Interviews

For those impatient ones (like me ) I suggest you to contact the HR from your preferred DG or the one that interviewed you last week. I used the email address they gave us last Friday on the EC application platform. I got the following message:

"You have been reserved for DG ECFIN, your first choice in the preference order mentioned in your application. We will give you soon the information in which unit you should be offered a traineeship at the latest on 11 July 2017 (tbc).

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,"

So it looks like I'm in but not sure in which unit..

Did u have any interviews?

bilgeyis wrote:Did u have any interviews?

I had 3 from DG ECFIN last week.

marta_k wrote:For those impatient ones (like me ) I suggest you to contact the HR from your preferred DG or the one that interviewed you last week. I used the email address they gave us last Friday on the EC application platform. I got the following message:

"You have been reserved for DG ECFIN, your first choice in the preference order mentioned in your application. We will give you soon the information in which unit you should be offered a traineeship at the latest on 11 July 2017 (tbc).

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,"

So it looks like I'm in but not sure in which unit..

Yes i too, was so impatient and i finally contacted the DGs i listed in my preference. two people confirmed that I have been flagged to one DG. I want to hope that this means i'm in but i don't want to get too excited yet until a get a concrete offer!

[quote="Laura3"]

SiriF wrote:

bilgeyis wrote:Is this week is supposed to be the one when we hear latest news on our status?

I received an offer today and the person I spoke to told me I would most likely hear back from the TO next week... Perhaps this is the last week for the DG's to find candidates and indicate their preferences?

On another note, what happens if you receive multiple offers? Will you be contacted by the TO or is it up to them to decide? Does is matter if the offer is made by a DG that is not on your 'preferred list' in the initial application (as in, does it change the hierarchy between the offers)?  

For your information, I received this from the TO: "If selected, you will receive only one placement offer." I am quite sure they decide which offer you will get and select it according to your preferences in the application.[/quote


I was approached by another unit and mentioned that I had already received two offers and wondered if that changed her interest in my profile, whereby I got this answer:
"The allocation of the candidates to the Units is done in the best interest of the candidates, trying to match at best the preferred option for the candidate with the needs of the different Units within the DG.
That said, if you show a strong interest for one specific Unit (and you put this in an email) and this is acknowledged/confirmed by the Adviser of this Unit, this will be taken in due consideration by the Traineeship Office."

I though it was helpful to post it here as it seems there are many fellow candidates out there wondering what to do if offered several positions!

Received a flurry of phone calls this morning. Thankfully they've resolved the bureaucratic challenges in my case and I received formal "informal" confirmation (if that makes sense) that I have been selected for my preferred unit. Apparently the confusion was all down to a handful of people being OOO at the same time.

Best of luck to everyone still waiting to hear!

Also, does anyone know if there is a Facebook group for trainees already? Thanks!

Hello everyone! I also find this process very confusing. Similar situation including several units happened to me, however at the end it seems that I am reserved in the Blue Book by one my choices. Hope this means that I am in.

I think there is no FB group yet, and not sure should we create it, or some committee will do it after final results.

I wish us all the best of luck!

For me too, it was a confusing afternoon. I have received confirmation over the phone that I have been selected by the DG of my choice. They told me that the formal offer will have to wait. Does anyone know if at this stage, once selected, there is anything that could go wrong? Because I need to cancel some other thing that I have going and I ideally don't want to wait until the formal confirmation with doing that, but at the same time, I don't want to risk cancelling and then potentially ending up with nothing. So long story short: can it happen after having been selected that DG EAC does not offer you the formal contract?

@ marta_k I had interviews from units in the DG ECFIN. I tried to email the HR department (DG ECFIN) using the e-mail address provided in the our EU accounts but didn't receive any responses yet. I wanted to know if you have emailed the DG ECFIN hr or the traineeship office? Thank you

abdat wrote:@ marta_k I had interviews from units in the DG ECFIN. I tried to email the HR department (DG ECFIN) using the e-mail address provided in the our EU accounts but didn't receive any responses yet. I wanted to know if you have emailed the DG ECFIN hr or the traineeship office? Thank you

I emailed the HR of ECFIN at this address: HR-AMC-BREY-ECFIN-TRAINEES@ec.europa.eu. They took a day to reply.

Thank you mart_k for your quick response. I also wrote to the same address on Friday once the emails become available in our account. I don't know what to make of the non-response (is it because i am not selected or other reasons). I had 3 interviews from the DG ECFIN last week and it was my first preference during the application.

If you are tired of waiting, just give the DG you want more information of a call and ask to be put on the phone with HR/the people in charge of trainees. They'll help you and you'll get your answer straight away.

abdat wrote:@ marta_k I had interviews from units in the DG ECFIN. I tried to email the HR department (DG ECFIN) using the e-mail address provided in the our EU accounts but didn't receive any responses yet. I wanted to know if you have emailed the DG ECFIN hr or the traineeship office? Thank you

There are two emails for DG ECFIN. i emailed both addresses and got a reply an hour later answering my question. They confirmed that i have been reserved. I hope this means im in for good even if it's still an informal. yes. Im sure you will get an answer. and if not email them again. Good Luck!

