General discussion for October 2012

Oh I thought you might be German as location says Germany for you So where are you from?

I am in Germany now, studying... I am from Serbia.

Nice Where in Germany are you, if I may ask

Frankfurt am Main. And you??

Hamburg

btw: Are you applying for the first time? If now, how were your scores before? I bet you have awesome chances; quotas from serbia aren't that high, are they?

Yes, I am applying for the first time.... so we will see.

And about quotas for Serbia, well... I will go into a group of Non-EU countries, but I still hope they do distinguish just a bit between those countries too, so if they do, I should have good chance... but we will see. Better than Romanian and Italian

I am Romanian, and didn`t even pass preselections for March 2012.When I asked them about my score, they replied I had only 27 out of 40 points, and in order to be preselected I needed at least 31....so now I am working on improving my motivation, I also did some volunteer work, and I am a little concerned about not having those 3 choices .... I really want Enlargement ..... but HR as well.....we`ll see how it goes

Hi all

I'm considering applying for this traineeship, but I don't know much about it. I finished my MSc last year and have lots of work experience in the UK, Europe and South America. I'm 24 years old and speak English, Portuguese, Punjabi, Hindi, some Spanish and French.

From reading other peoples' posts it would seem this is a very well-known and competitive internship (please excuse my ignorance; EU careers and training aren't as widely publicised in the UK as on mainland Europe). I don't want to take up anyone's precious application time (not long left now!) but I was hoping for some advice on whether I am of the right calibre, and whether it is worth me applying.

As I said, I have certain work experiences (admin, writing and translation as well as the typical retail, catering and call centre...) and language skills. My masters was in Global Ethics, thesis on EU-African aid treaties, and undergrad degree in the arts; both at good universities. I spent an Erasmus year studying in Lisbon (I realise this will seem quite banal to some of you from mainland Europe, who think nothing of travelling between countries - but its quite rare in England!) and have a wide range of academic experience - economics, politics, anthropology, development studies etc.
Since graduating I've been working as a translator and doing lots of internships/project work, for research centres, festivals, conferences etc etc... I like the sound of 'PROGRAMMES, PROJECTS, ACTIONS AND FUNDS' as a pathway.

I simply don't know whether this would be the right set of experiences to get me considered for the programme. I have a suspicion that its geared more towards students of public policy, PhD students, published researchers, etc, but could be wrong... I just wanted to know perhaps, what are the backgrounds of some of you other applicants, and do you think it would be worth me applying?

Thanks for reading my post and hope all your applications are going well

K

Hey,

Did anyone ask about the missing choice of DG? I know that a few years ago they did not even ask about the prefered area of employment... strange

Hey you guys,

I guess I will be moving from the March 2012 thread here with you. I was preselected but in the end not selected. This will be my second time applying so I hope I will have more luck this time. As far as I understand from you the option to choose 3 preferred DGs is no longer available in the app form, so we shall see how this mechanism for selection will work out for us, trainees and the TO.

Well... there is not that much to discus. Now it is more wide, you don't choose DGs, just area of interest and what you would like to do. Also you have general motivation for EC and than for specific area.

raluca, can you tell me what you included in your application for march 2012? I am just trying to see for what you god 27 points... but also, again... it depends of citizenship. As I said for Romanians, it's really competitive... like thousands apply!

I am done today with collecting documents, next week I am completing application, printing PDF and sending.

Mdenic: I might help you with this as well. I didn't include any additional references, just the basic application, my diplomas and my test result for ILTS. My "score" was 24 and I needed 26... so I guess I'll improve my motivation and I also enhanced my working experience. I'm still unsure about whether I should add references... I don't wanna bother my former profesors

@ mdenic: I hold a Cambridge certificate for English level C1 and learned French 8 years at school. I have a Bachelor in Economics and another one in Psychology. I took some classes for HR inspector and for some statistical programme and had 2 short internships and went to a conference. I have a letter a reference from a teacher. I sent them proof of everything I said earlier and a CV. So I guess the problem was with my motivation and working experience which is ... )) well, it isn`t, because I didn`t have any ). But now I volunteer in a students` organisation so I hope that counts .... that`s about it .... you just take the chance and do your best...
by the way, @ kudi, you should try applying :p never say never

it`s more competitive for Italians ... you can take a look at the statistics ... for example, in march 2012, only 510 Romanians applied, while there were 2313 Italians ... but eventually, as I analysed the statistics, usually only 20-30 Romanians get to be recruited ... so it is very hard

