Lobbying process

Hi!

Congratulation to everyone who got confirmation on their pre-selection to the Blue Book!

Understanding from previous traineeship sessions, a major question among applicants has been wether or not to lobby. Some say many of the units within the DGs get overwhelmed by the amount of lobby e-mails and that it is better not to lobby at all. Others say the opposite - That lobbying is necessary so as to be able to get a place at a desired DG or unit.

What are your views on this, and if you are lobbying, how are you doing it?

I have decided to lobby, and I've decided to go for quantity
so I've contacted around 160 units when I was pre-identified, and now that I'm preselected, i'm going to do a follow-up, probably on Tuesday 6 (now is holiday and on monday there are going to be way too much emails).

My concerns are indeed that people hate lobbying and you just annoy them, and for me, given that I send so many that units talk to each other and I lose "seriousness".

apparently, as in this link that somebody gently posted result of lobbying are mixed: https://i.servimg.com/u/f58/18/81/17/03/lobbyi12.jpg

160 unites is way too many, that is basically all the units in the European Commission. Did you get any replies?

well, it is basically EEAS, Home Affairs, DEVCO and ECHO.
I would not call my first round of contacts a success, the most honest answers I've got told me that it was too early..will see with this round..

cjlind87 wrote:Hi!

Congratulation to everyone who got confirmation on their pre-selection to the Blue Book!

Understanding from previous traineeship sessions, a major question among applicants has been wether or not to lobby. Some say many of the units within the DGs get overwhelmed by the amount of lobby e-mails and that it is better not to lobby at all. Others say the opposite - That lobbying is necessary so as to be able to get a place at a desired DG or unit.

What are your views on this, and if you are lobbying, how are you doing it?  

It all depends on what you are aiming for. There are many units (Devco, Echo, EEAS), which receive hundreds of emails, so they tend to ignore them.
When I had applied last august, I had chosesn interninstutional relations s prefered area and lobbied about 15 units, I think. All of the replies I have got were polite, so I would not worry about upsting people.
In the end, however, I was selected by another unit than the ones I had loobied. They called me the third day after the Bluae Book results were out (and yes, I had already sent out my lobby emails in the morning of the second day, so that they would be fresh in their inbox), passed two interviews and by Friday they had offered to book me, this implying no other unit could have looked me up and booked me. Therefore, my advice is to lobby, but stay open to other possibilities.

Other pieces of advice: besides your phone, try to always have with/ next to you a pen and paper, so you can write down during the interview at least their names, so you can send them a nice follow-up email.

Great answer, many thanks!

lucia_roman wrote:

cjlind87 wrote:Hi!

Congratulation to everyone who got confirmation on their pre-selection to the Blue Book!

Understanding from previous traineeship sessions, a major question among applicants has been wether or not to lobby. Some say many of the units within the DGs get overwhelmed by the amount of lobby e-mails and that it is better not to lobby at all. Others say the opposite - That lobbying is necessary so as to be able to get a place at a desired DG or unit.

What are your views on this, and if you are lobbying, how are you doing it?  

It all depends on what you are aiming for. There are many units (Devco, Echo, EEAS), which receive hundreds of emails, so they tend to ignore them.
When I had applied last august, I had chosesn interninstutional relations s prefered area and lobbied about 15 units, I think. All of the replies I have got were polite, so I would not worry about upsting people.
In the end, however, I was selected by another unit than the ones I had loobied. They called me the third day after the Bluae Book results were out (and yes, I had already sent out my lobby emails in the morning of the second day, so that they would be fresh in their inbox), passed two interviews and by Friday they had offered to book me, this implying no other unit could have looked me up and booked me. Therefore, my advice is to lobby, but stay open to other possibilities.

Other pieces of advice: besides your phone, try to always have with/ next to you a pen and  paper, so you can write down during the interview at least their names, so you can send them a nice follow-up email.

I have a question about this "booking" part. Is it too bad to refuse to be "booked" just to be the door open to all the offers and decide afterwards? Thanks

If you do that, they will make the offer to somebody else, and you will be their second option. And in my case, the unit that had called me was a match for my prefered area, even though it was not the exact policy area I wanted in the first place, so, I did not mind staying with them.

For those of you interested in Devco, this morning I sent an email to the general email that was in the 'you've been pre-selected'-message. I got an automatic reply:

Please be informed that the selection process has started on 5th May 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.

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. Please remember that without you Candidate number, we are not able to find your coordinates.

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 the  2nd of June.

