Interviews

Thank you both for your answers ! Tomorrow is my deadline actually (this is very stressful). I'll try again tomorrow to contact the organisation and if there's still uncertainty I'll accept the traineeship.

Dear Applicants, I would like to ask you: if you received the offer, and you confirmed by replying the e-mail that you accept it, have you received any feedback yet? I am kind of nervous, because I sent the confirmation of my acceptance on Sunday and I have not received any respond yet.. Thank you for your answer!

I received and confirmed my offer on Friday but I haven't received any kind of response since then

Congrats to all those who got an offer!

Is it too pessimistic to think that those people who sent in their documents in time but still didn't receive an offer are probably on the reserve list?

I should think so. The initial offer was sent on Friday, which was the last day on which we were still allowed to supply supporting documents. It would be unusual that they would select the trainees on a first-come-first-serve basis. I was not expecting any offers to start coming in at least for a week, given the high number of applicants. Even Monday would seem awfully quick to me.

Perhaps these early offers have something to do with the language of the sent documents? I sent mine in my own language, so it probably takes a few days for the translations to come in. Did those of you who got the offer on Friday sent your documents in one of the working languages of the EU institutions (EN, DE, FR)?

SedLex wrote:Congrats to all those who got an offer!

Is it too pessimistic to think that those people who sent in their documents in time but still didn't receive an offer are probably on the reserve list?

Hi SedLex,

I've been thinking the same thing. It seems that offers have been sent already on Friday. Since I haven't received one, it's probably because I'm on the reserve list.

But there are still chances.

Good luck

ansich wrote:I should think so. The initial offer was sent on Friday, which was the last day on which we were still allowed to supply supporting documents. It would be unusual that they would select the trainees on a first-come-first-serve basis. I was not expecting any offers to start coming in at least for a week, given the high number of applicants. Even Monday would seem awfully quick to me.

Perhaps these early offers have something to do with the language of the sent documents? I sent mine in my own language, so it probably takes a few days for the translations to come in. Did those of you who got the offer on Friday sent your documents in one of the working languages of the EU institutions (EN, DE, FR)?

I don't that is really the case. Everyones passports are already in several languages, and the application form was also in English so that's not that hard to check. With the diplomas it might differ from country to country though. In my case, my bachelor diploma is in 3 languages (Latin, Dutch, and English). While my Spanish Master diploma is in Spanish and English, and my French one only in French. However, I still haven't received any offer, so I guess it's just the reserve list then..

ansich wrote:I should think so. The initial offer was sent on Friday, which was the last day on which we were still allowed to supply supporting documents. It would be unusual that they would select the trainees on a first-come-first-serve basis. I was not expecting any offers to start coming in at least for a week, given the high number of applicants. Even Monday would seem awfully quick to me.

Perhaps these early offers have something to do with the language of the sent documents? I sent mine in my own language, so it probably takes a few days for the translations to come in. Did those of you who got the offer on Friday sent your documents in one of the working languages of the EU institutions (EN, DE, FR)?

Hello Ansich,
I am not sure it has something to do with the languages. My diploma is not in one of the working languages but I still got an offer on Friday. But I think there is a chance of someone rejecting an offer or having a problem with one`s documents, so you should not lose hope yet.

Hey guys,

another short question regarding the upload of the required documents. Did you upload only your diploma or also your transcript of records of your degree? Maybe that is also a reason why it takes a bit longer...

Transcripts were not required so I'm not sure they even look at them In any case I only sent the required documents: ID, degrees, application form.

Hi everyone,

Created an account to ask you lovely folks a question.

I applied for the Sakharov Prize stream. I had two "interviews" - one a 5 minute conversation out of the blue with DG Internal Policy, and one with the Human Rights Subcommittee. The HR Subcommittee one went absolutely horribly and I don't suspect I'll get an offer.

However I just got an offer from the DG Internal Policy.

Some questions:

- I'd rather do the HR Subcomittee job - if I accept the other, does that mean that even if the HR people wanted to hire me, they would then drop the offer?
- Has anyone heard back from the Subcommittee on HR yet? That would be a good indication that I am still in contention/am likely not to get an offer.