Yes yes... raluca, you are right. This year for Romanians wasn't that competitive.
But still... your CV and application in general looks great to me. I am really wondering why you were not at least pre-selected. I mean, you did internships, it's not like that you don't have any experience.
I guess Romanians are really good I also have a friend from Romania, and she wasn't pre-selected either... but I think it was a year ago, when was crazy competitive... but her CV and applications was AMAZING! Seriously! But still...

Hihi ) must have been my motivation ... I am working really hard on it now )) it`s very difficult to write it, because I don`t know what they expect ... how to write my motivation in order to be accurate, and point out my qualities, but not exagerate or brag .... hard thing

Getting your motivation right is hard. I started writing my motivation down since October and I still doubt I got it right. And this process is incredibly competitive, so it has to be at least noteworthy...

@kudi: "Trying will do anything in this world", so just go for it if you want it. Given the right motivation (how can you couple your skills with the E.U.'s needs?) you stand as much a chance as any one of us.

As for my background: I am not a student public policy, I turned down the opportunity to go for a Phd and have no published papers (except for my personal blog). I'm 23, I studied Business engineering in Management Information Systems (currently completing my MSc), I went on Erasmus to Finland and I have some work experience as a volunteer at a semi-professional student organisation. In my studies I have received some practical experience as well by performing an IT audit for a large firm and a consultancy project for a leading bank. I have had quite a lot of courses about the E.U., so I know enough about them, and I am Belgian, so I know my way around Brussels and the European quarter That last point has no relevance whatsoever though :p

I completely agree... It's so hard to put everything that you want and that all looks sounds good and be conceivable. And to makes you stand up!

Now I have problem with all this limitations of characters... My motivation is definitely longer, now I have to make it short and adapt it to this three parts:

General reasons for applying (up to 2000 characters)

Motivation for the choice (up to 700 characters)

Why do you consider your profile suitable for this employment area? (up to 700 characters)

@raluca and @saeyphi - thanks for your comments! Lol, and with the timeless universal advice of 'just go for it', you're both completely right of course

I just asked because I have a really busy month with work and other applications right now and wanted to know, if I invest the time and effort writing this app, will it even be worth it if, say, they don't consider people from an arts background?

But yes... like you both said, might as well just try! Nothing ventured nothing gained

Thanks again. And I wish you all good luck with your apps.

K

@ kudi I think you should apply. Your CV is international and you were already exposed to EU related topics. Good Luck

I have absolutely no clue how to answer those three questions in my letter of motivation.... damn it!

I know... Forgot me there's not enough space!!

yep... lack of space is one problem... but i am also not sure to which degree we should focus on those questions and to which degree on our qualifications....

If I may suggest something - for the motivation letters try to be as specific as possible. Don't write "I always dreamt about working at the European Commission" or this kind of stuff that everybody puts in - because it only shows that you have no clue at all what this work is about. Try to be specific and explain what are your specific skills/qualifications/interests without the "I always wanted".

Hey everybody,
I can see there is not many people on this forum. I guess no one else has any questions about it since there is little time left to apply. I am also applying and I don't really have questions, more a concern. I graduated recently (English and French - translation course) but I am not applying for the translation traineeship. I have some work experience in public administartion - EU project management to be more precise, and hoping that only this work experience will be enough since my diploma doesn't really correspond to my area of interest...Any good advice?
Tnx

Hi everyone,

I am a bit concerned with the motivation bit. We have to write up to 2000 words, which is A LOT. How long is a normal motivation? Of course the content is critical, but an estimation would help...

thanks

It's not words, but characters... no?

Yes... it's 2000 CHARACTERS... which makes it really short, what is my problem.

HI
I dont understand one thing I hope someone can help me here...When do we have to mention the DGs?

Do we have to mention them in the General reasons or do we have to fill three application forms?
Thank you

Hi missjustice ... as it is mentioned before, this year there is no option to select 3 DGs, you just pick ONE area of interest... it's available on the application.