2nd of June is actually pretty fast :O

Thank you for your application and congratulations with your pre-selection!
Please be informed that our services are currently selecting the names of the pre-selected candidates which are stored in a database to which all services have access to make the final selection. This database is known as the "Virtual Blue Book (VBB)" and contains about 2,800 names for a total of about 700 positions available per session.
Therefore, we can at this stage not give you any assurance on your selection.
Should your name be retained you will be contacted by the relevant services.

This is what I received from DG Energy. I do not understand that, what do you think about that. Does it mean that these lobbying emails will be simply ignored?

Did you write to the generic adress specified in the Pre-selection message, or was it from any HoU within DG Energy?

Understanding from previous posts, from this session and earlier ones, is that the DGs send out these types of automated mail regardless.

Becoming more and more skeptical of the lobbying process as more and more of these types of replies keep coming in....

hi everyone,

I was just had a phone interview with a DG Comp and they seemed happy. They told me they would get back to me soon but nothing specific. I am just wondering what now?
What do I do in case I get contacted by other units? I heard that this DG is pretty fast, but I really do not want to get booked by another unit or DG.

Oh and the call was a clear response to my lobbying e-mail, so do not hesitate to do it.

Hi people,

I really need some advise here - I just received an email (after a lobbying email) by a unit. They enquired whether this particular unit was my "first choice within the DG". What does that mean? Does it mean that, in case I say yes, that I cannot be contacted by any other unit? Will I be "flagged"?

Grateful for any clarification!

blinkblink wrote:hi everyone,

I was just had a phone interview with a DG Comp and they seemed happy. They told me they would get back to me soon but nothing specific. I am just wondering what now?
What do I do in case I get contacted by other units?  I heard that this DG is pretty fast, but I really do not want to get booked by another unit or DG.

Oh and the call was a clear response to my lobbying e-mail, so do not hesitate to do it.

Hey blinkblink,

I also have an interview with DG Comp tomorrow morning. Can you tell me now long does it take and what kind of questions they make?? I will be very grateful for the information cause i am kind of freaking out right now

Did you send your email to that address provided for DG Competition or did you send it to the specific Head of Unit? I sent an email to a few units at DG Competition today but I did not get any replies....

Linnamaria wrote:Hi people,

I really need some advise here - I just received an email (after a lobbying email) by a unit. They enquired whether this particular unit was my "first choice within the DG". What does that mean? Does it mean that, in case I say yes, that I cannot be contacted by any other unit? Will I be "flagged"?

Grateful for any clarification!
 

It means they want to avoid arguing for a trainee with another unit.
If you lobbied, I would assume you are interested in that field, so you should say yes.
Depending on the DG, the process should take slower or longer. Sometimes, they wait until all units have chosen they list of candidate (they also have their list of preferred trainees) and then forward it to the DG stage coordinator which then confronts them and if there two units wanting the same trainee, there might be some delays, difficulties in deciding who gets him/her... etc. So, even if you are not officially flagged, it is a fort of commitment.

Wow, congratulations and don't sweat it.
Tips for all applicants -
- stand up while speaking,
- always count to three before opening you mounth to reply so that you dont interrupt them, smile while you are speaking, try also to take notes (sometimes they start with a presentation of their work and what they expect of you, very good points for a follow up email can be obtained from that) and
- write down the full name of the person you are speaking to - dont be ashamed to ask them to repeat it - without it you cannot write the follow up email;
- prepare answer to question related to motivation to work for the EC, describe yourself in three words/qualities
- if you have lobbied, it is always useful to have a list of the persons you have written to, with their dg so that you can easily spot who is calling and from which DG - maybe prepare a little bit by reading about their work if you have the time.

Best of luck!

coolup wrote:

Hey blinkblink,

I also have an interview with DG Comp tomorrow morning. Can you tell me now long does it take and what kind of questions they make?? I will be very grateful for the information cause i am kind of freaking out right now

Hey guys,

Anyone heard something back from DEVCO, EAC, EMPL or EEAS?

i am sorry for a late reply.

I was called by two people, and they were very nice. They asked me about why i would like to work for their unit and a bit about my background...nothing difficult. Why I think this field is important and interesting ect.

My advice is to take your time and make clear answers. They did not make an appointment with me, so i was a bit ambushed. I asked for a minute to find a quiet space and gather my thoughts.

It lasted for about 15 min.

If you do not panic, you are 70% there. Good luck,

coolup wrote:

blinkblink wrote:hi everyone,

I was just had a phone interview with a DG Comp and they seemed happy. They told me they would get back to me soon but nothing specific. I am just wondering what now?
What do I do in case I get contacted by other units?  I heard that this DG is pretty fast, but I really do not want to get booked by another unit or DG.

