March 2020 Traineeship

anamaria1 wrote:But some units take more trainees too. I asked and they confirmed. In this case we have more chances.

That's good news!
I didn't think the selection process would be such a hassle.

Yeah, me neither.

"As we found your application very interesting, we would like to enquire whether you are still available for the traineeship from March to July 2020 and whether you would be interested in joining our Unit"

In line with what you are saying, I am sick of this lol. I am saying that I am interested to every single Unit that contacts me (4 so far) without knowing what's actually going on. I just want this f*cking process to end

Hang in there guys, we'll eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel

Speaking of which, does somebody know when exactly are we supposed to receive the final offer ?

MTL>Brussels wrote:Speaking of which, does somebody know when exactly are we supposed to receive the final offer ?

According to the last forum they arrive in January
This process is killing me!

anamaria1 wrote:I see. So far I ve been contacted by the DG that was my 2nd choice and by someone else who i did not list in the top 3. To both I said I am interested, meaning if both shortlist me I will get my 2nd choice as they are the ones I listed. Am I correct?

But before me, all the people who picked my 2nd choice as their first one, has priority if shortlisted by that DG? And I might stay with nothing in the end.

Tbh I don't think you'll end up with nothing if you're picked at least by two other DGs! In the end the TO is also supposed to act in your best interest!

MTL>Brussels wrote:Speaking of which, does somebody know when exactly are we supposed to receive the final offer ?

I had a question for the traineeships office so I recently tossed them an email. I got an answer but it didn't contain much info I didn't already know because everything they said is already up on their website. The only useful tidbit of information I got is that the final results are published during the last week of January. To be honest, it seems unreasonable that we should have to wait for that long to find out what happens and if we do get selected are supposed to uproot our lives and move with a month's notice. I really hope there'll be some news before that.

Perfect...I won't be in Europe the last week of January so no internet most of the time... amazing

even wrote:

MTL>Brussels wrote:Speaking of which, does somebody know when exactly are we supposed to receive the final offer ?

I had a question for the traineeships office so I recently tossed them an email. I got an answer but it didn't contain much info I didn't already know because everything they said is already up on their website. The only useful tidbit of information I got is that the final results are published during the last week of January. To be honest, it seems unreasonable that we should have to wait for that long to find out what happens and if we do get selected are supposed to uproot our lives and move with a month's notice. I really hope there'll be some news before that.

even wrote:

MTL>Brussels wrote:Speaking of which, does somebody know when exactly are we supposed to receive the final offer ?

I had a question for the traineeships office so I recently tossed them an email. I got an answer but it didn't contain much info I didn't already know because everything they said is already up on their website. The only useful tidbit of information I got is that the final results are published during the last week of January. To be honest, it seems unreasonable that we should have to wait for that long to find out what happens and if we do get selected are supposed to uproot our lives and move with a month's notice. I really hope there'll be some news before that.

I confirm, I wrote to the TO too and this is what they replied to me:

"Please note that all contacts with DGs during the selection phase should not be regarded as firm commitments.
Your recruitment becomes final only once the Traineeships Office has sent you a placement offer. You will be informed in your Stage online account at that point.
If selected, you will receive only one placement offer.

You will be notified of the final results of the selection (last week of January 2020).

Should you decline it, your application will be automatically withdrawn from the Blue Book. You will not be given another chance for the March 2020 session.
Your application cannot be transferred to the October 2020 session either. You will have to submit a new application.

We hope that this clarifies the situation."

Was just called by one of the units of my Prio 2 I had contact with and they told me that they would have chosen me if there hadn't been another candidate who was comparable and had them on Prio 1. I am so glad that Prio 1 never even replied to any of my mails. Seems like the best possible situation now. Nightmare scenario...

I am glad that the unit called me. But it would have been nice if the meaning of the priorities had been communicated beforehand.

diesdas wrote:Was just called by one of the units of my Prio 2 I had contact with and they told me that they would have chosen me if there hadn't been another candidate who was comparable and had them on Prio 1. I am so glad that Prio 1 never even replied to any of my mails. Seems like the best possible situation now. Nightmare scenario...

I am glad that the unit called me. But it would have been nice if the meaning of the priorities had been communicated beforehand.

YES! I had a call from my Prio 2 today, and the lady was stranged that I was interested in it being my second priority... But how was I supposed to know that priorities are so important? and also, the choice should be more about the department within the DG, I'd say??

mariamari wrote:

diesdas wrote:Was just called by one of the units of my Prio 2 I had contact with and they told me that they would have chosen me if there hadn't been another candidate who was comparable and had them on Prio 1. I am so glad that Prio 1 never even replied to any of my mails. Seems like the best possible situation now. Nightmare scenario...

