WIREDGOV

Wednesday, 16 March, sees the opening of the second annual EU Careers 'Administrator' recruitment drive, which aims to attract applications from the best of the best from across Europe to work in fields such as Law, Economics and policy development.

In line with the aim to attract the very best talent to work at the EU Institutions, the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) will, for the first time, accept applications from those still in their final year of undergraduate study, allowing the EU to compete with top recruiters from across the public and private sectors.

A further change for this year's selection procedure is that a key part of the assessment process will now be available in all 23 of the official EU languages. Demonstrating the EU Institutions' commitment to multilingualism, applicants will now for the first time sit verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning tests in their main language. This change is especially important considering that all of the main EU selection procedures are open to citizens from all 27 member states.

Welcoming these modifications, which follow on the heels of the major modernisation of the selection procedures which took place in 2010, Maroš Šefčovič, Commission Vice-President for Inter-institutional Relations and Administration, stated:

"The EU Institutions offer careers that talented Europeans should have at the top of their list when looking at where they wish to work. I am delighted that, with these new changes, we can target the very best students from across the continent and that, with our new multilingual testing, we can further meet our commitment to a multilingual European Union- where languages, and talent, can cross borders as easily as possible."

Another change brought in for 2011 is a split between applications for recent graduates and for those with professional experience- allowing those who have at least six years experience in their field to enter at a higher level.

Yves Quitin, Chair of the EPSO Management Board and Director General for Personnel at the European Parliament, welcomed the launch of the new selection procedure and the additional improvements:

"It is great for those of us across the institutions that the selection procedures for EU officials continue to improve and develop. I am especially pleased that we will be allowing applicants at two grades- the EU institutions need a broad range of staff, both enthusiastic graduates and those with a few years of experience. We want our workforce to represent the full strength and depth of the European population."

These modifications further improve upon the radical overhaul successfully implemented by EPSO in 2010. This introduced an annual cycle of key selection procedures, making application periods more predictable for interested applicants, and a greater focus on competency and skill.

The final key improvement was to the speed and efficiency of the application process which has allowed large selection procedures to be carried out in just 10 months, instead of 2 years under the previous system, and smaller procedures to be reduced to just 6 months.

David Bearfield, Director of EPSO, said: "We at EPSO are proud of our achievements over the past year, helping to improve the applicant's experience and to ensure that the EU institutions can attract the very best talent. However, we cannot rest on our laurels and these major improvements- and smaller changes such as more test centres across the world and self-selection tests for applicants- show that we are dedicated to further modernisation and development."

Overall the 2011 selection procedure will be aiming to identify around 300 successful candidates to become new EU officials, serving the interests of over 500 million citizens across Europe.

Interested applicants can find out more and apply online at www.eu-careers.eu. The registration period closes at midday CET (Brussels time) on 14 April 2011.