General Discussion

check your spam box also ;p

Hey guys!

Further to my last posts, I had so many people asking me for the selection process tips that I decided to create a blog (and a Facebook page to follow it) in English about the application process in order to get a traineeship and all good things I find about while I'm in Brussels:

https://www.facebook.com/ATraineeInBrussels
http://atraineeinbrussels.blogspot.pt/

I invite you to "like it" if you like it or share it with whom you think appropriate!

Thanks,
Mariana

That's very kind of you! Many previous stagiaires seem so jealous about what they know and their experience. Thank you for sharing that with us! Of course I will like it!

MoreEU4all wrote:That's very kind of you! Many previous stagiaires seem so jealous about what they know and their experience. Thank you for sharing that with us! Of course I will like it!

If the former trainees I talked to had kept their "secrets" to themselves, maybe I would never have gotten my traineeship I don't know why would anyone be jealous about this, specially when we already were selected!

Thanks and good luck

hey guys, i still got no answer from the commission regarding my application sent per post. now i'm sure that it got lost, it's already end of februar... did you all got your confirmation? i'll call them next week, but now it's obvious that my application got lost, what cand they tell me?

mariabernarda wrote:hey guys, i still got no answer from the commission regarding my application sent per post. now i'm sure that it got lost, it's already end of februar... did you all got your confirmation? i'll call them next week, but now it's obvious that my application got lost, what cand they tell me?

I received my confirmation yesterday, maybe you still have a chance

thank you, europe4all. maybe there is a pale chance that i get an answer, but still don't know what to think, it would have been so easy to upload the docs on our profiles and so we'll be all sure the docs are there and not wait over one month for the confimations

Thank you Mariana

ECandidate wrote:Hey guys!

Further to my last posts, I had so many people asking me for the selection process tips that I decided to create a blog (and a Facebook page to follow it) in English about the application process in order to get a traineeship and all good things I find about while I'm in Brussels:

https://www.facebook.com/ATraineeInBrussels
http://atraineeinbrussels.blogspot.pt/

I invite you to "like it" if you like it or share it with whom you think appropriate!

Thanks,
Mariana

Thanks a million, Mariana!

Your page is quite useful. I didn't know very much about lobbying, so now I'll be able to get ready if I'm pre-selected.

I'm Spanish and I wish this is a good opportunity for me to improve my career. Does anyone know if there's some kind of 'unofficial' requirement about age? I'm 36 and I've applied because in Spain unemployment is so high that the situation is desperate even for experienced workers like me. But I know that it may be weird looking for a position as a trainee after years of experience. What do you think?

Regards!

hi, guys, still no answer from the EC regarding my application. am i the only one in this situation? everybody got the confirmation? now it just feels strange because it past already a 6 weeks since sending the application and no confirmation....

hi, roxanne1305, the best thing is ask them about the age limit. anyway i haven't seen anything mentioned regarding an age limit...

roxanne1305 wrote:

ECandidate wrote:Hey guys!

Further to my last posts, I had so many people asking me for the selection process tips that I decided to create a blog (and a Facebook page to follow it) in English about the application process in order to get a traineeship and all good things I find about while I'm in Brussels:

https://www.facebook.com/ATraineeInBrussels
http://atraineeinbrussels.blogspot.pt/

I invite you to "like it" if you like it or share it with whom you think appropriate!

Thanks,
Mariana

Thanks a million, Mariana!

Your page is quite useful. I didn't know very much about lobbying, so now I'll be able to get ready if I'm pre-selected.

I'm Spanish and I wish this is a good opportunity for me to improve my career. Does anyone know if there's some kind of 'unofficial' requirement about age? I'm 36 and I've applied because in Spain unemployment is so high that the situation is desperate even for experienced workers like me. But I know that it may be weird looking for a position as a trainee after years of experience. What do you think?

Regards!

This is a very good question. I think that officially there is no age limit, but please do tell us if you hear anything else. Indeed, the pre-selection preferences and rankings are not very clear, e.g.: under or above age 30; bachelor's or master's degree; how do you assess candidates who have not been living and studying in the country of their citizenship and all other "additional qualities" - whatever that means. The question is, does the pre-selection committee have unofficial criteria?

mariabernarda wrote:hi, roxanne1305, the best thing is ask them about the age limit. anyway i haven't seen anything mentioned regarding an age limit...

Maybe I didn't explained myself properly. In the official requirements there's no limitation by age, and this is why I've been able to apply. But my question is, as said by LOL:), if the selection board takes account of the candidates' age. Does somebody know anything about this? Perhaps any selected candidates over 30?

Regarding your question about the confirmation, mariabernarda, in my case I sent the documents the last day of the extended deadline (Feb 4th) by certified postage and received the confirmation e-mail two days later (Feb 6th). I guess this is a quite quick response, so maybe it's not a good reference.