I am glad that the unit called me. But it would have been nice if the meaning of the priorities had been communicated beforehand.

YES! I had a call from my Prio 2 today, and the lady was stranged that I was interested in it being my second priority... But how was I supposed to know that priorities are so important? and also, the choice should be more about the department within the DG, I'd say??

Agree on the last thing mentioned 100%. Tried to contact the TO today and ask if they could take in consideration my statement of interest where I specify the topics I'm into, instead of just taking in consideration the 1st choice DG as a whole. I just got the generic reply, I guess they're being bombed with similar requests atm...

I got a reply from EPSC saying that they just opened the database and that TO will inform me about the final outcome and that I refrain from contacting directly the units in the meantime hahah

even wrote:

MTL>Brussels wrote:Speaking of which, does somebody know when exactly are we supposed to receive the final offer ?

I had a question for the traineeships office so I recently tossed them an email. I got an answer but it didn't contain much info I didn't already know because everything they said is already up on their website. The only useful tidbit of information I got is that the final results are published during the last week of January. To be honest, it seems unreasonable that we should have to wait for that long to find out what happens and if we do get selected are supposed to uproot our lives and move with a month's notice. I really hope there'll be some news before that.

Thats true. We literally have only a month to move there which is hard for us who are already employed. For example, for October session is better because you get final results at the end of June which is 3 months in advance.

Hey guys, someone received call from OLAF?

Hello everybody,

URGENT! OPPORTUNITY FOR SOMEBODY WITH DG GROW AS FIRST OR SECOND PREFERENCE:

I am currently a trainee in the unit for interinstitutional relations (A3). They received a last-minute message that they are allowed to hire a trainee for the March traineeship, and are now requesting direct applications (at least a CV and short motivation letter), to be sent to the Head of Unit asap (S.L., full name and contact info can be found online or asked from me in a direct message). Please contact him urgently IF you meet the following criteria:

- DG Grow as first or second preference
- Relevant studies (preference law or political studies etc)
- EU national (really sorry about this, but they say the visa procedure at this point is too time-consuming and risky as they need to make the selection asap)
- French is certainly an asset, but not compulsory

Personally I can attest to the tasks in this unit being very interesting, and my boss and workmates being awesome as well.

If you have any questions, feel free to also contact me here.

Good luck

EDIT: Forgot to mention that my boss is going to want to call you and have a quick chat, but he is very friendly and does not ask difficult questions!

Emvfri wrote:Hello everybody,

URGENT! OPPORTUNITY FOR SOMEBODY WITH DG GROW AS FIRST OR SECOND PREFERENCE:

I am currently a trainee in the unit for interinstitutional relations (A3). They received a last-minute message that they are allowed to hire a trainee for the March traineeship, and are now requesting direct applications (at least a CV and short motivation letter), to be sent to the Head of Unit asap (S.L., full name and contact info can be found online or asked from me in a direct message). Please contact him urgently IF you meet the following criteria:

- DG Grow as first or second preference
- Relevant studies (preference law or political studies etc)
- EU national (really sorry about this, but they say the visa procedure at this point is too time-consuming and risky as they need to make the selection asap)
- French is certainly an asset, but not compulsory

Personally I can attest to the tasks in this unit being very interesting, and my boss and workmates being awesome as well.

If you have any questions, feel free to also contact me here.

Good luck

EDIT: Forgot to mention that my boss is going to want to call you and have a quick chat, but he is very friendly and does not ask difficult questions!

This clarifies a lot why non-EU candidates can just try and try, but still are not being selected...Everything is about the fear of the visa process.

Hi everyone! Congratulations on making it to the Blue Book. This is my first time applying (so I am surprised and pleased to have made it this far!). Has anyone heard anything from the COMP DG?

Hi guys,
I had a call from OLAF today, who was my 2nd choice. Anyhow, they said they will inform me these days, they did not offer me anything yet, but the interesting part is that the man told me that 80% of applicants apply for EEAS which makes it the most competitive and therefore she advised me to never choose EEAS nor ECHO because the chances to get admitted there are very low.

I believe this will be useful for the future applicants

okaps 12 wrote:Hi guys,
I had a call from OLAF today, who was my 2nd choice. Anyhow, they said they will inform me these days, they did not offer me anything yet, but the interesting part is that the man told me that 80% of applicants apply for EEAS which makes it the most competitive and therefore she advised me to never choose EEAS nor ECHO because the chances to get admitted there are very low.

I believe this will be useful for the future applicants

TY for the info! So they told you they would have let you know before the end of January? Damn, DEVCO people told me I will know only in Jan.

