Dreaming about a career in the European institutions? You’re not alone. The competition is fierce and the field is hard to navigate – but if you play the game right, you have a fascinating and rewarding professional life ahead of you. The key to success lies in finding the perfect match between your passions, talents, and the needs of the job market. When pursuing a European career, however, there are some unique hurdles – including the EPSO (European Personnel Selection Office) tests – that require special attention. At the same time, you need to be aware of the multitude of other options out there in the European field – and the steps you can take to get ahead in the competition.
Where to start?
How does one get a job at the EU? You probably know that e-mailing your Europass CV to the Commission is not going to do the trick as it might in other professions – in fact, when you want a job in the European field, just figuring out the steps of the process requires a lot of work. What’s more, the intense competition in the EPSO exams (also known as the EPSO competitions and in French as “Concours EPSO”) as well as other bottleneck processes for entering European institutions can be discouraging to say the least. Many young professionals are frustrated to find themselves stuck with temporary contracts or end up doing internship after internship.
In order to advance your career and achieve the professional success you’re looking for, you need to acknowledge these issues and approach them in a practical manner. Can you take measures to increase your chances in the EPSO tests? Or are there ways around them?
Are you aware of all your options?
While standardized tests such as the EPSO ones and the application process of the Council of Europe are mandatory for full-time positions, don’t make the mistake of focusing on them to the point where you blind yourself to your other options. You want a European career – NGOs, local institutions, lobby groups, and a number of private companies are essential to making the European wheel go round, and offer a European working environment for their employees. When you realise this, you also realise that if you thought the EPSO tests were a challenge to your career development, this multitude of widely different options to consider is potentially paralysing.
At this point, rather than throwing in the towel, promise yourself – right now – that you’re going to be serious about your professional success and find that perfect match for you. You’re looking to dedicate your career to the benefit of your continent – you deserve to make a living out of your talents and passions!
What’s going to be your competitive advantage?
The first step is to gain comprehensive knowledge about yourself. What are your strengths, passions, priorities? Surely, you’ve asked yourself these questions before, and maybe you keep giving the same answers that seem to get you nowhere. Try an outsider’s perspective – get a career coach who will ask you the right questions. At OrientaEuro, we offer Personalised Career Coaching that will let you gain a thorough understanding of your own professional profile. We’ll then take you forward through the other key steps to real professional success – you can read more about them here.
When you get our Personalised Career Coaching, you’re getting ahead of the tough competition in the European field by adopting an efficient and effective approach to your professional development. The result is a clear idea of what professional success really means to you and a personalised plan to achieve it, including specific tools to make that possible(for instance, improvement of your CV and interviewing skills in case you need it).
We want to help you find the perfect match between your passions, talents, and the needs of the job market. In this way, our Personalised Career Coaching keeps your focus on the goal and prevents you from losing yourself in worries about EPSO and the competition. Together, we will find the right fit for you among the many possibilities offered in the European field, and you can start working towards that career that you’re passionate about.
