General discussion for October 2012

ivotsonev wrote:Hi all! I have just recieved an E- mail stating that I was not preselected by the Selection Committee. That is really strange because I did my application in the same was as I did for the previous traineeship application session and then I was preselected and even conntacted by some departments. I just wrote to the Stageries office and hope to recieve an reply.

I did the same thing, asking for a more detailed evaluation. Do they give that information?

Hi everyone, thanks to those who took the time to set up this forum, its a great help to all of us.

I have just been preselected and my preference was External Relations. I'm planning on writing to some related DG's with a short message emphasising my interest. Does anyone have advice on what to include or not include in that message? Also, anyone have advice on telephone interviews or the popularity of External Relations in comparison to other areas?

Any advice would be kindly appreciated.

Good luck to you all in your endeavours.

Mark.

do you want to lobby? to what email address? head of unit or to the general emaila ddress provided in the preselection email? I read in this forum about lobbying in the past to head of unit, but now, since the application form changed and we didn`t have the 3 DGs option, what should we do?

Hey,
I have the same question as raluca. Are those emails listed in the Preselection email a new development this year with the new procedure?
I didn't want to lobby, but i have no idea how the Units will find suitable applicants now that we couldn't indicate our DG preferences in the application.
Sz

I have the same questions...I really don't know how to lobby...
MrSmith4, I don't know what to include or not in the message...should we just paste the "General reasons for applying" section?
That's not the best option...but I think that is even worst to give the SAME information just with different words...
Any advice from the experts on stages?
Thank you and good luck to all of you!

Hi everyone,

Is there anyone who's just been preselected for DG REGIO??

even though we couldn't choose DGs in the app form, i'm thinking maybe is worth sending out emails to some DGs of interest, but then again, chances are not all of them are taking interns... so it may all be in vain...
good luck all, anyways

Hi all!

Has anyone applying for the DGT got any news at all???

I´m really curious...

Unlucky for those who haven't managed to get through the first stage, congrats to those who have.
I got through pre-selection but not really sure about lobbying.
What are the benefits?
Couldn't e-mailing be potentially negative for us, especially if they're receiving hundreds of similar desperate e-mails?
I feel like they didn't really give us much information on the e-mail about this. Also, was there the chioce of three departments last year/session?
Thanks

Preselected! But indeed, the question is whether we should lobby or not. The e-mail seems quite neutral about it, but i do not really see the benefit if its not even a personal mail address...furthermore, shall we simply email the DG that is of most interest or also our second choices? I am confused...

Anyone interested in displaying their experiences last year? Also with regard to the interviews...?

Hi all, quick tips for you:
1. You should lobby! But, have in mind that some DGs are not taking stagiaires, which means that you should first do a deeper research and then send e-mails.
2. Send e-mails a.s.a.p.!
3. If you receive a call with hidden number, answer it! At that point you should know precisely what you are interested in. They usually ask you about your availability, motivation, expectations, experience…

@montenegrina: Thanks a lot! Have you been selected in past years? Ifso, congrats! Some questions for yor tips:

1. Who shall we lobby? Shall we send a meesage to the mail-adress provided to us or shall we drectly contact the Units of interest?
2. How long do we have for doing this?
3. What are the interviews like?

Thanks so much!

I honestly don't think that your lobbying strategy should change much, only that you should check every single DGs organigram to see if there are interesting units and loby the ones that sound even remotely interesting.

The only thing that will qualitatively change this time is that all DGs will have to consider all candidates and find other ways of narrowing down their choices. This will come down to what you picked for the kind of work you want to do. It's nearly impossible to know what kind of stagiaire they'll want, so I'd recommend lobbying and hoping for the best.

See this post for an analysis, statistics, and down a little further on the page a suggested format. https://ec-traineeship.forumotion.com/t326-analysis-of-lobbying-effective-or-not-that-is-the-question

I'm a current stagiaire, and I would have never gotten my spot had I not lobbied.

Good luck.

ok guys, there are quite a few informations regarding lobbying, but I can't find any (concrete) info on who should we excactly lobby. Sending an email to the contacts from preselection emails resoults only in an automatic reply and I have a feeling nobody reads it. On the other hand sending emails to heads of units....it seems to me that they have better things to do than to think about stagiers, but maybe I am wrong....

