For all EU career fans who live in places where extreme cold and snow has arrived, here is a truly European account of how Finns cope with winter:

+15 °C, Spanish wear caps, gloves and winter coats, Finns are sunbathing.

+10 °C, French desperately try to get their central heating on. Finns plant flowers.

+5 °C, Italian cars won't start. Finns...

2010 has been an eventful year at Arboreus Online EU Training:

• we launched our brand new website & interactive test engine
• we created packages & webinars for almost all EPSO exams
• we offered 10,000+ EU tests for ADs, ASTs, Specialists & Linguists
• we trained 500+ candidates from 20+ countries via webinars
• we held...
   

(click to read on & see our promise to you for 2011)

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!)
 

When was the last time you actually used a pen? We may be total geeks at Arboreus, but a few days ago when we had our executive meeting and looked for a pen, we realised that since we moved to our new office in the summer, we used a pen only once: to sign a contract with a bank some three months ago. Isn't that strange?!

When it comes to social media, most EU officials, decision-makers and public affairs specialists are uncertain what it actually means, so their dilemma is translated into the question 'Should we use Twitter or Facebook in our online efforts?'.

This is the same as, when building a house, you would ask 'Should I build a kitchen or a bathroom?'. In short: focusing on building blocks instead of the building will not take you far.

The core concept of social media is ...
 

In the age of Google and Facebook, being findable has become the most important asset you can have.

Websites are optimised to show up as the 1st hit in Google when specific words are searched. But what about your CV when those searching for an EU expert, a Greek translator, a consultant with experience in the European Parliament, type in those magic words into LinkedIn, a recruitment database, or EPSO's e-laureates list? Adding the right words into your profile description can make or break a job interview invitation.

We at Arboreus are constantly experimenting. In the online world, customer feedback is an ambiguous thing: you don't see your customer's body language, tone of voice or behaviour but you can effectively measure browsing paths, email feedbacks and website analytics. The fundamental question is: how can we make your online experience better?

A challenge has come up recently in the form of usability improvements. We want to make the "flow" better so that users will need less clicks and clearer paths to find a menu, check out or download an e...

The European Parliament launched a banner campaign on various EU online media platforms (EUobserver, EurActiv etc.) where a blue flash banner box with catchy titles such as "massive job-losses", "less economic growth", "sharp budget cuts" lead to the key question: "How does the crisis affect Europe?". The proposed solution? Watch www.europarltv.eu

Sure, let's see what you get if you decide to click through despite this unspellable domain name. Actually, not much. It leads you to the European Parliament TV's "your voice" page where ...

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...

 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...