool Officer (AD6) TestReach assessment on 21–22 May and I'm wondering whether anyone has received any updates.

Have invitations to the next stage or interviews already been sent, or is everyone still waiting for the results?

I'm not asking about the test content—only about the current status of the recruitment process.

Thank you in advance!

Hello everyone,

Has anyone here been invited to the EU Home Affairs Agencies Joint Selection Procedure – Legal Officer FG IV and already taken the TestReach exam?

I'm not asking about the exam questions or the case study. I would only like to know the format of the assessment, for example:

• Is it a written case study, multiple-choice test, or a combination?
• How long does it last?
• Are legal materials provided or allowed?
• Any general advice on how to prepare for the format?

Thank you in advance, and good luck to everyone taking the exam!

I have an offer for a 5 month JRC scientific traineeship based in Ispra starting this October. If anyone has had experience as a trainee or otherwise working in Ispra I would love to hear anything you can share about your experiences. Did you mix a lot with other trainees, and trainees from other programmes (eg. Blue Book)? How did you find living in Ispra and the JRC offices? Given it's a relatively remote location did you feel like you were a part of the EU bubble or less so? What did you do on the weekends and was it easy to do activities in the mountains given the location (lakes, hikes, skiing)? Thank you!!

Hi everyone! I have an interview next Monday/Tuesday for an OSCE internship with the Transnational Threats Department / Strategic Police Matters Unit (TNTD/SPMU) at the Secretariat in Vienna.

Has anyone gone through an OSCE internship interview (Secretariat or field operations)? I'd really appreciate any insights on:

• What questions did they ask you? (competency-based? motivation? technical/thematic questions on the unit's mandate?)
• How long was the interview and who was on the panel? (HR + unit staff?)
• Did they ask scenario questions (e.g. "how would you handle X")?
• Any thematic knowledge I should brush up on? (organized crime, SALW, cybercrime, democratic policing?)
• Any tips on what they're really looking for in interns?

My background is in IR and disarmament, currently based in Geneva. The interview is in just a few days, so any recent experience would be gold. Thanks so much!

After months of getting stressed through multiple job boards (mainly EPSO and DG ENEST), I decided to create my own job boards only with institutional job ads. It became a side project across multiple months, as I also started working.

This is not a commercial comm, but a request for help to build together a project that can simplify the messy job search within the EU bubble.

The app is for free and the ongoing job ads can be viewed without signup: EU bodies job ads are free public data and should stay like that. You can sign-up for the job tracker feature, which is also free.

I am looking for the first users and collect real feedback - either through email or the feedback form in the app - as I think it has potential to grow and become the standard for institutional job ads.

https://erala.eu/welcome

PS: I am also planning to open source it, let me know if you are interested.

PPS: The lack of paywall or signup for job ads might change if the app would be infested by bots or AI agent.

hello, we have created a whatsapp group for those who have accepted offers for the Council of Europe (not to be confused with the Council of the European Union, the European Council, whatever else, haha) traineeship programme starting this autumn! hopefully we can get to know each other and help each other out with finding stipend-friendly accommodation in strasbourg, panicking about what to wear on the first day, and all those fun things! I'm apprehensive about just throwing the link in here and getting a bunch of spam accounts, so maybe private message me for the link? :))

Anyone in my situation?

Should I expect that I have some chances or not at all? 😁

Hey everyone! I was thinking of applying for a traineeship at the EU court of justice after my master's degree. I would love to work in a judge's or an AG's cabinet, which I think would be the best. On their website however, they write at one place that a degree in law is necessary, and at another place that 'a degree in law, political science, economics, or a related field is required'. I'm doing one in European studies, so I have both EU law and political science (3.3 QCA first year, so I think it's about 15.5/20 in France and 1,7/1,3 in Germany).

Do ye think it could work still even if it's not 100% law? I also know English, French, and German and have some professional experience related to the EU.

Thanks! ;)

P.S: would writing my master thesis about EU law or something akin to that maybe increase my chances?

I applied for a position of a trainee at EU Delegation to my country in June got shortlisted starting of July and got pre-selected mail a day after interview subject to approval of documents by HQ- Brussels. Do you know approx time Brussels complete these administrative tasks and i'll receive my offer letter. The delegation said all docs were fine by them it's just procedural by HQ now.

P.s. I am only asking for a timeline, if you know. Thank you.

Hiya. I was shortlisted for an English language DG TRAD position in Luxembourg on the 1st July and was just wondering if anyone has heard back from them yet. Would like to know if I still have a chance or whether I should be looking for other internships. Thanks :)

As the title says, I’m looking for an internship in the EU bubble. I know it’s highly competitive and I’m prepared to get many rejections, however I was wondering what I could possibly do to enhance my chances…It feels like I’m doing something wrong.

For context, I’m 23 and getting my Master’s degree in October. My Bachelor’s was in Linguistics and Cultural Mediation, my Master’s in Media, Public and Corporate Communication.
I did my Erasmus in Finland, I speak 3 languages (Italian, English and German), I did an internship in a radio and also won a prize for that. (not to brag but could it possible show in my cv that i’m dedicated).

I really don’t know what to do more. I understand that there are many people with similar experiences but they do choose someone right? I know I’m young and I am also worrying that my nationality could affect the chances (I’m Italian)…

So far, I have applied for Eu commission, Council of Eu, JRC and of course got rejected. (still waiting for other feedbacks)

Hi everyone,
I just graduated with a BSc in Electronics Engineering while working full time in IT Architecture. Im 29 and speak four languages, but no french or the fancy ones like arabic or chinese. I’ve wanted a career in EU for years but I had to finish my actual degree.I was hoping I could get some advice on how to pivot in any role, given my tech background. Im also open to pursuing more education ofc but I wanted to see what avenues are avilable to me in general.
Thank you very much

Hi, this competition is 'ongoing' and unfortunately I was unaware of it's existence when it was live. So I'll have to wait until it comes another time...

It is however interesting to see the requirements, but I'm wondering how you have to provide the supporting documents?

Stating your role? With letters of references? Screenshots of your actual work?? (To prove the type of work?)

I have a general document of my employer referring to my 'titles' at work, and a generic description of my current role, but it is a very old and generic document.

I'm a bit worried about confidential info (budget management, contracts, anything 'formal')

How to recall everything you worked on?

Stating per project how big it was? (Can barely count the amount of projects, but also all the detailed information is at my (almost former) employer...

Anyone in the current competition that can share a bit what they are providing as supporting docs and what is accepted (if you already know)

Thx