Preselection phase

At last I got mail from DG Trade, that's what i received:

Dear Trainee,
Thank you for your email in which you expressed your interest in doing a traineeship in the Directorate General for Trade for the next Blue Book training session of March - July 2012.
This selection is made by the individual Directors and Heads of Units and will be finished at the end of December 2011.

All the selected candidates will be personally informed by the Traineeships Office in mid January 2012.

The selection of candidates will be based on the CV's in the Blue Book and interviews by telephone so that all the applicants will have the same chances to be selected.

Thank you for your understanding.

TRADE STAGE

Now I have to wait for hone call

Inculis, I don't think that this means that all pre-selected candidates get a phone call, but only those the DG is interested in!

Bea, I agree with you. As somebody said in the discussion before, the DGs have different ways how to choose their trainees and some do not do the phone calls at all.

Inculis, I received the same email this morning. I messaged the general Trade email address on 30th November - it's good to know they deal with these things swiftly!

I interpreted the following from the message:

This selection is made by the individual Directors and Heads of Units = Don't bother emailing the Trade Trainee address.

All the selected candidates will be personally informed by the Traineeships Office = Units might not inform you directly if you have been chosen, so prepare for a long wait.

The selection of candidates will be based on the CV's in the Blue Book and interviews by telephone = DG Trade does not encourage lobbying.

This last point is interesting though. Although lobbying might not be encouraged, I still believe it will help you stand out, especially as it allows you to directly highlight your particular suitability for a specific Unit (which is not really possible in the original application). I agree with bea*, telephone interviews aren't guaranteed. I also imagine that if a Unit finds an applicant who they like based on the information they already have, then a telephone interview would be excessive, and so for the sake of ease they might reserve an applicant without telephoning.

Who knows, I could be completely wrong!

Yes, I'm know that ... but that means that they are in process of choosing candidates , so maybe next week somebody will call ... And I know I have to wait ....

I was happy that somebody respond my lobbying letter.

P.S
Thanks, bea* , Petra_OntheRoad and batavia for comments

This is what I received from EuropeAid which was my first choice and I sent them an email two days ago. So it seems that the selection is in process, they review especially those who indicated EuropeAid as their first choice and phone calls are possible but not necessary.

Dear Madam,

Thank you for your e-mail requesting information on the traineeship possibilities in EuropAid for Blue Book selected candidates.

Please be informed that the selection process has started and that Head of Units are now selecting the most suitable candidates according to profile requirements and the number of places available. We give a strong due consideration to candidates motivated to work in the field of aid management and who indicated DEVCO-Europaid among their choices in the Blue Book.

At this stage, it is not possible to give you any specific information or to invite you for an interview. However, the Heads of unit may contact you during the selection process to discuss the possibility of a traineeship with you.

Should you ultimately be selected, you will receive personally a letter with all the necessary information about the recruitment process from the Traineeship Office, as from 22nd December.

I wish you good luck for the selection.

Petra_OntheRoad wrote:This is what I received from EuropeAid which was my first choice and I sent them an email two days ago. So it seems that the selection is in process, they review especially those who indicated EuropeAid as their first choice and phone calls are possible but not necessary.

Dear Madam,

Thank you for your e-mail requesting information on the traineeship possibilities in EuropAid for Blue Book selected candidates.

Please be informed that the selection process has started and that Head of Units are now selecting the most suitable candidates according to profile requirements and the number of places available. We give a strong due consideration to candidates motivated to work in the field of aid management and who indicated DEVCO-Europaid among their choices in the Blue Book.

At this stage, it is not possible to give you any specific information or to invite you for an interview. However, the Heads of unit may contact you during the selection process to discuss the possibility of a traineeship with you.

Should you ultimately be selected, you will receive personally a letter with all the necessary information about the recruitment process from the Traineeship Office, as from 22nd December.

I wish you good luck for the selection.

Hello, Petra!
May I ask you what Unit was it?

Lauraalden, I sent it to the address that was in the pre-selection results email. So pretty general. Have you sent emails right to the heads of the units?

Hi guys...

First I want to congratulate to the one of you for being pre-selected. Keep finger crossed for furthermore.

I am planning to apply for next session (Oct 2012), so I would really appreciate if you could just tell us here in short what your application contained, besides the mandatory documents. To be more precise:

1. How many official proofs of language knowledge did you have.
2. How relevant and how much work experience did you have.
3. Which additional documents you sent and how many... (references, volunteer work, different kinds of certificates...)

Of course you don't have to go into details... just more like some basic facts and numbers.

