March 2020 Traineeship

Seems we're all in the same boat here.

They just updated mine!

Guys, it is here!

Yes, they updated it. it seems that I'm in the blue book!! I want to contact the DGs but that my first option email its not there. Anyone also missing the contact information for some DGs?

My account has still not been updated. Anyone in the same boat?

I got an email, saying:

"We are pleased to announce that you have been pre-selected for the Blue Book traineeship with the European Commission for the March 2020 session; your application is to be included in the database otherwise known as the "Blue Book".

Just so that you are aware, being preselected is not a guarantee that you will be offered a trainee placement; trainee positions are limited as there are many more pre-selected candidates than there are places available."

Have the others also got such message?

So, being in Blue Book is not a guarantee that you will be offered a traineeship?

Thanks

evas21 wrote:Yes, they updated it. it seems that  I'm in the blue book!!  I want to contact the DGs but  that my first option email its not there.  Anyone also missing the contact information for some DGs?

Which DG are you looking for? Because for instance I was looking for DG HOME and it’s in the same line as DG Health and Consumers (which in fact it’s not even a DG).

Hello everyone,
I did not know about this forum or I would have joined earlier!
I also received a notification about being accepted but is it true that you have to lobby for each DG? … It's my first time applying for the blue book btw.
Also, do you know what type of questions they ask during interviews?

Thanks and congratz to everyone who got accepted! To the others, try again and don't lose hope! Also everything happens for a reason, you might find a better position.

Thanks a lot for all the tips here!

So... After reading this forum I prepared myself to lobby today very very quick.

This was the reply from EEAS:
"Dear candidate,

Thank you for your message and for your interest in the Blue Book traineeship with the EEAS.

Services will soon reserve the candidates. Should your application be successful, you will certainly be informed by the Traineeship Office.

If however you are not selected, you are always welcome to re-apply for the next traineeship session.
Please check the relevant internet page on a regular basis:
(traineeships page)

Thanking you in advance for your patience"


Any tips?
Also, are there no offers within ECHO? I am also interested but was not on the contact list

Hi Mariamari,

Can I ask you if for lobbying you wrote a long motivational email or just one that is straight to the point ?

Thanks!!

Hi there ! Congrats to everyone who made it through this (weird) preselection process.
Did anyone notice that DG Trade is missing from the list ? Does it mean that they don't hire trainees anymore ? I find it pretty concerning since It was my first choice...

I have the same problem: I want to contact DG Home but I'm not sure of its contact. Is anyone able to help?

123aa wrote:

evas21 wrote:Yes, they updated it. it seems that  I'm in the blue book!!  I want to contact the DGs but  that my first option email its not there.  Anyone also missing the contact information for some DGs?

Which DG are you looking for? Because for instance I was looking for DG HOME and it’s in the same line as DG Health and Consumers (which in fact it’s not even a DG).

I also got selected!!!!!!

Am a bit nervous now about which approach to use because I was in the Blue Book last session as well but did not get selected eventually.

I can share few info about lobbying based on my experience. Basically, I sent a few e-mails with the short text whren I am expressing my interest for that department and attaching the CV. However, no one ever replied to my e-mails nor I got any offer.
Therefore, I would say that there is no rule. Some lobby but still get nothing, others do not send any e-mail and get the offer eventually. Yet, it does not cost anything to try, so I will send a few e-mails this year as well.

Good luck to everyone!

Also, the e-mails they included in the list are usually contacts of the HR departments. Therefore, it is better to try to find a contact of some specific person who could help you.

To those wondering: I sent all the emails yesterday and got two replies so far, one from HOME D3 (Prevention of radicalisation) saying they have not been allocated a trainee for March and one from DG EAC (this standard email they have also sent some years ago):

"I note that you wish to have a traineeship within DG EAC. However, as the selection of candidates is still ongoing, we are not in a position at this stage to be able to guarantee a traineeship in this Directorate General.

If you pass the final selection stage, the Traineeships Office will send you a contract for a traineeship either with us or in another Directorate General. If, however, you have not received any answer by February, for the session beginning in March, you may consider that your application has not been successful."

Good luck to all of you!

How guys did you find contacts of specific departments in DG?
I have difficulties to find it.

I got a call from DG competition, she was going to put me on her list of trainees but then she asked me if I had DG Competition as my first choice, and I said no. She said she cannot select me as a candidate because my first choice has priority until the 18th of December apparently... (I didn't think my current master's in Economics that I'm still finishing would be taken into account if I'd selected DG competition as my top 3 choices during the application, so I didn't.)
I'm so sad... my first choice is EEAS but it's such a competitive DG, and also I really want a DG working mainly with economic issues, so yeah, I messed up my top three choices for sure.

Hi everyone, a non-EU candidate here.

I was wondering if anyone heard about non-Eu candidates who actually got an offer. Reading several post of the past year forum I was surprised to note that appearently almost no-one made it through.

About lobbying: I've sent 12 emails until now but got an answer only by one unit of DGNEAR, in wich they just said "Many thanks, we are looking at the lists shortly".

Good luck to everyone!

elvel00 wrote:Hi everyone, a non-EU candidate here.

I was wondering if anyone heard about non-Eu candidates who actually got an offer. Reading several post of the past year forum I was surprised to note that apparently almost no-one made it through.

About lobbying: I've sent 12 emails until now but got an answer only by one unit of DGNEAR,  in wich they just said "Many thanks, we are looking at the lists shortly".