So, any advice on - WHO TO LOBBY?

tnx for answers and good luck to all!

ovca, you can easily find out all the information you need, by searching in this forum for previous posts about lobbying (in other sessions), because there are many you can read

Hi, guys, i also got preselected! And I'm definitely thinking of lobbying, since some of the people i know said it's definitely usefull. Since i'm currently enrolled in EU studies and we have a lot of professors coming that are acctually HoU of their departements, i can tell you that it is definitely useless to send emails to them, because they won't read them at all. They have better things to do. So, there, you decide for yourselves, but i'm definitely gonna lobby.

Tally wrote:@montenegrina: Thanks a lot! Have you been selected in past years? Ifso, congrats! Some questions for yor tips:

1. Who shall we lobby? Shall we send a meesage to the mail-adress provided to us or shall we drectly contact the Units of interest?
Contact directly the units of interest. I don't think that general mail-address will help you a lot.
2. How long do we have for doing this?
Selection started today and it usually lasts for 15-20 days.
3. What are the interviews like?
Not big deal... believe me :-). Just be kind.

Thanks so much!

About e-mails:
Don't repeat all things you already wrote in your application. Focus on the most important ones (no more than 400 words). First paragraph: introduce yourself, second: explain your skills and experiences, third and last one: explain why do you want to be in that particular unit - you will get their attention if you don't talk in general. If you mention some explicit projects, activities that you wish to work on, you have more chances. Attach CV and DON'T forget to write your application number!

This is all based on the stories from current stagiaires. They are always some exceptions of course. I sent e-mails to HoUs and even directors, and got all answers. So, there is no rule! It's not true that HoUs are not reading e-mails. If you send 3 same e-mails in the same unit but to different persons, they won't like that. It is also normal to don't get the answer, and to receive the message like "you are not supposed to lobby" or "we are not taking trainees for the following period".

thank you Montenegrina, you are really helpful!

Indeed! Thanks so much! It's so good to know that somebody is out there who already survived this crazyness

*they are = there are :-) sorry, i am writing this veryyyy fast.
You are welcome, good luck! I can understand you all. I wished someone could answer on all my questions couple months ago :-).

Hi people

Is anyone interested in DG Competition? I was browsing through their site, but couldnt find contact details for any unit in that DG. There are only some general informations and some contact that we don't need. So, does someone want to lobby DG Competition? How to do that?

Hey guys, I just got an email from one of the DGs with an offer (unofficial). I didn't do any lobbying (it's crazy, we have just been preselected!). I guess that they know who is a right fit for them based on the prefered field of work we provided in the application. I am not sure whether to lobby now, or not. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Somewhat dishearted because I have sent several more broad/cover letter-ish (over 400 words) mails to multiple HoU's, I have only had a response from one acknowledging my interest.
Montenegrina, regarding the projects you'd like to work on, how do you find out what project a specific unit is involved in/with though? Or are you more broadly referring to the DG's projects?

Aaron: Which one gave you the offer?

Aaron_ in your case you don't need to lobby. Unofficial is almost as official :-). If you wish to do your traineeship in some other unit, then you may lobby.

prek, e-mail format is: firstname.surname@ec.europa.eu for DG Competition. Here you have organizational structure and contacts: http://ec.europa.eu/staffdir/plsql/gsys_page.display_index?pLang=EN .

Marcanum, I found all information about activities/projects available on DG's web-page. It is enough to know while you are writing these e-mails. Maybe, they didn't think your application is enough suitable for their unit or similar... Because it is almost impossible that out of 10 e-mails you don't have the answer on at least 4. Also, some DGs are overloaded with e-mails, because they are enormously popular (for example international relations etc.). In that case, it is normal to don't receive the answer.

Well, I hope the latter is the case, I'm getting quite nervous about it now! *sigh*
I was hoping most units just had their emails swamped, so that their response might be delayed a few days. We'll see I guess....

Take it easy :-). And be optimistic! Try to do your best and you will get it! Good luck ;-)

Hvala montenegrina for the answer

Yeah, you're right Monte. As I'm graduating this year, these procedures are quite new to me. It's easy to underestimate your own profile then! Let's hope for a mail with an offer tomorrow!

Thanks a lot Marcanum for all these tips !
This whole process is pretty stressful I have to admit ! As they mentionned in the email that the decision would be made by mid-July, I assumed there was no need to hurry for lobbying...

Also, I have a question about lobbying: is it fine to send a regular CV or does it need to be a "Europass" one, following the European criteria ?

Thanks a lot and good luck to everyone