Preselection phase

I got preselected too!!!!!
Words can't describe my happiness!!!!


Congratulations to all of you, i hope you receive the results that you are waiting for!!


I would like to ask a question though. Do i have to expect a rather unannounced phonecall in any time during daytime, or will i receive an email from the DG, that will define the exact time and day of the short-interview? I would also like to know in what language will the interview be? Is it commonest that the interview will be in English, or will i have to expect another language such as French?

I am sorry that i have to repeat a subject that has already been discussed in the forum, but the more i read about it, the more anxious and confused i get....
So, any answer will help!!!!!

Thanks in advance, i am sending positive thoughts to each and everyone of you!
Hope the next time we talk, will be in Brussels!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Notturna, I have exactly the same question here: which language skills do they want to check?! I guess English is obvious, but will they interview you in French or Spanish?!

Usually not. But if you wrote you speak perfect Spanish, and the person who calls you is Spanish, obviously he/she might speak in this language. If it turns out you lied it will not leave a very good impression.
But basically all you need is English, really rarely some French and that's it.

Aneena wrote:Usually not. But if you wrote you speak perfect Spanish, and the person who calls you is Spanish, obviously he/she might speak in this language. If it turns out you lied it will not leave a very good impression.
But basically all you need is English, really rarely some French and that's it.

that might be a problem for me...i have the superior in spanish (so level c2) but i haven't spoken spanish in years...so i guess i should avoid lobbying any spanish people!;-)

I think that what Erasoft writes is absolutely false.

Why should she/he bother to give false info around? come on s.giossi!

On the web you can find anything and everything, and what she or he said is clearly not possible.

Well in the end whatever people tell, we just have to wait and see for ourselves, be patient and (maybe) to send out some lobby letters.

I am patient, i just believe that's false, but it's naturally my opinion.

Ps: Are you Italian?

Sounds like?

Just guessed because of your nickname. Me too!! Well then double congrats because for us it was even harder to pass pre-seelction!

Do you use skype? Maybe we can get in touch.

I actually just use it for work on my office computer but you can find me on facebook under the name Beatrix Senoner (who cares about privacy in the 21st century anymore, right? ahah)

Done.

Thank you so muck for your answer!!!!
I wish you the best!!!! No phonecall yet....still waiting!!!!

Have a nice day all of you!!!

Last year there were some others who reported a super quick decision period. Nothing is impossible ...

Well, I really do not get the point of writing false things. I guess it depends on the DGs you applied. Maybe if there are few applications for a DG it will be quicker. And if you have a top profile...anyway, thank you all for the precious imputs you are giving. However, talking about lobbying I am still not sure about what should I do. Do you think it is better to write to the contacts they gave us in the e-mail or do we have to find out the addresses of the Units we are interested in? maybe both..
Thanks and...give me just a moment of "Italian proud": congrats to all Italians who passed,:-)

Hi guys! Long time reader, first time writer...

This is my second application, so delighted to have been preselected! A lot of people seem really concerned about lobbying, which is understandable, but I take the view that the worst thing that can happen is that your email etc is just deleted. Yesterday, I sent an email (content of the email was a short cover letter plus an attached CV) to the general DG Traineeship address for my first choice (Trade) and then sent similar messages to the six Heads of Units which I am keen on / match my background. Two Heads thanked me for the message and said they would consider me alongside other candidates. So, so far it doesn't seem to have hurt my chances. I hope!

I have sent some more messages to my second choice (EEAS) this afternoon. I'm tempted to not lobby my third choice (EuropeAid) just to test what happens!

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Well, for me it is also the second try and the first one i am preselected! Since the morning, I have been dealing with the lobbying thing..I have talked to a a lot of people I know and everyone had a different advice..So in the end, I sent emails to the heads of the units that I found more interesting and I guess now I have to wait to see what happens.. I also sent emails to the DGs and that's what I received from DG Enlargement:
Dear Madam, Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail informing us of your wish to have a traineeship within our Directorate-General.

I would like to inform you all applications for a traineeship within DG ELARG are carefully examined by our different units.

Your curriculum vitae will be kept into consideration and you will be contacted by this Directorate General should the need arise.

I wish you every success with your projects.

Yours faithfully,

Sandrine Durant
Human Resources Unit
Traineeship Coordinator

So, it was a standard message sent like 2 minutes after I sent my email..
But the email from DG INSFO was different:

Dear Madam, Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email.

DG Information Society & Media has started the selection procedure.

If you pass the final selection stage, the Traineeships Office will send you a contract for a traineeship.

Should your first application be unsuccessful, you can still apply for a subsequent exercise, provided you are still eligible. You must, however, make a fresh application. This should be done on-line following the guidelines on the Traineeships Office website at http://ec.europa.eu/stages.

Should you need further information about DG Information Society & Media, please consult our website at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/information_society/index_en.htm.