I would really appreciate, just to get some clear picture of "good" application.

mdenic85 wrote:Hi guys...

First I want to congratulate to the one of you for being pre-selected. Keep finger crossed for furthermore.

I am planning to apply for next session (Oct 2012), so I would really appreciate if you could just tell us here in short what your application contained, besides the mandatory documents. To be more precise:

1. How many official proofs of language knowledge did you have.
2. How relevant and how much work experience did you have.
3. Which additional documents you sent and how many... (references, volunteer work, different kinds of certificates...)

Of course you don't have to go into details... just more like some basic facts and numbers.

I would really appreciate, just to get some clear picture of "good" application.

hi!
1. i had official proofs of all 4 languages i had written in the application form.
2. i didn't have much work experience, only the traineeship at a law firm. i was also erasmus student which might also be positive
3. i also sent a reference letter from the university (they gave us in one document sth like a proof that we are doing the master and a recommendation letter), the europass cv, a reference letter from the law firm and a document from my university that i was selected as erasmus student.

hope this helps! good luck!

Thanks... that's exactly what I need... just brief overview... Thanks elina.

Others??

1. Official proofs of 2 languages out of 4.
2. Not much work experience, but I had a year of volunteering in a think tank, 8 months in a private company - non-relevant.
3. No other documents than requested (I kind of applied in the last minute so I wasnt prepared). Oh, I enclosed my CV.

I have Masters from South Korea from quite well known school for public officers, so I think it helped me a lot. Also I was quite active at my university at home.

1.I am French. I did not send any official proof. I have lived in Spain one year (Erasmus) and my Master is taught both in French and in English so I hoped that it would be sufficient because I do not have any document that demonstrated by level of ENglish or Spanish. And for Italian, I did not put anything either (I am from Italian origin but I am not bilingual).

2. Not any work experience

3. No other documents except the document demonstrating my stay in Spain (Erasmus). And a letter of a Spanish professor which attested that I was able to work in English....

So nothing especial!

And all of you guys are pre-selected??!

Thank you so much for sharing this.

mdenic85: yes I am preselected.

yes i am preselected...(but not very optimistic about being selected in the end!)

I also got pre-selected. main features:
- 24 years old italian
- will graduate in March in international relations (so I just had the bachelor diploma to show them)
- speak 4 languages fluently, 3 of them are the working languages of the EU (however, I did not have any proof of 2 of them)
- Erasmus in Paris for six months
- 3 relevant internships, also abroad, on national (national NGO) and international level (2 UN agencies) but no proper, paid job yet
- other than the erasmus, I spent one year in the UK during college
- i attached a recommendation letter which, if well written, gives a certain added value in my eyes

But that is all, I really think that there is a certain amount of luck involved, because I already applied last year, and I was not pre-selected, and I can say that my CV did not change much in the meantime!

I got preselected for the third (and last) time.

I am Belgian, and could proof my english language skills since I have studied a master's programme in English, and have had courses in another language. No proof for my french, but this is my second language.

I have been on erasmus and have done an additional master abroad.

limited working experience

I think it is especially my stays abroad that has caused my preselection.

Regarding selection, I wonder what the background is of most of the selected. Could it be that those selected often have degrees in law, EU studies and international relations?

I have a more technical background, which is maybe not as attractive to many DGs.

@opperskip

This is also my third (and probably last) time preselected.

I guess you're right and selected people have those kind of degrees. I also think the topic of the Master's dissertation (for those who have it) is very important. My Master's dissertation was not about a "European" topic, neither my job experience. That's why I am not confident about going through the selection.

Thank you guys fro sharing this... I really means a lot for me.

opperskip, I think it is not that much important which background you have... of course it plays some role, but I would not say that you gave greater chances if you come with degrees in law, EU studies and international relations... of course Depending which DGs you choose.

zyrte, so you think it is important to emphasize the topic of your bachelor/master theses?? Maybe event the topics of seminar papers that you have done which are relevant to EU policy? I was not thinking about it.... but interesting idea.

And also, about language... I should state the language that I know, but I don't have any official certificate of knowledge of it? Does it play any role? I don't know how I am going to do that, since I don't know how the application form looks like, they still haven't open it.

Hi everyone,
I needed some help with regards to lobbying. Finally decided to do it.
I've send emails to the 3 DG email ids on my preselection email.
EuropeAid, ECHO and DG - health &consumers.
Is it necessary that i also have to send emails to the different Heads of Units under each DG?
Also, where can i find HOU email ids, coz the directory lists only name and phone number?
Any one who's already lobbied any of the above DG's and got any response?
Please help!!
Thanks.

