Concours (EU)

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Competitions organized by the European Personnel Selection Office to fill reserve lists for permanent staff at the institutions of the European Union are called, after the French origin of this type of selection process, Concours ; this expression is mostly used in EU jargon instead of the official German term general selection procedure .

Since the number of applicants per place on a reserve list is sometimes more than 100, a highly standardized procedure is required in order to make an at least formally fair selection.

procedure

Most 'major' concours today are conducted in the following ways:

  • In a first part, multiple choice questions are set on the subject of the reserve list to be filled, the development of the European unification process and linguistic and logical skills. In each of the three areas, candidates must answer at least half of the questions correctly and must also belong to a predetermined number of candidates with the highest score (and published in the Official Journal of the European Union ).
  • These applicants will now be asked to submit a written application (communication between the applicant and EPSO will previously only be carried out electronically via the EPSO website ). On the basis of the documents, it is checked whether the candidates meet the formal conditions also announced in the advertisement, e.g. B. be able to prove a certain type of university degree .
  • Although all applicants had to write essays on a topic from their specialist area for several hours on the day of the competition, only the essays of those applicants who have not yet been sorted out will be read. Since multiple-choice tasks can be evaluated automatically, the total effort for carrying out the concours is limited.
  • At least half of the maximum number of points must also be achieved in each of the essays and only those are not excluded who have the most points in the end.
  • These candidates will be invited to an oral test, usually in Brussels or Luxembourg , the seat of most of the European Union's bodies and institutions. The interview with the examination board responsible for the selection process is also assessed. Here, too, at least half of the possible points must be achieved. In the end, as many of the applicants who have managed to do this will be selected as there is space on the reserve list to be filled.

The procedure usually takes place in several cities in the European Union at the same time and in numerous different languages. Here z. B. Exhibition halls , gyms or halls of convention centers used to accommodate the crowd of applicants.

Learning aid

For the Concours pre-selection tests, speed is just as important as knowledge. It is important to learn to answer the questions under pressure of time.

Since EPSO has switched to carrying out the selection tests “EU general” and “Test for language and number comprehension” on the computer, practical preparation is becoming increasingly important. A list of EU bookstores is published by the Confédération Syndicale Européenne. The Librairie Européenne, which is located at the Commission in Brussels, has the largest offer of books relating to the Concours.

There are three categories of books:

  • pure textbooks (e.g. Access to European law)
  • Textbooks on the procedure and the structure, logic and solution of the tests
  • Textbooks combined with a collection of simulation questions that also appear in bilingual editions (e.g. EU Concours: Guide to the European Union)

Seminars to prepare for the written and oral tests are offered by the German Foreign Office in Berlin. The German representation in Brussels also supports successful participants with information after the concours.

literature

Web links