Congratulations for the preselected!

Now start to lobby and work hard on getting the actual job, cos getting preselected doesn't mean you will actually have the internship! There are 4 candidates for each place, so now just try to contact people at the Commission, especially Heads of Units and people dealing with the topics of your specialisation.

http://ec.europa.eu/staffdir/plsql/gsys_page.display_index?pLang=EN - here you have all the dgs, find units working on the topics you are interested at and send emails, call and be persistent!

This is my advice to you as an experienced former stagiaire

Hi Aneena.

One question: what exactly do you mean by lobbying? I thought people at the Commission chose you just by looking at your profile.

Come to speak of it, what do you it is important to get selected (besides "lobbying")? Do the aspects taken into consideration in the pre-selection phase (motivation, academic curriculum, work experience, etc.) still count? Or do they focus in your skills and what they think you can actually do?

I ask this because I'm slightly worried that my academic background - I have a Master's in Industrial Engineering and Management - won't be that much attractive to any DG. I applied for the EuropeAid and Development DGs in first place because I want to try something really different than what I'm doing right now, but I'm afraid motivation won't be enough.

Should I "lobby" to any DG, or just the ones I like most, or just the ones I feel could like my background most? As an ex-stagiaire, what do you think I should do?

Cheers from (hot) Lisbon

Look at the DGs and units, what they deal with, if you find something interesting google it further and write a personalised email with your cv to the head of unit explaining why you would like the job.

There is very very little time for the DGs to make their final choice (max. 2 weeks counting from yesterday) - you get the results in July, however the units have to make their decision, which is forwarded to the HR, and then further and further, so it takes a lot of time. So don't waste your time and try to convince them to choose you.

There are around 2000 ppl in the BlueBook, most units don't have time to search through this database, they just take people that contact them and show interest in their work.

Of course the official info is not to contact anybody and just wait, however I wouldn't recommend that, but it's your choice what you do or don't

Hey everybody,
I am also an ex-stagiaire and would like to share my experience with you. Even though lobbying might be very useful in some cases, I also heard that it can be contraproductive. Some units get flooded by emails and are just really annoyed by all the people contacting them. Heads of Unit are not always involved in the stagiaire selection and might never even bother to read your email. In the end, it's mostly a question of luck - many units are looking for a very specific profile and you just have to be the one fitting into that particular profile. This was what happened to me at least. Nobody of my co-stagiaires lobbied, btw.
Good luck to all of you!
Eva

Hey guys!
And thanks a lot already for great comments and tips. I'd still have some questions left about lobbying. I know that it is an ongoing debate whether to lobby at all or not. However I think I will give lobbying a chance anyhow. Now my only concern is who to actually lobby and to how many person to contact for lobbying? As Eva pointed out I'm also a bit sceptical about lobbying the head of the units, since I'm also not sure whether they are even involved in the whole process. Then again if not lobbying the Head of the Units, who then and how to find the right persons to lobby?

And also what do say about contacting those e-mail addresses they put at the bottom of the message of the acceptance e-mail. Because at least for the DG which was my first choice (the DG EMPL) there's an e-mail address to a spesific person and not just some organisation mailbox address??

Thanks a lot for your answers in advance!

I sent many many MANY emails and finally got chosen by the Head of Unit to whom I sent an email, cos he liked my Master thesis (a paper on a case he handled). I know he personally chose me, I also know that he's a very busy guy and I'm sure that he didn't bother to take a look into the Blue Book, just chose the person that applied directly (me in this case).
This is however just my case, can't tell you how it goes in other cases. If your CV is great, don't worry - if you studied at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard etc. you will very likely get the job (again my observation). However if you think you have nothing very special to offer and your profile doesn't stick out in the VBB I would start contacting ppl, most of my friends doing their traineeships got it this way.
Just take the first name . surname @ ec. europa. eu and contact the peple you think might be helpful to you. If you know somebody, or dealt at the university with an academic paper written by somebody at the Commission you can try to contact this person, explain that you're interested in this topic and would like to work with them. I know many people send emails, call - maybe it is annoying for some HoU, but I know that many people in the VBB got the job this way.

Hi again,

Thanks about the tips.

However, I'm still afraid about the Engineering part. I'm sure most people in this forum come from Human Sciences. My Engineering degree is very broad-ranged, it doesn't specialise in a particular field, and that may be good - or may not.

Anyway, thanks again

I know a girl who studied architecture and was at the commission, the other studied something concerning diet and eating (whatever its called), I have also a friend who studied engineering (don't know what exactly) and they each managed to find a job, cos there are so many different topic eu is dealing with that you always find something that fits. What is your specialisation? What is Industrial Engineering exactly - what topics does it deal with?