How can I contact the TO?

I think the adress is Eac-Stages@ec.europa.eu
This is the one found in my account..

I wrote to the TO and that's how it replied:

"For the time being, the Traineeships office cannot confirm any selection as still the DGs proceed with their selections. Please notice that the Traineeships Office is responsible only for sending the official placement offers after all selections are finalised by the services".

giova23 wrote:I wrote to the TO and that's how it replied:

"For the time being, the Traineeships office cannot confirm any selection as still the DGs proceed with their selections. Please notice that the Traineeships Office is responsible only for sending the official placement offers after all selections are finalised by the services".

I think they are just copy pasting it at this point, because I got exactly the same message. I think, if you want to be sure of your situation, give the HR at your desired DG a call and just ask them. They are able to access the Blue Book and tell you if you have been listed by anyone. If you are, the formal offer from the Traineeship Office, which as I have been told will come not next week, but the week after that (17-21 July), is just a formality.

mrkr wrote:

giova23 wrote:I wrote to the TO and that's how it replied:

"For the time being, the Traineeships office cannot confirm any selection as still the DGs proceed with their selections. Please notice that the Traineeships Office is responsible only for sending the official placement offers after all selections are finalised by the services".

I think they are just copy pasting it at this point, because I got exactly the same message. I think, if you want to be sure of your situation, give the HR at your desired DG a call and just ask them. They are able to access the Blue Book and tell you if you have been listed by anyone. If you are, the formal offer from the Traineeship Office, which as I have been told will come not next week, but the week after that (17-21 July), is just a formality.

I wish I could do that, but the DG I was called from doesn't have the email address among those posted in the Traineeship website...I can't find it in the website.

giova23 wrote:

mrkr wrote:

giova23 wrote:I wrote to the TO and that's how it replied:

"For the time being, the Traineeships office cannot confirm any selection as still the DGs proceed with their selections. Please notice that the Traineeships Office is responsible only for sending the official placement offers after all selections are finalised by the services".

I think they are just copy pasting it at this point, because I got exactly the same message. I think, if you want to be sure of your situation, give the HR at your desired DG a call and just ask them. They are able to access the Blue Book and tell you if you have been listed by anyone. If you are, the formal offer from the Traineeship Office, which as I have been told will come not next week, but the week after that (17-21 July), is just a formality.

I wish I could do that, but the DG I was called from doesn't have the email address among those posted in the Traineeship website...I can't find it in the website.

Google their phone number, give them a call and ask to be forwarded to whoever is in charge of Bluebook trainees in their DG or an HR representative. This way, you don't need an email address and you get your answer straight away. It worked for me like that!

Officially-unofficially in!

As mentioned over the phone, we have the pleasure to inform you that you have been selected for a traineeship in our unit as of 2 October 2017. We would be grateful if you could confirm your interest in this position and your availability to start on the proposed date.

I was in contact with the TO today and was told that you can receive multiple (unofficial) offers from different DG's , but you will only receive ONE offer from the TO. The three preferred DG's listed in the selection process have priority over non-listed DG's and there is no first-come first serve system with regards to that. I really don't understand why we are not given this information early on as this might have implications for how some candidates might respond to offers etc... Ah well!

For those who have received offers - congratulations!
For those of you who haven't - there's still hope! A friend of a friend told me she was offered her position just before the traineeship started, as the intended candidate had for some reason cancelled on the unit

Congratulations to all those who received confirmation of the traineeship. As i wrote in my previous messages i couldn't get any response to my emails from the HR of DG ECFIN despite sending on both the emails provided (i even send them again today). I was wondering if one of you (who have received responses from DG ECFIN) could provide me the phone number written in the bottom of the response email so that i can directly get in touch with the HR dealing with trainees. Your help is always appreciate.

If you just call their phone number and ask to be forwarded to HR they will help you. Alternatively, call with +32 2 299 11 11 (the Commission's switchboard) and ask them.

Hello guys, I received a call this morning. It was a sort of second round interview from the DG that called me last week. I believe it went very well and the interviewer told me that the final decision is made by their boss but just as a formality. So, don't worry for people who haven't got news yet, they are still in the selection process!

Officially in!

Nice! Now we just have to wait for the email from the TO to make it official official Or has that dropped already?

Congrats, you genius people! I still have no kind of news, I have no idea if anybody is interested in my profile or not. Bof!

As for the offers, the TO told me last friday that "For the time being, the Traineeships office cannot confirm any selection as still the DGs proceed with their selections."

So I guess it will still take some time till the offers come out.

Please let us know if any of you are receiveing the expected offer
At least I will know that I'm not in

Hi, everyone! Just want to share.

Just got an official offer from TO.

Good luck for you

Hope you are the next

slow123 wrote:Hi, everyone! Just want to share.

Just got an official offer from TO.

Good luck for you

Hope you are the next

Congrats slow123!

Is your official offer sent by email or by a message in EC account?

Hello everyone,

Did anyone other than slow123 got official email from TO? Please do share with us.