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.

Ever wondered what European Commission and other EU officials do? Click to see the truth !

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...

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...

EU job seekers are often wondering where is it better to live, Luxembourg or Belgium, given the choice?

We are in no position to decide on such a crucial matter, but here is a list of dilemmas you will face if you need to choose between these two eminent countries. 

• Do you like networking and attending high-profile EU conferences? Then choose Belgium.
• Do you enjoy checking out the latest cabriolets, 4x4s, luxury cars and sports wagons? Then choose Luxembourg.
• Do you plan to pay one of the highest taxes in the EU if your spouse works...

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 ...

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...)

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 ...
 

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.

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.

...when opportunity meets preparedness.

Are you prepared enough for your EPSO exam so you can make the most of an unexpectedly straight-forward numercial reasoning question set?

Are you prepared for the job interview so when asked about showcasing your abilities, you can present the printout of the website where you had published an article a few months earlier?

Are you knowledgable about the EU so when a MEP you have been chasing for a traineeship interview passes by you in a Brussels restaurant, you can rise to the opportunity to ...

Now that the political agreement on the new European External Action Service (EEAS) has been made, the question arises: who will this new service have as its staff?

The idea to have 1/3 Commission (mainly RELEX and some related DGs), 1/3 Council (from its Brussels Secretariat) and 1/3 Member States (national diplomats) in the service is interesting. Senior people mention some 1200-1600 starting staff, but it is widely held that the total number of the service staff will go up to as much as 6000 until 2013.

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...

If you are aiming to get an EU affairs job in Brussels, you must act by the classic job market rules: you shall convince an employer that only you have the specialist knowledge they are seeking. This requires horizontal (generalist) and vertical (specialist) knowledge. Neither of the two is enough these days, so we decided to share some great ideas in the coming months on how to get an EU affairs job.

Let's see the first crucial element: find your niche.

What is a niche? It refers to a special segment of EU issues or a specialty that m...

 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?

Whether you apply to work for an EU agency, a Brussels job in EU affairs, a temporary job at an EU diplomatic mission or elsewhere, you will almost certainly send your application via e-mail: providing a cover message (the e-mail body) and a CV attached. Sounds simple - except when your message is not even delivered to the future employer. How is that possible?