Industrial Engineering and Management comprises a broad set of subjects. Basically there are management courses and engineering courses. Management courses include financial management, strategic management, accounting, and macro and microeconomics. Engineering courses include mathematics and algebra, physics, computer programming, mechanical and chemical technology, and logistics.

So IEM people have management skills with an engineering background, and the idea is that they are prepared to work in any company, especially industrial companies. The big advantage is that we can deal with many different situations and professional contexts; the disadvantage is that we're not specialists in anything. Sorry if I am boring you

I'm currently working in a consultancy company, but I'm tired of working to fill someone's pocket, and I wanted to try something more connected to public service and "goodness" like the EU, and I chose the Development and EuropeAid DGs because they seemed to me the perfect expression of this "goodness".

But I have to think and decide how to lobby. Anyway, thanks again for your kindness =)

I must tell you that DG Dev and Aidco are very very popular and people that were doing their internships there were usually extremely experienced and super educated. Most people I knew from those DGs had good academic background plus volunteering experiences in Africa other relevant places.
If I were you I would maybe look for less popular DGs, like DG Mare, Agri etc. - some units deal with really interesting topics and maybe you could find something you're good at? I think the most important thing in getting the job is good motivation - you say you have experience in economy - look for economic units, computer programming - every DG has units dealing with IT issues, management - maybe you can find something relevant. If I were you I would really go first to the list of all DGs I mentioned and go through the units, see what they deal with, once you find something interesting google it - usually you can find more on the topic, and then try to motivate well why you are a good candidate and try to contact them. Of course there are also chances you get chosen without any "lobbying", however as I said earlier, I think this is rather the case of people from Oxford/Sorbonne and the non-genious people like me have to work a bit harder to get the job

Thanks a lot Aneena for great detailed answers. For sure I will lobby, maybe not on the strategy based on the more people you contact the better, but still I also agree what you said that lobbying probably is essential for the normal non-genious people !! Now just need to find the right topics and words to write down on the lobbying letter..

However, I've found that it is only mostly the Head of Units who have their full name listed...the other ones usually just have surname and then first letter of their first name. Is there any way how to find out the e-mail address of these people if one would like to send motivation letters and CV's to these people (usually the head of some team/progra/policy inside the unit). Or is it just that we actually need to lobby the Head of the Units??

Well not the-more-the-better, but concentrating on 2-3 units might be not enough. I contacted many units dealing with the topics of my interest and some replied, that they would love to take me cos they like my academic background and experience, however they were not assigned a stagiaire at all. Many DGs only have 1-10 trainees and there are plenty of units, so it's worth to ask if they take a stagiaire at all (maybe call?).

For the full name I googled them with the name of the unit and I always found all I needed. There are some databases where you can find the information, just google it

Hey Aneena,
You have provided great info to all of us. Helping us out is most appreciated and extremely kind of you
Yet again, I will bother you with a question:
I have sent out several e-mails to heads of unit (mostly people I met for my thesis earlier this year). How long do you think I should wait before maybe calling for follow-up? How long did it take for HoU to reply to your e-mails? Is it appropriate to call at all?

Thanks for evrything.
Good luck to all the fellow pre-selected!!!

I never got a reply. Sent many many emails and since nobody called me or contacted me in any other way I was really depressed and started already searching intensively for another job and then on the 15th of July I got my confirmation email from the Traineeships Office. So there is no rule, it will differ from one person to another.

I think they have max. 2 weeks from last Monday to pick their trainees, so I'd say hurry up I don't see why calling wouldn't be appropriate, but I must say I didn't do it cos I was timid and scared of calling people at the Commission, I imagined they were soo busy etc etc. Now I don't have any problems doing that The worse thing that can happen is that they tell you they have no time for you - that's probably the all worse scenario so it's not that bad

I would just call the secretary, ask whether they take a stagiaire at all and if they do if you could contact somebody in the unit concerning your application.

Thanks for your reply Best

So i got a call today from a DG that was not among the ones I selected, but that I'd be SUPER interested in working for. I had an interview in French, English and Spanish and they said I am shortlisted and that I'd be getting official emails towards mid July.

What does this mean exactly? Am I in? Am I kindda in? Should I email the person that interviewed me with my full CV, a motivation letter and a thank you note?

So the interviews have now started already, hopefully I'll get one as well. Even though I've understood that it does not necessarily mean you will get selected, but I guess it's a pretty good sign anyway.

May I ask which DG you got the call from,how was the interview like and did you lobby for this particular DG?? Thanks in advance!

Karla - to me it means you got the job, the unit selected you as their stagiaire, now they forwarded the info to the HR, which will forward it further and at some point this info arrives to the traineeships office and you get an official decision in July. Since they chose you in 99,9% of the cases this means you got the job. The 0,1% of cases might be like my fellow trainee, whose file got lost on the way somehow and he got a phone call from the unit that they take him, then got a rejection in July, however afterwards the file was found again and he started the traineeship eventually (with a delay though). So I would say - congratulations

Thanks Aneena! I asked two friends, one an expert in internships and the other one an ex stagiare for the EC. They both agreed and said I was pretty much in. Let's hope so!!!