Thanks so much

@UncleChaz

Firstly, within the Sakharov Prize option (a smaller number of applications compared to Schuman) the Subcommittee is the most competitive one. So this narrows down your chances. Another thing is that once a DG puts you on their shortlist, it "blocks" your application in the system. Otherwise many people would receive two or more offers and this would create total chaos towards the end. This would be a huge disadvantage for units because they would have even less security when it comes to people accepting their places. What if three units both had 2 applicants they wanted, and all of them shortlisted you? That would mean 3 people missed out whereas with the current system only 1 does.

The argument that those 2 units could easily refer to the reserve list is not very substantial since the reserve list is meant for unexpected cancellations (offer from other institution for example), not for compensation of their own mistakes.

So in your case I think you are "taken", it is unlikely you will receive another offer because of the above reasons.

At least you know which DG picked you, many of us don't even have that much information

ajenne wrote:@UncleChaz

Firstly, within the Sakharov Prize option (a smaller number of applications compared to Schuman) the Subcommittee is the most competitive one. So this narrows down your chances. Another thing is that once a DG puts you on their shortlist, it "blocks" your application in the system. Otherwise many people would receive two or more offers and this would create total chaos towards the end. This would be a huge disadvantage for units because they would have even less security when it comes to people accepting their places. What if three units both had 2 applicants they wanted, and all of them shortlisted you? That would mean 3 people missed out whereas with the current system only 1 does.

The argument that those 2 units could easily refer to the reserve list is not very substantial since the reserve list is meant for unexpected cancellations (offer from other institution for example), not for compensation of their own mistakes.

So in your case I think you are "taken", it is unlikely you will receive another offer because of the above reasons.

At least you know which DG picked you, many of us don't even have that much information

@Ajenne, a question.
So if you get shortlisted, but put on the reserve list of the 2 DGs of your preference you cannot be picked by another DG? Even if the DGs of your preference in the end picked someone else?

@MiguelB

As far as I know a shortlist position means you are "locked in" which means the other 2 DGs who were interested in you will have put others on their shortlist. I've heard that the system is not ALWAYS perfect though, as in, DG A might have put you on the no. 1 spot but this wasn't visible for DG B so they shortlisted you too. But they probably spent the last weeks looking for such cases and finalizing everything so that they are better 'covered' for double listings.

And important to know: only in the case of a cancellation they use the reserve list. Because the reserve list means you haven't been picked yet. If you have been shortlisted, you are simply not part of it anymore. The reserve list literally is the 'second pool' they can choose from. Which is a bit tricky, because what about the people they initially picked as their second and third choice? I think they will firstly check if these people indeed got other offers, and if they did they will pick from the reserve list.

I agree with some of the previous posters think that the names of departments from which people got the offer would be helpful, as it may be, that not all of the departments send it at the same time.

When I was shortlisted it said only that I was shortlisted for a traineeship in the Secretariat of the EP. Did everybode else from the General option receive the same notification; did those who received an offer got it from a specific DG or was it left unspecified?

@Ajenne,

I understand.

What I understood about the shortlist and reserve list is that for this year they changed the procedure in to combining it into one. In other words, those "selected" and on the "reserve list" both received the email with that they are shortlisted. If it's 100% true, I don't know, but this is what I got from the February 2017 topic here. So I think that those of us who haven't received an offer with that they are selected are on this 'reserve list', which could probably also mean second or third choice.

@For those who got selected for the Sakharov Prize option, may I ask what your background is in human rights?

ansich wrote:
When I was shortlisted it said only that I was shortlisted for a traineeship in the Secretariat of the EP. Did everybode else from the General option receive the same notification; did those who received an offer got it from a specific DG or was it left unspecified?

The email saying i was shortlisted only said Secretariat of the EP. The one for the offer indicates a specific Unit within a DG.

Hey! Did anyone hear back from them after accepting the offer?

mickeymouse wrote:Hey! Did anyone hear back from them after accepting the offer?

