Some EPSO exam candidates might have heard the name of 2010 Administrator (AD) exam applicant, Dimitrios Pachtitis. Mr. Pachtitis is the candidate who successfully challenged EPSO’s pre-selection method by highlighting the "mis-allocation of competences

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 a somewhat startling about-turn, I have decided for the time being not to pursue secretarial jobs, having made it to the AST1 reserve list. Believe me, this has been a very difficult decision to make, but it feels like the right one for, at least for now. As much as I desperately want a job in the European Commission, so this is pretty heartbreaking, I have realised that to start in such a junior position would not make sense professionally, financially or... 

So, I’m on the EPSO reserve list. Now what? In theory, I have a year in which to get a job in the EU institutions, otherwise I have to start all over again!

Having come this far, I’m not about to sit around and wait to see if I get ‘flagged’. Instead, I decided to consult...

For the whole of July, I had been gingerly logging in to my EPSO account every single day, waiting for the little red flag to say that I had ‘1 new email’. Well, the end of July came and went, with no sign of the assessment centre results. Just as I was about to start harassing the EPSO team and inundating their inbox with emails of complaint, I logged in to my account on Monday early August and there it was! (click to read more!)

The EPSO Assessment Centre - (Part 2).

The day began with the candidates being taken into a large meeting room, where the EPSO representative sat down with us to explain what was going to happen and give us our individual schedules. There would be four parts to the assessment, as outlined in the invitation letter... (click to read the full post!)

Following the CBT tests for the AST1 competition, I was extremely surprised and happy to receive a letter in my EPSO account inviting me to attend the assessment centre. However, when I looked at the date, my heart sank as I realised that I was not going to be available.

At that time I was extremely busy and the original assessment centre date coincided with one of my marking deadlines, so there was no possible way I could go. Fearing the worst (that it would just be ‘tough luck’), I emailed the EPSO candidate contact service...

Having decided a year ago to make a commitment to getting a job in the European Commission, I realised I had some serious work to do if I was going to be ready for the EPSO Competitions this year.

I started researching everything I could about the various stages of the process, and what competitions I would be eligible to apply for. For 2010-11, my options were Administrator (AD5-7) in the field of European Public Administration and Assistant in the secretarial field (AST1), so I applied...

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 ...

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!)
 

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!
 

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?

A Belgian newspaper (source unknown as we only received a clipping from a friend) recently gathered what EU employees tend to think about Belgium and more specifically, Brussels...and also found out what the locals think of the "lazy, wealthy expats'". Not very flattering - on either side!

Click here for some highlights - what EU officials think of Belgians (by the way, is there such a thing? or only Walloons and Flemings...)

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...?

Distortions, misunderstandings, purposeful misleading of facts have always been around (some are really funny, actually). But the more the European Union deals with ”sensitive” issues, including justice, foreign policy, sports or other areas that used to be labeled as strictly national, the more such voices will arise. However, the Europen Commission and the European Parliament have done painfully little to set the facts straight.

Sure, there is a Blog on the Commission's UK representation on setting British media straight, but it's viewed by less than 1000 people which can hardly be labeled as effective counter-communication. Or look at an old-school press release on the EU budget myths issued in 2007 (three years ago!). But this is a drop in the ocean of misconceptions...

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.

EPSO certainly wishes to attract a large pool of candidates for its contract agent (CAST) exams, but the way information is presented seems quite inefficient. Here are some pain points I suggest improving:

'Call for Expression of Interest’ : would an average candidate know whether this is a simple indication of interest or an actual application for a selection exam? Would be worth clarifying what each term means already on the main page in one bullet point so that prospective applicants can have a quick overview

CAST or cast: the expre...

 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...

One of the most commonly held urban legends in EU circles is the saying attributed to Henry Kissinger of "Who do I call if I want to call Europe?". As the FT revealed, he never actually said it. But how could it hold on so long there in Brussels and beyond?

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.