And Vek, this is the strange thing. ECHO called me. Originally I would have applied for them, but since I knew it was very competitive and hard to get in, I opted to apply for other DG's. My main choice was AGRI, and I lobbied them. I obtained one email response from AGRI requesting my CV. Then today, I got the call from ECHO. During the interview they switched from English to Spanish to French (in that order). First they explained that they contacted me because my skills met exactly what they were looking for (in regards to languages and academic background). Well, it wasn't much of an interview, it was more of the person telling me what the job consisted of and asking me if I would like to do it. I said "Yes! (of course!)" and... they said I was shortlisted and that i'd be getting an official email soon.

So, I got a call (and possibly will be working for...) from a DG I didn't even select among my top 3 choices, nor did I lobby. So what does that tell you? Nothing really, it just adds to the confusion of it all.

Hi, should I also contact them through the general email of the DG that they gave us in the email or not?

The general e-mail goes to some HR-person that will reply to you with a standardised email, so don't bother doing that

Hi everbody.
I just had an interview with a person from my prefered DG and he directly refered to an email I sent them two days ago, so lobbying did indeed work in my case. He told me that they would make their decision in couple of days, but I am not sure whether they would let me know of the result. In any case, I think the interview went quite well, but one never knows if there isn't any other more suitable candidate.

Hi Jeannek!
I was thinking exactly about the same - lobbying. So you're saying we should lobby...many people are concerned about it and avoid it. Could you tell me what DG was it?
Thanks in advance
Kate

Hi Kate.
I was actually really thinking whether I should lobby or not because I am really not a big fan of this whole procedure, but then I told myslelf that in the worst case they will just delete my email right away, but fortunately it did work the right way. I know that the person who interviewed me was reading only the CV I attached to the email because I put by accident a different email address there than on the application form and he asked me whether he could send me an email to this one.
In any case I think it is very individual. Some people may get upset recivening tens of lobbying emails a day, others will apperciate the initiative. So really hard to say. But as I said, in my case it worked.
The DG in question is Education and Culture.

Karla: Thanks a lot for the information. At your case lobbying didn't make much of a difference then . So I guess it atleast means that HoUs do go through BlueBook and if your profile is what they are looking for no lobbying is needed.

I decided to lobby myself, but without any significant results yet. I received one e-mail from one HoU saying that they are not taking any interns for this session. One has not asnwered anything and one HoU forwarded my mail directly to the HR person responsible for trainee e-mails I think because I received an answer from her saying that the selection process has started today and they will notify the selected ones. So now I'm not sure at all should I expect a call and if I don't receive one I'm not selected or do they make their picks without doing the phone interviews and then just notify the selected ones??

I'm also thinkin should I send some lobbying mails to my second choice DG..so far I've only lobbied the HoU's in my first choice one??

Jeannek,

Thanks a lot for your answer. I guess I won't do this, if I don't make it, I will try in July for another session:p always look at the bright side of life, isn't it? I still haven't received any phone call but maybe it's not a bad sign, we will see:)
Please inform us about any news,
wish you good luck!
Kasia

Hi everyone!

Need the help of current or ex- trainees!! I got 2 phone calls by the DGs of my first and second choice. The only problem is that the DG of my 2nd choice told me they 'll call tomorrow with their final answer and if it's positive, I think I have to answer back to them right away.

What do you suggest I should do? Go the safe way or wait for the DG of my first choice?? Do you think I could call the latter and let them know about the offer?

Phew, decisions~decisions~decisions....

C.

Hi all. I've been also preselected (to my big surprise), but I haven't received any call yet. Does it mean that nobody is interested in my candidature? I have mixed feelings about lobbying, but if there's no other way.. But I wonder if there's any sense to write them, if some of the DGs have already choosen their future trainees. Btw, how many trainees can work in the same time in one DG? Only one or more?

Geewiz: I have more or less similar problem to yours: I have a humanistic background, but no relevant experience. For two years I've been working in accountancy, but I'd like to turn back to my studies and deal with more social affairs. I've choosen also ECHO, but I'm affraid my "tangled" professional eperience can be rather an obstacle in this case.

Mag-da: some DGs take just 1 stagiaire, some have 10, other up to 40 - it depends on the DG. If you tell me which DG you're interested in I can tell you how many stagiaires they take (once I find the list somewhere)

Aneena: If you could tell us that information, I think it would be widely appreciated . I personally would be the most interested in to know how many stagiaires they take in DG EMPL. Thanks in advance!