Cheers

drneo13 wrote:Hi everyone,
I needed some help with regards to lobbying. Finally decided to do it.
I've send emails to the 3 DG email ids on my preselection email.
EuropeAid, ECHO and DG - health &consumers.
Is it necessary that i also have to send emails to the different Heads of Units under each DG?
Also, where can i find HOU email ids, coz the directory lists only name and phone number?
Any one who's already lobbied any of the above DG's and got any response?
Please help!!
Thanks.

Cheers

hi! i also sent emails to the heads of units i was interested in..
the email adresses aren't shown but you can guess them, they are always name.surname@ec.europa.eu.
good luck!

drneo13 wrote:(...)
Any one who's already lobbied any of the above DG's and got any response?

The only answer I got from DG Health and Consumers (SANCO) was from unit D2, that they do not take trainees this session...

Rumor says that all the dg want to finish selections to Friday, before Christmas.
Good luck guys!

I can image that. Bad sign

For all looking for full names:
http://europa.eu/whoiswho/public/index.cfm?fuseaction=idea.hierarchy&nodeid=1

Just found this website, where every full name is visible.

Opperskyp and Zyrte, you both got pre-selected 3 times and never got an offer???! Wow that is frustrating! Did you have some phone interviews at least? I wish you the best of luck, maybe this is the right time!

bea

thanks,

Indeed it is a bit frustrating. I lobbied a bit extra this time, we'll see. I guess my profile is good enough to get selected (languages, erasmus, foreign master degree), but most units are looking for people with more policy/ legal experience and not an engineering background.

I did get one traineeship offer, since units can search the Blue Book even if the traineeship period has already started. I got a phone call in two months ago, but it would have been a logistic position, which is not really of interest to me. Just so you know, it is possible to get contacted at a later time.

Hello everybody!

First of all, good luck to everyone, as this is my first post!

I have lobbied for EuropeAid and EEAS but besides the standard replies from the general emails we got, I haven't heard anything much. I am a bit worried, but as it seems, a lot of people get their offers directly, without any contact.

Do you guys know when the first offers should be sent out?

Hi all,

I am preselected as well. I sent a number of lobby letters to the units that I am interested in. However, I received up to 3 replies saying they were not granted for a trainee position. It seems that they are interested in getting trainees, but just cannot hire any.

I also had an interview with one unit and they verbally gave me an offer. However, they emphasized that it is not official. I also haven't received any emails from the unit that they will give me the offer. I am quite paranoid unless I receive the official letter. You will never know what will happen in the bureaucracy. I am afraid the unit will suddenly turn down or their grant for a trainee will suddenly cease.

Also, I received another email from a unit that I am one of the 4 preselected candidates in their team. They would like me to verify my interest. I just declined because I got the verbal offer from other unit. However, I don't feel very secure to do so, but I think it is right.

Is anybody in the same situation as me? I would love to hear from you.

Congratulations to those who are preselected.

PhyK wrote:Hi all,

I am preselected as well. I sent a number of lobby letters to the units that I am interested in. However, I received up to 3 replies saying they were not granted for a trainee position. It seems that they are interested in getting trainees, but just cannot hire any.

I also had an interview with one unit and they verbally gave me an offer. However, they emphasized that it is not official. I also haven't received any emails from the unit that they will give me the offer. I am quite paranoid unless I receive the official letter. You will never know what will happen in the bureaucracy. I am afraid the unit will suddenly turn down or their grant for a trainee will suddenly cease.

Also, I received another email from a unit that I am one of the 4 preselected candidates in their team. They would like me to verify my interest. I just declined because I got the verbal offer from other unit. However, I don't feel very secure to do so, but I think it is right.

Is anybody in the same situation as me? I would love to hear from you.

Congratulations to those who are preselected.

Congratulations, I hope you will receive the official letter soon.
Well, I am in a difficult situation. I already have an internship offer in a company(offer that I accepted end November), but after that I received the offer from the European Parliament. Then I was preselected for EESC, but I refused. I was thinking to refuse the traineeship at the EP , to do the one that I have in a company, and to try again next year, but then I got the call from DG Budget with an offer but he will call me back after he verifies if my treaineship can be recognized for my studies.
I didn't lobby because actually for me would be better to do the internship in the next session but now, honestly...I do not think I am a genius to refuse all offers from all european institutions. So I guess if the commission offers me the traineehip, I will gave up at the one that I have in the company. .
So it is good to have many options, but then...it is very extremely difficult to chose.