Hello,

Yes, I did, yesterday. They wrote me that they have received my confirmation of the offer and I have 3 weeks to send the criminal record.

Could you please tell me if you simply replied to that mail (with no other/new subject) or did you type a subject? I am afraid that they might have missed out my mail because I didn't type a new subject. When did you accept their offer?
Thank You for replying.

Also, if anyone else heard back from them, please be kind enough to answer the above questions. Thank You.

mickeymouse wrote:Could you please tell me if you simply replied to that mail (with no other/new subject) or did you type a subject? I am afraid that they might have missed out my mail because I didn't type a new subject. When did you accept their offer?
Thank You for replying.

Hello,
I simply replied, without new subject. I accepted on Monday morning. I also didn't write anything fancy in the reply, just that I confirmed. On Tuesday I sent the criminal record separately with another reply but on Wednesday, when they wrote me back, they quated my first email, telling me I should send the criminal record (obviously they haven't seen my second email)...I think this means that they are overloaded with emails and go through them with few days delay. So be patient, we are hundreds of people after all

Arowana wrote:

mickeymouse wrote:Could you please tell me if you simply replied to that mail (with no other/new subject) or did you type a subject? I am afraid that they might have missed out my mail because I didn't type a new subject. When did you accept their offer?
Thank You for replying.

Hello,
I simply replied, without new subject. I accepted on Monday morning. I also didn't write anything fancy in the reply, just that I confirmed. On Tuesday I sent the criminal record separately with another reply but on Wednesday, when they wrote me back, they quated my first email, telling me I should send the criminal record (obviously they haven't seen my second email)...I think this means that they are overloaded with emails and go through them with few days delay. So be patient, we are hundreds of people after all

got it. Thank You
I accepted the offer on Friday and sent them the record on Tuesday; however, I haven't heard from them yet. I was hoping that they haven't started getting back to people yet but apparently they have Hopefully, I'll hear from them today since they usually mail on Fridays (as per my experience).

Hi everybody.
Having been shortlisted and having sent the docs on time, I have not received an offer yet. Should I be worried? Is it useless to sent an email asking about my situation?
Congratulations to the ones that have received an offer and thanks!
Al

Hey,

I'm in the same camp as the message above--shortlisted and documents provided but no word back. But also I was wondering, is anyone here from a non-EU country? It attempt to hold out hope for acceptance, I am wondering if non-EU citizens (like myself) might hear back later because we can only account for 10% of trainees. Does anyone have ideas about this?

fh14 wrote:Hey,

I'm in the same camp as the message above--shortlisted and documents provided but no word back. But also I was wondering, is anyone here from a non-EU country? It attempt to hold out hope for acceptance, I am wondering if non-EU citizens (like myself) might hear back later because we can only account for 10% of trainees. Does anyone have ideas about this?

Hey fh14,

I am also a non-EU citizen, received an email on the 14th of July that I am shortlisted but still no response from the EP. I have been also thinking that they are going to inform the EU citizens firstly and then the rest because of the fact that only 10% trainees are from non-EU countries.

Good luck!

I know several people who participated in the selection process in 2016.

Last year was a bit different: in mid-july, applicants who had been pre-selected received the e-mail where the EP informed them that they had been shortlisted. Then, with a deadline of one week, these pre-selected candidates had to send their documents.

At this point, the same as this year.

But in 2016, shortlisted candidates who had sent their documents, in the first days of august they received an e-mail from the EP confirming them that the docs were correct and they had been checked. In that mail, the EP also informed that the final results will be communicated in the last week of august.

Finally, pre-selected candidates who had sent the documents and had received the e-mail confirming that their documents had been checked, in the last week of august knew through a new mail from the EP if they had been finally selected or allocated to the reserve list.

This is the process that the EP followed in 2016, but maybe this year is different.

But some people have already received an email after sending the documents.

Hey! Has anyone received the official agreement/letter yet? (I am not referring to the offer email).

Hello friends!
Could non-EU citizens kindly inform us when they will be lucky to get an offer?
That might help other non-EU citizens in setting their expectations.
Thank you very much)