Preselection phase

Thanks bea!

Me again. Sometimes I have to write down my questions before I find the answers;)

So, for those of you interested in the results:

For EEAS:

I found an organisation chart:

http://www.eeas.europa.eu/background/docs/organisation_en.pdf

I guess that MD I to MD VI are the units. Right? Full names of managing directors can be found here:

http://www.eeas.europa.eu/background/organisation/index_en.htm

Shall I contact these guys?

For EuropeAid:

Organisation chart:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/who/documents/organigramme-devco_en.pdf

I guess that DevCo.A to DevCo.R are the units. Right? However, I can`t find full names of heads of units.

For Trade:

Organisation chart:

http://ec.europa.eu/trade/about/organisation/index_en.htm

I guess that Directorate A to Directorate H are the units. Right? Full names are given so contact is possible.

Any comments, advice, ...?

Econo,

I think that these are the Director Managers and not the Heads of Units. Units are these under each MD. In particular in the EEAS I think there are Divisions and not Units. Check it out. My first choice is also EEAS and I m trying to lobby them too. I would appreciate if you share any feedback.

Thanks panos for pointing that out. You are right. Units are those under each MD. So EEAS has really a lot of units. The problem then is that we don`t have the full names of the HoUs. And now?

By the way: The same seems to be true for DG Trade. Units are not Directorate A to Directorate H, but rather Units A1 to Unit H6. But still, full names of HoUs are given - so no problem with "lobbying" (still hate the word) DG Trade.

And EuropeAid?

Update:

Now I found it. Finding full names of all the HoUs for all units is quite simple with this page:

@ panos: For EEAS:

http://europa.eu/whoiswho/public/index.cfm?fuseaction=idea.hierarchy&nodeID=269879

For all other DGs:


http://europa.eu/whoiswho/public/index.cfm?fuseaction=idea.hierarchy&nodeID=10&lang=en

So, finding the names is not the problem. But still three questions:

1.) Cover letter? What should it cover=
2.) If a HoU has a double name, e.g. Janis Peter Pan, what will his address be?
3.) How to find more info on all the units? Right now I just have their names and the names of their HoUs.

And thanks bea for the info on EuropeAid!

Yes, I have contacted a EuropeAid directorate and they actually replied to my e-mail thanking me and telling me that it has been forwarded to the human resources staff. So I guess EuropeAid appreciates lobbying!

Guys, I have applied as first choice to INFSO, in 2nd : EACEA and in 3rd: COMM

I have the impression that the INFSO DG is not very popular. In the forum the same DGs are discussed about but the INFSO one , not so much.
Anybody knows why?

I decided to lobby juste one unit of the INFSO DG, the one which fits perfectly with my profile and see what happens... I don't think that I'm going to lobby the EACEA because from what I've read on this forum, they do not seem to appreciate that much (someone told that he received an email in which they told that lobby was illegal).

I can't wait to be in January to have an answer (or before if I am lucky...)

ok guys. I am out of the game. I am not going to lobby. Just talked to a friend and both of us agreed that this isn`t the life we want to live. I am not going to do this. I applied the regular way and if this is not enough I don`t want to be part of this. Wish you all the best.

@ panos: see u at EEAS!

Econo: fine if you think about this this way. But you should not take the word "lobby" to literally. It's just sending your cv and motivation to a unit that matches your interests the best. Remember that it is difficult for a unit to select someone from the Virtual Blue Book; the information available is scarce (only the forms you have filled in online) and there are plenty of candidates. If an unit is looking for a trainee with specific knowledge in a field, it is very hard to find this from the Virtual Blue Book.

batavia wrote: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!

i lobbied a lot, but still i am not sure...and i am also not sure whether the email-adresses that i sent the emails were correct..i talked to a professor of my university here who works at the commission and he advised me to wait a few days and then start calling...fore example the secretaries etc...

i totally agree, i hate that lobbying phase...!

i was also told that the DG legal service doesn't make any phone interviews and has a sort of a comitee that chooses the stagiaires...and that it is a bit difficult to get chosen...!

Montecito08 wrote: It's just sending your cv and motivation to a unit that matches your interests the best. Remember that it is difficult for a unit to select someone from the Virtual Blue Book; the information available is scarce (only the forms you have filled in online) and there are plenty of candidates. If an unit is looking for a trainee with specific knowledge in a field, it is very hard to find this from the Virtual Blue Book.

that's right..i talked to a professor of mine who works at the commission and the said that when he had to choose a trainee he preferred ofcourse choosing from the 20 cvs he received rather than searching all the cvs from the blue book..

fonfon_4 wrote:
I have the impression that the INFSO DG is not very popular. In the forum the same DGs are discussed about but the INFSO one , not so much.
Anybody knows why?

I decided to lobby juste one unit of the INFSO DG, the one which fits perfectly with my profile and see what happens...

i have also INFSO DG but as a third choice..anyway i sent some emails there too and they HR replied that if i get chosen they will sent me a conract..so maybe there is no interview at all at that DG..! ;-)

i have also DG ENLAR, anyone knows anything about it? is it popular? or not?