In the rules governing the traineeship programme (http://ec.europa.eu/stages/information/rules_en.htm), you can read this :

This scheme is addressed mainly to young university graduates,
without excluding those who – in the framework of lifelong learning – have recently
obtained a university diploma and are at the beginning of a new professional career.


So I think older people have a chance to be selected but only if they got a degree recently.

LOL wrote:

roxanne1305 wrote:

ECandidate wrote:Hey guys!

Further to my last posts, I had so many people asking me for the selection process tips that I decided to create a blog (and a Facebook page to follow it) in English about the application process in order to get a traineeship and all good things I find about while I'm in Brussels:

https://www.facebook.com/ATraineeInBrussels
http://atraineeinbrussels.blogspot.pt/

I invite you to "like it" if you like it or share it with whom you think appropriate!

Thanks,
Mariana

Thanks a million, Mariana!

Your page is quite useful. I didn't know very much about lobbying, so now I'll be able to get ready if I'm pre-selected.

I'm Spanish and I wish this is a good opportunity for me to improve my career. Does anyone know if there's some kind of 'unofficial' requirement about age? I'm 36 and I've applied because in Spain unemployment is so high that the situation is desperate even for experienced workers like me. But I know that it may be weird looking for a position as a trainee after years of experience. What do you think?

Regards!

This is a very good question. I think that officially there is no age limit, but please do tell us if you hear anything else. Indeed, the pre-selection preferences and rankings are not very clear, e.g.: under or above age 30; bachelor's or master's degree; how do you assess candidates who have not been living and studying in the country of their citizenship and all other "additional qualities" - whatever that means. The question is, does the pre-selection committee have unofficial criteria?

Hello,

As I mentioned, I am a current trainee in the EC and I just wanted to let you know that we had some conferences today and it was mentioned that there used to be an age limit of 30 years old to apply for this traineeship, but then a person filed a complaint in this respect to the European Ombudsman and it was decided to abolish the age limit and now everyone can apply. Though I must say that almost all trainees seem to be in their 20's, I saw some "older" people in the room, so you may have your chances as anyone else, of course

So I guess I have a little chance to be admitted, too bad...

Anyway, thanks a lot for the info!

hi everyone, stil no answer, so time to move on... good luck to all of you!

Oh, mariabernarda...
Did you try to contact the Traineeship Office and see what happened with your application?

Hey guys! How are you? I hope you're all fine! Well, i am new here and i'm planning to sent an application for the period March-July 2014. So i am going to ask you a really silly question (feel free to laugh at me!): I don't speak French..I am going to fail..am i not??? Oh i am so anxious about this cause i know that it's an official language and they prefer it instead of others like italian or spanish..am i wrong? I would like your opinion...Good luck to all of you!

I don't speak French either and I think this has not to be an obstacle. In fact, I took part in another selection process with Epso and I reached the final stage. But maybe someone more experienced can tell you more.

In my traineeship there was a woman who was 46. On top of that she was crazy - at least she behaved like that going to the stage and presenting herself talking some complete nonsense. So you have a chance no matter how old (and crazy) you are.

roxanne1305 wrote:I don't speak French either and I think this has not to be an obstacle. In fact, I took part in another selection process with Epso and I reached the final stage. But maybe someone more experienced can tell you more.

Thank you very much roxanne1305 for your reply! Good luck to you!

Aneena wrote:In my traineeship there was a woman who was 46. On top of that she was crazy - at least she behaved like that going to the stage and presenting herself talking some complete nonsense. So you have a chance no matter how old (and crazy) you are.

It must be cool to be 46 and crazy!

roxanne1305 wrote:Oh, mariabernarda...
Did you try to contact the Traineeship Office and see what happened with your application?

oh, yes I did, but no answer from them... i wrote them an email, what more can i do? this is really bad luck... i hope they will change the system and let us upload the documents, because I can't believe this is happening!

mariabernarda wrote:

roxanne1305 wrote:Oh, mariabernarda...
Did you try to contact the Traineeship Office and see what happened with your application?

oh, yes I did, but no answer from them... i wrote them an email, what more can i do? this is really bad luck... i hope they will change the system and let us upload the documents, because I can't believe this is happening!

Try to contact them through this Facebook site:

https://www.facebook.com/EU.Careers.EPSO

They usually keep it up-to-date, maybe you can get an answer there.

Good luck!

ok, i will, right now. thanks a lot and good luck to you too!

Hi guys,

So I've read through all the millions of pieces of info on here and other sites about the Traineeships - I've applied for Translation Traineeship Oct 2013 - and there's a lot of great info about lobbying, however am I right in thinking that doesn't apply to the translation trainees?
I may be wrong, but should I get through pre-selection, I don't need to lobby as I am only applying to the English department of the DGT, right?

I just had a total panic seeing all the chat about lobbying!! Anybody able to reassure me?

Thanks!

hi everyone, i got my confirmation still can't believe! thanks and good luck to all of you!

Congrats, mariabernarda!

roxanne1305 wrote:Congrats, mariabernarda!

thank you, dear! let's keep our fingers crossed!