Yours faithfully,

Signed p.o.
Christian Dubs

ok DG INSFO was my 3rd choice in the application, but that email confused me a bit...Does it mean that they will send you a contract without interview, without anything??Or didn'i I understand correctly?
i don't know..I think though I did enough lobbying for the day and now I will wait a few days to see what happens..I am starting to become really obsessed with this traineeship since yesterday!

elina wrote:ok DG INSFO was my 3rd choice in the application, but that email confused me a bit...Does it mean that they will send you a contract without interview, without anything??Or didn'i I understand correctly?

I guess it depends on what their "final selection" process includes. Since the email does not mention anything like an interview, or anything other communication before sending you a contract, perhaps it is just an internal decision which they will make. That would be pretty sweet!

Yeah, lobbying is tiring But glad to at least have the chance to do it!

batavia wrote:

elina wrote:ok DG INSFO was my 3rd choice in the application, but that email confused me a bit...Does it mean that they will send you a contract without interview, without anything??Or didn'i I understand correctly?

I guess it depends on what their "final selection" process includes. Since the email does not mention anything like an interview, or anything other communication before sending you a contract, perhaps it is just an internal decision which they will make. That would be pretty sweet!

Yeah, lobbying is tiring But glad to at least have the chance to do it!

yes, avoiding an interview would be pretty sweet! although i don't think i have that big chance in this dg, since it was my 3rd choice...
yeahhh lobbying is tiring and stressful (especially when you also have to study for an upcoming oral bar exam.. ) but ok, last time i was complaining about not being preselected, so i shouldn't be complaining now...
ah sth that all the people i talked today (mostly past stagiares) advised me: we should do the lobby as quickly as possible because usually they tend to make their choice in the first days...but i was also told to not keep up trying, since there is late selection too! ;-)
good luck to all of us!

Congrats to all preselected candidates, and to the others: don't be sad, just try again for the next period, and remember that there are other great opportunities available as well!

As to some of your questions:

elina wrote:and could one also send emails to a unit from a dg that wasn't among the 3 option? for example i have chosen legal, enlargement and information society, but i am currently doing my thesis about data protection which is dg justice. so should i send an email to that unit too? i am so confused how i should do lobbying...and i don't have much time to do it...!

Elina, you CAN lobby a DG you did not choose in your application. The usefulness of such action depends of course a lot on your profile, and the DG you want to lobby. Some of the most popular DGs won't normally consider anyone who didn't choose them as their number 1, while other, less popular one's, will definitely choose people that did not apply to them. On the other side, if you have some really fitting professional/academic experience, you may of course have a chance.

What comes to the interviews: not all units interview their candidates. That was the case with me. I just received the offer at the end of the selection phase, that was all.

Lobby: In my DG (HOME) almost everyone of the trainees had lobbied, usually by sending a short email + their CV to the Heads of Unit in which they wanted to work.

Good luck to everyone!

thanks for the answer! i already sent some emails yesterday and now i am waiting....
good luck to everyone!


Elina, you CAN lobby a DG you did not choose in your application. The usefulness of such action depends of course a lot on your profile, and the DG you want to lobby. Some of the most popular DGs won't normally consider anyone who didn't choose them as their number 1, while other, less popular one's, will definitely choose people that did not apply to them. On the other side, if you have some really fitting professional/academic experience, you may of course have a chance.

What comes to the interviews: not all units interview their candidates. That was the case with me. I just received the offer at the end of the selection phase, that was all.

Lobby: In my DG (HOME) almost everyone of the trainees had lobbied, usually by sending a short email + their CV to the Heads of Unit in which they wanted to work.

Good luck to everyone![/quote]

elina, have you lobbied everyone you intend to lobby? I'm still holding back on lobbying some Heads of Units, mainly just to see what comes about from the lobbying I have done so far.

I think I am finding this lobbying phase more nerve wracking than when I was waiting to hear back on preselection!

Guys good luck to you all! I have a question: How did you find the email of Heads of units? I cannot find any on the EC website. I am interested in EEAS. I only sent an email to the general email address that was sent to us with the preselection notification and now I want to contact certain Heads of Divisions..

Hi everybody,

I am reading this forum since a week or so and now I signed in finally;) I applied the first time this year and was preselected. My preferred DGs are EEAS, EuropeAid and Trade.

I am really worrying about "lobbying" now (I don`t really like the word). I haven`t done it yet and somehow I would prefer not to do it at all. But ... I want to get in and if it helps I should do it anyway!

But: several questions:

1.) We shall contact heads if units right? I can`t find the names and/or addresses! What can I do?

2.) I read about sending a small cover letter and to attach a CV. How could such a cover letter look like? Any examples?

Thanks for supporting me;)

All the best for you!

Hi guys,

contacting the HoU is really simple, since they all have the same format of contact which is: name.surname@ec.europa.eu
So you just have to find out their name! Good luck to everyone!