@econo: hope to see you there! You still got the time to change your mind about lobbying...

elina wrote: i lobbied a lot, but still i am not sure...and i am also not sure whether the email-adresses that i sent the emails were correct.

If you email a false EC email address (ie the email account does not exist) you automatically receive an email from postmaster@ec... informing you of the error. That has happened to me. So as long as you have not received such messages, your email will have been delivered to someone!

Of the emails that I have sent, three have replied (two from Trade, from one EEAS) saying 'thank you... we will consider... etc'. Only one of the replies was from the person I had originally contacted, the other two were replies were written on behalf of the Head of Unit or colleague. So hopefully that is a sign that lobbying emails are not automatically deleted. Phew!

But I like what you said about waiting for a few days before doing anything else. I need to gain some patience!

batavia wrote:

elina wrote: i lobbied a lot, but still i am not sure...and i am also not sure whether the email-adresses that i sent the emails were correct.

If you email a false EC email address (ie the email account does not exist) you automatically receive an email from postmaster@ec... informing you of the error. That has happened to me. So as long as you have not received such messages, your email will have been delivered to someone!

Of the emails that I have sent, three have replied (two from Trade, from one EEAS) saying 'thank you... we will consider... etc'. Only one of the replies was from the person I had originally contacted, the other two were replies were written on behalf of the Head of Unit or colleague. So hopefully that is a sign that lobbying emails are not automatically deleted. Phew!

But I like what you said about waiting for a few days before doing anything else. I need to gain some patience!

ah that's nice to hear! so at least i know that the emails have been delivered! ;-)
out of all the emails i sent to heads of units, only one replied saying the same "i am looking at the cvs, will contact you if i need more information".. let's see what happens next week...
we all have to be patien!
i will wait a few days and then do more, maybe calling, because i also have the fear that if you put too much pressure, this doesn't always make things better for you..!

hopefully we will all make it and see each other in brussels!:-)

First: you really shouldn't take the word "lobbying" too seriously, as most of the people do it, it is basically just another application they are sending to the units they are interested in to let them know that they are there, available & interested.

Some DGs do not appreciate even this, others do - for quite obvious reasons: if you get hundreds of lobbying emails you will not be happy either, on the other side if a more special knowledge is necessary or the DG is not that popular, they probably will be happy to choose from people who contacted them, and not having to go fishing in the VBB.

Then there are of course some more desperate cases who really lobby & bugger people off by calling several times etc. Don't do that!

And of course it is possible to be chosen without lobbying, but as said, almost all of the people I know did do it.

Second: cover letter, well, most of the people I know wrote just a very short e-mail introducing themself, telling what they have been doing in the past & why they were interested in the unit & why they thought they should be chosen. With their CV attached. E.g. most trainees in DG Home and DG Justice had a very special profile fitting the units where they worked, but it would have been very difficult to find us just through the VBB. But also with many of the other trainees I met there often seemed to be a clear reason why they were working in a certain unit.

Third: you can also find all the names of the HoUs for the whole Commission in the Commission directory: http://ec.europa.eu/staffdir/plsql/gsys_page.display_index?pLang=EN

At least I find it bit easier to handle as the EU directory.

Hi, guys! I`m still not sure about lobbing.
I understand what Myrskypilvi exactly means, but if the most of applicants do lobbing, how do DG`s choose from all these letters? I guess there is a plenty of such letters!
I consider different DG`s feel different about lobbing, some of them appreciate that, some of them don`t. So we should do it wisely and carefully anyway.

Lauraalden wrote:Hi, guys! I`m still not sure about lobbing.
I understand what Myrskypilvi exactly means, but if the most of applicants do lobbing, how do DG`s choose from all these letters? I guess there is a plenty of such letters!
I consider different DG`s feel different about lobbing, some of them appreciate that, some of them don`t. So we should do it wisely and carefully anyway.

Well, of course there are still some people who do do not lobby, for whatever reason (they have no clue, they could do that; they decide not to do that, they are no longer interested in the traineeship etc.).

And of course there are units, which get dozens of e-mails, while others will only get a few. It all depends. My recommendation would be to really think not only about where you would like to work (as I did with my first two applications), but for which units you could really be an asset. Then your application will stand out even between hundreds of e-mails!

In my case e.g. I had couple of years of professional experience exactly in the field of my unit, and furthermore I was planning to write my thesis on an issue that was very topical for the unit as well. Those two things I pointed out in my e-mail.

My suggestion would be to think of the lobbying as an initiative application for a job/traineeship. Write the cover letter & your CV individually for each unit, do not apply to dozens of units, but just to those where you really do think you could contribute. In this way you will also yourself gain more from your traineeship, as you will probably end up getting more interesting & challenging tasks. Because believe me, I also know cases were the trainees were not really given enough/interesting tasks.

If you just want to end up having the EC traineeship on your CV, it doesn't matter that much where you end up doing what, but others really want to do something more substantial & be a full asset.

That's my advice. Obviously it is not a science, and there are lot of ways to end up with a place... And a lot of reasons.