Oh and the call was a clear response to my lobbying e-mail, so do not hesitate to do it.

Hey blinkblink,

I also have an interview with DG Comp tomorrow morning. Can you tell me now long does it take and what kind of questions they make?? I will be very grateful for the information cause i am kind of freaking out right now

I can't believe it is going so fast right now.... !

Can you also tell us which unit is interviewing you ? So we can update our list.

And, lucia_roman, I am also interested in doing a traineeship in inter-institutional relations, so may I ask where are you doing yours now ?

Many thanks for sharing and your advice guys !

blinkblink wrote:
i am sorry for a late reply.

I was called by two people, and they were very nice. They asked me about why i would like to work for their unit and a bit about my background...nothing difficult. Why I think this field is important and interesting ect.

My advice is to take your time and make clear answers. They did not make an appointment with me, so i was a bit ambushed. I asked for a minute to find a quiet space and gather my thoughts.

It lasted for about 15 min.

If you do not panic, you are 70% there. Good luck,

coolup wrote:

blinkblink wrote:hi everyone,

I was just had a phone interview with a DG Comp and they seemed happy. They told me they would get back to me soon but nothing specific. I am just wondering what now?
What do I do in case I get contacted by other units?  I heard that this DG is pretty fast, but I really do not want to get booked by another unit or DG.

Oh and the call was a clear response to my lobbying e-mail, so do not hesitate to do it.

Hey blinkblink,

I also have an interview with DG Comp tomorrow morning. Can you tell me now long does it take and what kind of questions they make?? I will be very grateful for the information cause i am kind of freaking out right now

Blinkblink I have a question, did you lobby directly Head of unit or did you send it to the general email address of DG Competition in the application?

NicBed wrote:I have decided to lobby, and I've decided to go for quantity
so I've contacted around 160 units when I was pre-identified, and now that I'm preselected, i'm going to do a follow-up, probably on Tuesday 6 (now is holiday and on monday there are going to be way too much emails).

My concerns are indeed that people hate lobbying and you just annoy them, and for me, given that I send so many that units talk to each other and I lose "seriousness".

apparently, as in this link that somebody gently posted result of lobbying are mixed: https://i.servimg.com/u/f58/18/81/17/03/lobbyi12.jpg

Ey NicBed, i did the same. Can i ask you what do you write in the object of the email (smt like expression of interest_Follow up)or more generally if you send the same email you sent the first time? Thanks!!

@Grazia: my object was something simple like "Blue Book Internship for October 2014" and the followup, was a reply to my previous email so it adds up under the same object.

Hey guys,

I just receieved a call from Mexico and Central America Division (EEAS) but it was just a short call to check my Spanish level and if I´m available and interested and if I don´t have any priority choice. Well, honestly my first choice would be DEVCO, but I would be super happy anyway if they would accept me in EEAS so I told the lady that I´m interested and avaiable. She said that this is only to create a short list of candidates.
Should I respond with some e-mail to that division? It was only a pre-interview so I guess I just have to wait now?

Please let´s update here any calls/e-mails you get.
Good luck guys and thanks for the feedback!

Hey,
I was just contacted by the EAC. We talked for about 15 minutes, the guy I was talking to was very nice. He asked me about my background, my expectations from this traineeship and similar stuff. I told him EAC is not my first choice, but that if my first choice does not work out I will be happy to work with them, which I think was not very wise. I was sooo nervous!!! I think I did not do a very good impression.
Good luck to everybody!

So MartaPL, we are competing now   

So same feedback as MartaPL for me as it was the same person!


Good luck guys!

Hey guys,

i had the interview with DG Comp today. I have no idea how it went, it wasn't bad but it wasn't extraordinary either. At the end they said I will have to wait through the long and lengthy EU procedure and that I will be contacted by the TO within one month but that it is not sure that the offer will come from their Unit because someone else could book me in the meantime. Do you think that is a bad sign? So I asked if that means I won't hear from them anymore. they replied that they'll inform me on the outcome within few days....I really don't know what to think now...

Hi! Just to add some more info...

I received an email from DG TRADE, G.2. Unit, that they are looking for a Trade Economist

Don't really suits my profile as I'm not an economist

I am starting to freak out. Some of my friends who sent the application on Friday already received an offer. When did you send you application? I was doing it early on the Monday morning...

Lidohan wrote:I am starting to freak out. Some of my friends who sent the application on Friday already received an offer. When did you send you application? I was doing it early on the Monday morning...

Can you tell us from which DGs they got the offers?