Now that webcast is behind us, is there any specific issue you would like to have answered on our website?
 

·         Is it necessary to have any kind of second language certificate?
 

No certification is necessary and language never has to be proven in an EPSO exam by documents, only by practically demonstrating your knowledge via e.g. verbal reasoning or the assessment centre.
 

·         Are the AD7 tests significantly more difficult than the AD5s?
 

No, they are more likely the exact same level as the AD5, the difference is in the required work experience to qualify for AD7.
 

Read on for further questions and answers!

There are many  treacherous ways to get into the EU Institutions, but we offer you the easiset and the best one.

This was the main idea behind the ad campaing Online EU Training launched in March.

Presenting complex issues such as how European Union institutions make decisions has never been easy. Hence the new genre of infographics has emerged: don't talk about it, show it!

A great example of summarising what the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of Ministers do has just been posted on the Irish Institute of European Affairs (IIEA) website...

In 1957 when the Treaty of Rome was signed, its authors had a very ambitious goal: to prevent war happening again in Europe. It's quite straighforward and easy to measure - you either have war or you don't.

In 1962, JFK gave a famous speech that rallied the entire country to go to the moon before the end of the decade. It spelled out a big, ambitious objective that almost everyone could be enthousiastic about.

What do EU leaders in 2011 have as their goal when they think about the future of this enterprise? What does the President of the Commission...

The EU has been struggling with what they call 'lack of legitimacy' or 'democratic deficit'. This in plain English means that very few people actually know what EU institutions are doing in Brussels, and even fewer Europeans understand how these bodies work.

So, as they said before the Irish vote on the Lisbon Treaty: "if you don't know, vote no!", meaning not to support the European integration and its institutions.

What does the EU do to actually explain to citizens why it is needed? Not enough.

That is why we at Arboreus, without any EU or other public money or help, decided to create eight e-learning courses , many of them FREE, that explain, with dozens of examples, how each EU institution works, what they do, why they exist, which topics they deal with and ...

It's a cliché to say that technology is changing our world. But two linguistic innovations from Google may change the way European diversity can live on while bringing Europeans closer to each other.

The question until now was: if we want a democratic EU with 23 official languages, how can that work without compromising on efficiency? Look at the European patent: an issue unresolved for 40 years because European leaders could not agree which 3 or 5 languages will be the 'dominant' ones to translate all patents into - so a political stand-off followed.

Now, thanks to technology, Google offered to translate for free all European Patent Office filings via ...

The way most European institutions communicate and the mindset of the interactive web 2.0 communications is in utter contradiction. There is a compelling story to tell, but most EU institutions should learn how to say it.

True, the European Parliament is still much better than other EU bodies such as the Council of Ministers in understanding how online communications work: they have set up their own TV channel, regularly host live chat events, and try to speak the citizens' language, even if there is still a lot of room for improvement. EPSO, the recruitment office, has also been a rare exception within the Commission, but...

(Click to see the comparison chart of bureacratic vs. web 2.0 cultures!)
 

We at Arboreus have been working on e-learning presentations about the European Union policies and EU institutions for several months.

We are launching e-courses about the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, the EU Treaties, the EU's Commercial Policy, EU Law and the Judicial Bodies, Various EU institutions including the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the European Central Bank and others, so we thought a a few teasers could get you in the mood.

Prepare for Europe's 1st ever online EU training multimedia e-courses - available for everyone, everywhere!

Launch date: Before the end of January 2011 - let the countdown begin! Click to see 5 more screenshots!
 

EPSO's recruitment reform from March 2010 has been a huge success. It has lowered the barrier to entry for many potential candidates by eliminating the much hated EU knowledge tests (think of "How many times has Viviane Reding been a European Commissioner until now?") and thus opening the door for some 37,000 applicants for the Administrator exams this spring.

But this new system has a huge inherent danger: many of the new recruits will know very little about how the EU institutions operate when they start working in them...

Cartoons are an excellent way to shrink a large piece of wisdom into a small piece of image.

It shows self-confidence and maturity when a person, an organisation or country is able to laugh at itself. That's why dictators in Africa, Asia or even Eastern Europe are so furious about expressions of funny drawings. On the other hand, being shown in a cartoon shows that the public opinion cares about what they do.

So why are there so few caricatures about Europe, the European Union or the EU institutions?

The Financial Times ran an article this weekend on 'Why proper English rules OK' about the disproportionate advantage native English speakers enjoy against their non-native counterparts, also in the EU institutions.

Is it true? Yes.
Is it fair? No.
Does it need to be considered by those dealing with EU affairs? Absolutely.


So why is the matter so serious...?

200 million euros spent per year while the EU budgets are in crisis. Normal? Certainly. Thousands of EU officials, including all Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), their assitants, EP staff, 27 European Commissioners, their staff, desk officers from Commission DGs and hundreds of lobbyists commute to Strasbourg for 4 days each month of the year (sometimes even twice after the summer holidays). Costing millions, causing carbon emissions and travel time to meet with the very same people they could easily meet in Brussels, when will this monthly exodus end? Never.

Real marketing is not about the product or service or message you are trying to sell. It is about enlarging the frame and talking about the core idea that your product is part of. What does this mean?

A draft Durex project has done a remarkable job by not talking about their products (condoms) but about the reason why contraception is an issue. Nike does not talk about the shoes, it talks about having fun, doing sports outdoors, being part of the team. If you are the European PhotoVoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), do you talk about the...

Where are the people who understand what "online communication" or "digital tools" mean in Brussels? It seems that EU institutions and the majority of lobby organisations are stuck with Web 1.0, or let's be generous, Web 1.1.

Is the situation really that bad? After all, EU institutions do use Facebook and Eutube, Commissioners have blogs and the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) even uses Twitter from time to time and most public and private lobby bodies are present on the internet. A Brussels consultancy has released a Blog...

Are you a diplomat representing a South American country in Brussels? Are you a trade association covering renewable energy matters? Are you a lobbyist trying to have DG SANCO issue a positive opinion about a plant fertiliser? Are you an NGO going to great lengths to have the European Parliament condemn an act of racism in an African country? Well, the sad truth is that nobody cares about you.

To be fair, the truth is that everybody cares about you only as much as you offer them something they care about.

What does this mean? If you a...

Has the BP oil spill reached Europe? Is the oil already covering EU institutions' websites? Here is an amazingly smart public affairs environmental campaign where you can check how the oil would affect the virtual world and make your voice heard in the real world!

(Disclaimer: the above screenshot was created with the www.instantoilspill.com website to raise awareness of their resourceful campaign. No harm is made or intended for any public website whatsoever.)

 We asked our Facebook fans why they are interested in getting an EU job and an amazing 39 answers were given. Here are the reasons why European job seekers are looking to work for the European Union in Brussels (only first names are shown for privacy) - a fascinating read!

I'M REALLY INTERESTED TO GET AN EU JOB BECAUSE...

1. " ... the salaries and benefits are excellent while the competences required and the content of the job are unclear, and there is plenty of unemployment in other sectors!" (Sophia)

2.  "‎... no one in the EU in...

Waste is present even where we don't see it: just look at two everyday issues in European institutions (or at any large government administration) like document printing and staff meetings. Apply a bit of numerical reasoning to quantify it, and be surprised.

When EPSO announced its new selection procedures, it was welcomed by many with enthusiasm. Lowering the barrier to entry while selecting more suitable candidates via the Assessment Center by removing EU knowledge tests was a big relief for most people. But recruitment is not limited to EPSO: consider the (s)election of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), the European Commission President and other senior politicians. Maybe a change of procedures is the answer to the EU's problems?