October 2020 Traineeship

Does anyone here knows if there is a deadline by which we should be informed if we received an offer or not?

arta2020 wrote:Please note that under no circumstance we will be able to reimburse the incurred costs of living and accommodation at the place of assignment.- do they mean they will give us monthly allowance or not?

I think that is mentioned in case the traineeship is suddenly canceled because of the covid situation. Otherwise, yes we are getting paid for the traineeship.

Guys, I just got an email but I’m quite confused... After reading the first sentence I was excited, but I guess it is a rejection email after all... But the first sentence is quite misleading, I thought I was genuinely selected... , you don’t write congratulations at the beginning of a rejection email

“congratulations for having been selected for the Blue Book programme and many thanks for your interest in the work of our unit.
At this stage, the procedure is still ongoing.
Among the many highly qualified candidates we had to make a first choice and select the three candidates with the best profile for our unit.
I hope you will still find an interesting place.”

dr652 wrote:Guys, I just got an email but I’m quite confused... After reading the first sentence I was excited, but I guess it is a rejection email after all... But the first sentence is quite misleading, I thought I was genuinely selected... , you don’t write congratulations at the beginning of a rejection email

“congratulations for having been selected for the Blue Book programme and many thanks for your interest in the work of our unit.
At this stage, the procedure is still ongoing.
Among the many highly qualified candidates we had to make a first choice and select the three candidates with the best profile for our unit.
I hope you will still find an interesting place.”

May I ask which unit?

arta2020 wrote:Please note that under no circumstance we will be able to reimburse the incurred costs of living and accommodation at the place of assignment.- do they mean they will give us monthly allowance or not?

Yes they still give you the monthly allowance! They just don’t reimburse your room payment and stuff

dr652 wrote:Guys, I just got an email but I’m quite confused... After reading the first sentence I was excited, but I guess it is a rejection email after all... But the first sentence is quite misleading, I thought I was genuinely selected... , you don’t write congratulations at the beginning of a rejection email

“congratulations for having been selected for the Blue Book programme and many thanks for your interest in the work of our unit.
At this stage, the procedure is still ongoing.
Among the many highly qualified candidates we had to make a first choice and select the three candidates with the best profile for our unit.
I hope you will still find an interesting place.”

Yeah I feel like they’re saying that they have already selected their three candidates! Like most units I’m assuming have!

nadinae wrote:Does anyone here knows if there is a deadline by which we should be informed if we received an offer or not?

They update the platform in September! So you get a message that says that you haven’t been selected then! But if they end up sending you an offer you get an update on the platform with the offer attached! Which can happen anytime between the end of July and September!

Laura Torres wrote:

nadinae wrote:Does anyone here knows if there is a deadline by which we should be informed if we received an offer or not?

They update the platform in September! So you get a message that says that you haven’t been selected then! But if they end up sending you an offer you get an update on the platform with the offer attached! Which can happen anytime between the end of July and September!

Thank you for the information. I assume there is no way of finding out sooner if some unit selected you? Let's say you have been offered a job but you are still waiting to hear from the traineeship office, how can one make a decision in this case? It's quite frustrating :/

nadinae wrote:

Laura Torres wrote:

nadinae wrote:Does anyone here knows if there is a deadline by which we should be informed if we received an offer or not?

They update the platform in September! So you get a message that says that you haven’t been selected then! But if they end up sending you an offer you get an update on the platform with the offer attached! Which can happen anytime between the end of July and September!

Thank you for the information. I assume there is no way of finding out sooner if some unit selected you? Let's say you have been offered a job but you are still waiting to hear from the traineeship office, how can one make a decision in this case? It's quite frustrating :/

This is Blue Book trainees’ greatest wish since we exist hahah last year many people tried (as well as myself) and we would get automatic answers saying that it was “an ongoing process”  the only way to find out would be to convince the assistants of each unit to tell you who they picked, but if you don’t anyone in person it can be complicated. Unless something changes in the process this year I would expect to get a rejection letter earlier than September 1st, but I mean if you don’t get one on that day you can still get an offer on the first week of September

Laura Torres wrote:

nadinae wrote:

Laura Torres wrote:

nadinae wrote:Does anyone here knows if there is a deadline by which we should be informed if we received an offer or not?

They update the platform in September! So you get a message that says that you haven’t been selected then! But if they end up sending you an offer you get an update on the platform with the offer attached! Which can happen anytime between the end of July and September!

Thank you for the information. I assume there is no way of finding out sooner if some unit selected you? Let's say you have been offered a job but you are still waiting to hear from the traineeship office, how can one make a decision in this case? It's quite frustrating :/

This is Blue Book trainees’ greatest wish since we exist hahah last year many people tried (as well as myself) and we would get automatic answers saying that it was “an ongoing process”  the only way to find out would be to convince the assistants of each unit to tell you who they picked, but if you don’t anyone in person it can be complicated. Unless something changes in the process this year I would expect to get a rejection letter earlier than September 1st, but I mean if you don’t get one on that day you can still get an offer on the first week of September

Hahahah! Another thing I learned about this traineeship is that you really need to clear your agenda for the next six months when you apply. But honestly, they are a little bit stingy with the information.

https://ec.europa.eu/stages/online/cv/application_statistics.cfm?session=95 (btw here are the statistics for this session, only countries)

arta2020 wrote:https://ec.europa.eu/stages/online/cv/application_statistics.cfm?session=95 (btw here are the statistics for this session, only countries)

I wonder have many of them have been pre-selected?