Good luck to everyone!

Definitely true, it's virtually impossible to get in. I know a non-EU person who's doing an internship there now, but then it turned out that she actually also has a Polish citizenship..Also I know couple of others who had previously done it, but, I noticed they were all studying at the College of Europe, which made me think it has something to do with it.

Also, I found this info on the FAQ section of the EC website: "Non-EU nationals can apply for the Traineeship programme. On average, 20% of applications come from non-EU nationals, but they only account for 5% of trainees as they have a success rate of under 1%. Between 2012 and 2015 only 253 of the 26,151 non-EU candidates became trainees."

If you look at the previous sessions, 24 non-EU are currently doing an internship, only 14 made it for M19 session, 21 - for O18 session.

But, even though the odds are compared to winning the lottery, if you get in, it must be gold for your CV to be able to say you got a spot despite such a tough competition..

nn123 wrote:I got a call from DG competition, she was going to put me on her list of trainees but then she asked me if I had DG Competition as my first choice, and I said no. She said she cannot select me as a candidate because my first choice has priority until the 18th of December apparently... (I didn't think my current master's in Economics that I'm still finishing would be taken into account if I'd selected DG competition as my top 3 choices during the application, so I didn't.)
I'm so sad... my first choice is EEAS but it's such a competitive DG, and also I really want a DG working mainly with economic issues, so yeah, I messed up my top three choices for sure.

Don't give up ! I heard that you could change the order of your preferences ! Give it a try and call the traineeship office !

MTL>Brussels wrote:

nn123 wrote:I got a call from DG competition, she was going to put me on her list of trainees but then she asked me if I had DG Competition as my first choice, and I said no. She said she cannot select me as a candidate because my first choice has priority until the 18th of December apparently... (I didn't think my current master's in Economics that I'm still finishing would be taken into account if I'd selected DG competition as my top 3 choices during the application, so I didn't.)
I'm so sad... my first choice is EEAS but it's such a competitive DG, and also I really want a DG working mainly with economic issues, so yeah, I messed up my top three choices for sure.

Don't give up ! I heard that you could change the order of your preferences ! Give it a try and call the traineeship office !

Thank you for the idea!! I just emailed EAC-STAGES @ ec.europa. eu I hope it is the correct email address (I do not know the phone number...)!
I hope it will be possible but if not then I will just have to sit tight!
Have you had any news from any DGs? And are you lobbying only your first preference or even DGs you have not applied to?

Well, so far I've sent 7 emails to several Units inside the Dgs TRADE and TAXUD. I received a very kind answer from a Head of Unit who encouraged me to apply to a particular Unit, more in line with my field.

MTL>Brussels wrote:Well, so far I sent 7 emails to several Units inside the Dgs TRADE and TAXUD.  I received a very kind answer from a Head of Unit who encouraged me to apply to a particular Unit, more in line with my field.

Are DG Trade and TAXUD your two first preferences?
Some head of units are really nice! I hope you get the position you are most interested in! I really want a unit dealing with economic affairs or something since it's more in line with my current degree and future aspirations. But if not, then I'll also be happy. I just hope this preferences system will not be my downfall.

Yes ! 1) TRADE 2) TAXUD 3) SJ. I know that it's still early to settle for working in another DG, but I would also agree to work for a Unit that has no link whatsoever with my studies and my professional experience.

MTL>Brussels wrote:Yes ! 1) TRADE 2) TAXUD 3) SJ. I know that it's still early to settle for working in another DG, but I would also agree to work for a Unit that has no link whatsoever with my studies and my professional experience.

Let's hope for the best. Also I read through some of the previous threads and some candidates got offers completely different from their preferences and from the ones they lobbied for. Or some others still got offers even after being rejected. So I guess we have to be prepared for any unexpected offers since the process is seriously weird.

There is one part I really do not get...
What is the point of lobbying certain units if we do not know which ones take trainees? neither in which sector? cause according to the application, can be anything from HR to Comm, to projects or policy...

That's the million dollar question indeed.

Ok, I just received a phone call from DG TRADE and in spite of being very stressed, the guy (extremely nice btw) sounded satisfied. He asked why I chose his Unit (after having admitted that he had my cv before his eyes, so he was guessing pretty much why) and how my background could fit with the work of this department. Again, I was very nervous but succedeed to formulate decent answers. He finally asked me if I was confirming my interest in working with them and if I already applied to other DGs. I answered that i did apply to other DGs but that due to my professional experience and academic background, I was by all means very interested. He told me that he would call me another day for a "formal" interview and promised me to send an email before his next call. I don't know if it helps.

Today i got the answer from the service that offered me the last minute position in the previous session, however, i put them as a 3rd choice this time and they told me that first 2 choices have priority until 12th of Dec and only later the other ones can "reserve" a candidate.

nn123 wrote:I got a call from DG competition, she was going to put me on her list of trainees but then she asked me if I had DG Competition as my first choice, and I said no. She said she cannot select me as a candidate because my first choice has priority until the 18th of December apparently... (I didn't think my current master's in Economics that I'm still finishing would be taken into account if I'd selected DG competition as my top 3 choices during the application, so I didn't.)
I'm so sad... my first choice is EEAS but it's such a competitive DG, and also I really want a DG working mainly with economic issues, so yeah, I messed up my top three choices for sure.

I did the same "mistake" for the 2 times in a row and chose EEAS as a first choice but what can I do when my focus are security studies and EEAS has the biggest number of units that are dealing with it