I have an issue, I just got notified I was selected for another traineeship at EUI. I have 2 doubts: (1) do you think it would be viable to ask the people who interviewed me at DEVCO if they could let me know asap so that I can decide whether to accept or not? (2) Does EUI count as a European institution/body? Would do a traineeship there prevent me from applying to the Blue Book in the future?

okaps 12 wrote:Hi guys,
I had a call from OLAF today, who was my 2nd choice. Anyhow, they said they will inform me these days, they did not offer me anything yet, but the interesting part is that the man told me that 80% of applicants apply for EEAS which makes it the most competitive and therefore she advised me to never choose EEAS nor ECHO because the chances to get admitted there are very low.

I believe this will be useful for the future applicants

Thanks for the info! I wish I knew this before applying I can say bye to my first two choices then

Hey guys I have a bit of a difficult question here. Does anyone know or heard about the difference between the experience of trainees at the Council and the Commission? I currently have an official offer from the Council of the EU for which I have to sign the contract as soon as possible. As you know official offers from the Commission only arrive in January.. Any information would be helpful in making my choice between the traineeships

Congratulations ! Apparently, you’re given more responsibilities as a Council trainee. That’s hell of a good internship position ! Enjoy !

Also, I have another question for you guys: how do you understand the word “booked” in the framework of the procedure we are passing through ? A DG which was not part of my top 3 called me it’s been 15 days to offer me a position but since this DG was not part of my three choices, they asked me to contact them back after the 18th (date from which priorities don’t matter anymore) in order to confirm my availability.

Meanwhile, the “top choices” Units that granted me an interview told me that they couldn’t give me any definitive answer and that I had to wait for the official offer from the TO, by end of January.Therefore I wrote an email to the non-prior DG that asked me to contact them back after the 18th...and they answered me that in spite of being their preferred candidate, they were informed that I had already been booked by another Unit so they couldn’t offer me a position anymore. In the email, the Head of Unit and the HR services were put in CC: so I’m almost sure this is not a way to tell me politely that they chose someone else instead...

Does It mean that another DG already chose me as their intern?

MTL>Brussels wrote:Also, I have another question for you guys: how do you understand the word “booked” in the framework of the procedure we are passing through ? A DG which was not part of my top 3 called me it’s been 15 days to offer me a position but since this DG was not part of my three choices, they asked me to contact them back after the 18th (date from which priorities don’t matter anymore) in order to confirm my availability.

Meanwhile, the “top choices” Units that granted me an interview told me that they couldn’t give me any definitive answer and that I had to wait for the official offer from the TO, by end of January.Therefore I wrote an email to the non-prior DG that asked me to contact them back after the 18th...and they answered me that in spite of being their preferred candidate, they were informed that I had already been booked by another Unit so they couldn’t offer me a position anymore. In the email, the Head of Unit and the HR services were put in CC: so I’m almost sure this is not a way to tell me politely that they chose someone else instead...

Does It mean that another DG already chose me as their intern?

From what I understand it indeed means your already "reserverd/booked" by a unit, most likely by a unit from your #1 DG. I now have the same situation where a unit from my #1 DG had reserved me in the system, so when the unit which was actually my first choice also wanted to reserve me they couldnt do it anymore..Im not sure if its possible to "dereserve" yourself from the system so you become available again

As far as I understood, the TO said it was impossible :-/ I’d also like to know which Unit selected me but since all the interviewers made themselves pretty clear that we wouldn’t be in touch until the official release of the traineeships assignment, I don’t want to be overly insistent haha

Do you know if everyone is informed whether or not they have been booked by a unit/DG? I was told by one DG that we might get an informal request in our account last Friday - but I have not seen any such request on my page. Im starting to think that the best way to progress is to contact the Traineeship Office and ask them if they can see if I have been booked.

Well, if they want to do so, the Units can confirm that you have been selected, but such a communication isn’t binding and couldn’t be considered as an official offer. On the contrary, many units apparently prefer to tell you or at least imply that you have been “shortlisted”, but you’ll have to wait for the TO offer to know your definitive assignment. As for the “informal request”, on our portal, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to that rumour and start freaking out, this is literally the first time I hear this !

On Thursday I received a second call from my first choice DG where they made an unofficial official offer (i.e. can't be taken as an official offer but is as good as) by my advisor and then received an email confirming they were looking forward to having me. My portal has not been changed and I'm not worried as I expect that it will only change when I receive the official offer in January. Can't wait!

Hi all, hope you are having a great festive time! I have a query, maybe some of you had similar issue. My second chosen DG emailed me if I am still interested in internship in they unit. As I was interested and I didn’t hear from them after, I asked whether they are likely to offer me a placemenr and they replied that unfortunately they have received a notification that they could not reserve me. What might be the reason for this? My first choice DG hasn’t contacted me at all.