EU hopefuls swarm to EU examinations
Some nervous, some hopeful and some relaxed but all queuing up for the 'Concours' (Photo: EUobserver)
HELENA SPONGENBERG
30.03.2006 @ 09:30 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Across the European Union, more than 20,000 wannabe EU civil servants took part in a competitive exam on Wednesday, with a further 21,000 lining up for another one on Friday.
But 97.5 percent will not make it to the final list of successful candidates, says EPSO, the organisation holding the exams.
It is the first ever exam - popularly named Concours - for citizens from all 25 member states and the first in eight years for people from the bloc’s 15 older members states.
Of the 41,000 examinees, only 2.5 percent will make it to the final reserve list of successful candidates and even then, unless hopefuls actually get their foot inside the door by being called up by the Commission with a job offer, they will be kicked off the list after two years.
Recruitment of civil servants to the EU institutions have for the past eight years been confined to candidates from the 10 new member states, to level out the difference in old and new member state staff.
In Brussels, hordes of people - mainly in their early 20s to late 30s - showed up at the Brussels 1958 World Fair Expo centre where 6000 tables and chairs had been set up in three massive rooms.
Another 14,000 candidates were spread out in different centres across the 25 member states.
At 10am, nervous examinees were handed a pre-selection test of multiple choice questions. In the afternoon, candidates had to pick an essay topic from a choice of titles.
Candidates passing both the pre-selection test and the written test will be invited for the final oral test in autumn.
"I will do my best," said 33 year old Ana from Poland before entering the examination centre. She passed the Concours for new member states last year and hopes another Concours will enhance her chances for getting a civil servant job.
However, even for civil servants already working in one of the EU institutions, a successful Concours exam could mean an advance in ranks.
'Generation internship'
"I would like to go up to a higher level," said Jan - a 37 year old Bruxellois - who already works for the EU. "I'm being very relaxed about it all as I heard on the radio this morning that around 97 percent of everybody doing the Concours will fail," he explained.
"My life will start again after today" said 28 year old Rebecca from Germany. She said it was sometimes hard to study and have a full-time job at the same time.
"It's no surprise there are so many young people here doing the Concours. The conditions in the Commission are much better than elsewhere," she said, pointing out that she came from "generation praktikum" where young people go from internship to internship working without any social benefits and many times even without pay.
For the few successful candidates who eventually will sign a contract with one of the EU institutions, the working conditions are indeed very good.
Employment conditions include high salaries, security, health benefits, allowances and low taxation.
Wednesday’s test was for jobs as general administrators and the four other tests on Friday will be for administrators in the specialist areas of law, economy and statistics as well as in financial or project management.
Later this year, EPSO will organise a series of competitions for citizens from the new member states and the two acceding countries, Bulgaria and Romania.