Thank you a lot, Myrskypilvi. Your opinion definitely makes sense. I think the limit of our application doesn`t give us a full possibility to tell DG`s about all ours advantages so it should be useful to send them more detailed information in cover letter.

I'm not too sure one should write their cover letter in the body of the e-mail. Would it not be better (better organised, neater) to attach both a CV and a cover letter (2 attachments) and in the body of the e-mail just write that you've been pre-selected recently and would like to send your application?

Ossory wrote:I'm not too sure one should write their cover letter in the body of the e-mail. Would it not be better (better organised, neater) to attach both a CV and a cover letter (2 attachments) and in the body of the e-mail just write that you've been pre-selected recently and would like to send your application?

all of my friends who had done lobbying before and got accepted advised me to attach only the cv and write the cover letter in the body of the email..because it is rather unlikely that one would give the time to read two attached files..but ofcourse there are other opinions..i don't know what's better..anyone does it their own way i guess..!

thank you everyone on this forum,
I am an applicant fron non-member country and preselected. I sent CV attached and cover letter (written on the body of the email) to Eurpeaid and i got a reply reminding me to let them know my application number. so please don't forget to mention your application number in any of your communication because they will search you in the bluebook through this. they also noted that preference is given to those who select that particular DG in their choice during their application. but, i don't think lobbying or whatever you say it brings any earlier promises. their working involves specified procedures and timing. anyone with similar experience?

Hi!


I have one problem! Since I wanted to send some emails to units, I tried this email formula name.surname(at)ec.europa.eu, and it does work, but one of head of units has last name in two parts (e.g. von Bertalanffy) I tried to put it only together like name.vonbertalanffy(at) .... but I got failure delivery? Does anyone knows what should i do??? Please, if does, it would be grate if you could send me as soon as possible!!!


Thanx!!!!

tamara wrote:Hi!


I have one problem! Since I wanted to send some emails to units, I tried this email formula name.surname(at)ec.europa.eu, and it does work, but one of head of units has last name in two parts (e.g. von Bertalanffy) I tried to put it only together like name.vonbertalanffy(at) .... but I got failure delivery? Does anyone knows what should i do??? Please, if does, it would be grate if you could send me as soon as possible!!!


Thanx!!!!

Hi Tamara,

normally the e-mail address in this case would be name.von-bertalanffy(at)ec.europa.eu. But there are also some exceptions. So keep on trying all kinds of combinations, if that doesn't work.

myrskypilvi! Thank you! it works!

Fikrie wrote:thank you everyone on this forum,
I am an applicant fron non-member country and preselected. I sent CV attached and cover letter (written on the body of the email) to Eurpeaid and i got a reply reminding me to let them know my application number. so please don't forget to mention your application number in any of your communication because they will search you in the bluebook through this. they also noted that preference is given to those who select that particular DG in their choice during their application. but, i don't think lobbying or whatever you say it brings any earlier promises. their working involves specified procedures and timing. anyone with similar experience?

Hi Fikrie, I received the same message. It had not crossed my mind that we should include the application number with our emails

I have also received a very similar message from the general EEAS Trainee inbox - except their message made no reference to the preference for candidates selecting the DG during the application, and there was no request for my application number.

Out of interest, where are you applying from?

Hi everybody!

I also got preselected, and I am from a non EU country.

Well, I also wrote to 3 DG, but I never attached a CV, instead I gave my application number.
Now I am not sure if I should contact them again and attach my CV...I am kind of anxious

Anyway, a lot of them aswered me that the preselection is still ongoing...and actually, is what says at the traineeship home page.

In any case, good luck to all of us!

Hey, you guys!!

I also got preselected. Very happy:)
Congrats to all and best of luck for all of us in the final phase....

Still haven't decide if I should lobby though... Read a lot of your post on the topic, but I still can't convince myself if lobbying will be o any help... anyway, we shall see..

BTW, my choices are Region, EMPL and EACEA

that's what i received from dg legal service:
Dear Candidate,

Thank you for your message and your interest for a traineeship in the Legal Service.

Right now we are in the process of selecting the stagiaires. You will be contacted if your application is retained.

For equality and transparency reasons, our internal selection committee does not interview any candidates and only bases its decision on the CVs in the Blue book database.

We wish you all the best,

Kind regards,

Romanos GIAGKOUDAKIS

Traineeship Coordinator Assistant Legal Service EC

so lobbying doesn't really work in that dg...

thank u for sharing ur answer elina.

i also sent an email, to one of the heads of unit in Enlarg. No answer whatsoever..

Hello again everyone!!!!

elina, myrskypilvi, panos thank you so muck for the more than useful information that you shared with us! That is very generous and kind of you!!!!I wish you all the best

I was wondering, do you guys contact every DG you find interest, (for example do you send your e-mails to like 5-6 DGs) or you just contact the DGs of you preference, the same registered in your online application?

Thank you so much for your response. I just made a contact with the DGs chosen in my application, but that question is really struggling me.!!!
Have a nice day everyone!