During the month of August, they don't work, right? so we have to wait until September:(

arta2020 wrote:https://ec.europa.eu/stages/online/cv/application_statistics.cfm?session=95 (btw here are the statistics for this session, only countries)

Ouuuuuuu almost half of the Non-EUs that applied in October 2019

arta2020 wrote:During the month of August, they don't work, right? so we have to wait until September:(

The TO does work! So we can all receive offers in August! But they don’t upload rejections letters until maybe the 31st and September

Laura Torres wrote:

arta2020 wrote:https://ec.europa.eu/stages/online/cv/application_statistics.cfm?session=95 (btw here are the statistics for this session, only countries)

Ouuuuuuu almost half of the Non-EUs that applied in October 2019

How many places you think will be available for non-eu, according to the statistics

arta2020 wrote:

Laura Torres wrote:

arta2020 wrote:https://ec.europa.eu/stages/online/cv/application_statistics.cfm?session=95 (btw here are the statistics for this session, only countries)

Ouuuuuuu almost half of the Non-EUs that applied in October 2019

How many places you think will be available for non-eu, according to the statistics

Unfortunately I don’t know;/ when there have been 800 places for Europeans they have taken out 30 for non-eus and for M20 they accepted 24 but only 6 went through with the traineeship (did the teleworking after moving to Brussels) ! So if it was fair! I would hope that at least another 18 could be offered a place this session! But I mean this has all been a mess! But I honestly would hope they go through with it! Because as non-Eus is much harder to stand out and the ones who have made it to the Blue Book have done so because of their excellence and therefore deserve to be at least considered!

Any news? I think the selection process is still ongoing?

arta2020 wrote:Any news? I think the selection process is still ongoing?

Received an email directly from an ENV HoU yesterday saying he appreciated my letter of interest "however, due to coronavirus March trainees will be continuing on for the October session".

He was quite nice in the e-mail and admitted how it might be frustrating but if anything changes he will contact me.

So I guess no matter what, it's good if some HoU know about your profile.

do you think we should continue lobbying?

arta2020 wrote:do you think we should continue lobbying?

it honestly can't hurt. Sure many may have their trainees but those people could end their contracts or not accept offers at the last minute. In that case, HoUs could look back at who lobbied them. And as some people have posted, certain units have said their process is still ongoing (I got one response saying that from JUST about 2 weeks ago).
Contact the units that interest you if you haven't already  Someone said they all go on vacation in August, so definitely the sooner the better.

arta2020 wrote:do you think we should continue lobbying?

I was wondering too! Because I stopped after that first week! But I think we should just in case!

any news regarding Rea? i got news from FPI, DEVCO AND ECHO, they are analyzing applications received and are interviewing candidates

arta2020 wrote:any news regarding Rea? i got news from FPI, DEVCO AND ECHO, they are analyzing applications received and are interviewing candidates

Did you get notified this week that DEVCO, ECHO and FPI were interviewing candidates? Or when did you? No news from REA

If anyone knows of any place opened at the SG Secretariat General, I would greatly appreciate if you could share it

Laura Torres wrote:

arta2020 wrote:any news regarding Rea? i got news from FPI, DEVCO AND ECHO, they are analyzing applications received and are interviewing candidates

Did you get notified this week that DEVCO, ECHO and FPI were interviewing candidates? Or when did you? No news from REA

yes, today. They said they are going through applications and interviews and must be that they are selecting others and quota per selections lower due to covid19

arta2020 wrote:

Laura Torres wrote:

arta2020 wrote:any news regarding Rea? i got news from FPI, DEVCO AND ECHO, they are analyzing applications received and are interviewing candidates

Did you get notified this week that DEVCO, ECHO and FPI were interviewing candidates? Or when did you? No news from REA

yes, today. They said they are going through applications and interviews and must be that they are selecting others and quota per selections lower due to covid19

Lobbying definitely takes so much of our time hahaha but we should go on

Guys, since yesterday on my application page this message has been displayed [The application deadline for this training period has passed, and you may no longer submit an application form. The deadline for applications was reached on the following date: 31/01/2020 (12:00 Brussels time) ] however, up until yesterday that corner section used to display my candidate number and status of my application. Now, I am wondering, is there perhaps a link between me not being shortlisted by any unit and this change? Maybe all the stress makes me reading too much into it, but if my application would still be ongoing, shouldn't the status say active, etc?
Has this change occurred on your pages as well? What are your thoughts on this?

nadinae wrote:Guys, since yesterday on my application page this message has been displayed [The application deadline for this training period has passed, and you may no longer submit an application form. The deadline for applications was reached on the following date: 31/01/2020 (12:00 Brussels time) ] however, up until yesterday that corner section used to display my candidate number and status of my application. Now, I am wondering, is there perhaps a link between me not being shortlisted by any unit and this change? Maybe all the stress makes me reading too much into it, but if my application would still be ongoing, shouldn't the status say active, etc?
Has this change occurred on your pages as well? What are your thoughts on this?

Mine says the same thing. No idea - maybe just an automatic update now that they are caught up with the process?

When do you think the offer will be sent to us? at the end of month or mid-august?