LOBBYING, to do it or not

Ok first.. when the DG's see the Blue Book, isn't all of our personal information (i.e. name, dob, etc) left out?

If that's true, then what good would lobbying do if, after getting your email/ phone call, they probably wouldn't be able to match you to the BB in order to select you? I'm sure they don't have time to search the BB to try to match you(r emailed CV) (and everyone else's) with what's in the BB.

Also.. I already sent in my 'letter of motivation' and CV, so why would I send it again? Maybe it could be helpful if your CV has changed (for the better) and if they could easily find you in the BB to select you.. otherwise, I'm not sure lobbying would work.

I have heard of people lobbying and I have heard those that say it works.. but how do these people know that they got it because they lobbied? Maybe it was just chance that they lobbied and happened to get selected from the BB.

I could be wrong with my theories.. so what does everyone else know/think?

I guess showing you can take initiative is always a good sign..I think we just need to avoid to become annoying.
All the people I have talked to advised me to lobby; I have decided to do it, but in a gentle manner, contacting only heads of units I am really interested in.

What's the best way to get all the necessary contact info? EC website or do you get it somewhere else? :>

i guess the ec websites are the most reliable sources of information. each of them usually has a link to the organigramme of the dg involved.
if it's not on the homepage try the 'about us' section.
ciao!

Hi everyone

Loli, I am at the moment doing the stage and I think your theories are wrong...
I know some people who say they got in with no lobbying at all, but most of them lobbied. And I heard from someone in my unit that they really liked my qualifications when they saw the CV I sent to the head of unit. They end up receiving so many e-mails that I am not sure if they even bother to go to a database where there are around 2500 people (but this is my personal opinion, of course). If you decide to lobby and send your CV to the units you are interested in, it would be clever from you to include in the e-mail your applicant number, because that's how they will find you in the database. Well, I hope it helps, at least for me it worked. But it is a tricky process, it always depends on what a particular DG or a particular unit thinks, a great deal is luck. So, good luck everyone

Happy_one,

Thanks for the reply. From everything that I have read, it seems to be 50/50 on to lobby or not and if it works or not. Thanks for the reply. I have heard of both cases and I have heard of people getting the 'no need to email us' sort of response.

I'll give it my 5 mins of thought and then decide what to do. 5 mins.. as in, I better act fast if I am going to lobby.

I actually got a piece of advice from a guy I know, who works in the EC, that it is essential to lobby and send your updated CV to present yourself as good as you can.

I decided to lobby, but now I really can't find the email addresses for the Heads of Unit at the Education and Culture DG, does anybody know them?

Hello everybody, any of you got a call from Brussels yet? This afternoon around 5.30 pm I was trying to park my car in a crowded street, in a parking space far too small for it... and the phone rang. I normally don't bother to take calls in such situations but then i thought it might be from brussels and in fact it was. a lady called and asked me if i could send a motivation letter (no updated cv - i offered to send one but she said it wasn't necessary) to her e-mail address. she told me they had a traineeship opportunity in ECHO in a unit which deals with NGos and local authorities. i am browsing the internet now but can't find any such unit for the moment... the lady too doesn't seem to belong to a particular unit but to a kind of focal point for the external relations DGs. anyway, though i intended to lobby, i hadn't started yet since i'm too busy these days. ECHO was my second choice (europeaid was the first). let's see what happens..all the best to you

I must correct what i said in my previous post.
the lady was actually calling from EuropeAid, which was my first choice.
I probably understood ECHO because I was in the car, with a lot of traffic and noise around me... I think she must have said AIDCO, which is the acronym for EuropeAid.
i also spoke to a former trainee on friday and she told me to keep lobbying only my first choice DG: apparently they receive so many cvs from people who have chosen that DG as a first choice that they'll never bother to read the cvs of the ones who indicated the same DG as second choice.
ciao!

hi people,

a very important questions. where we can find e-mail addresses for officials at the EC??? I would say it may be possible just to type a person's name + @ec.europa.eu
but i am not sure if it's going to work out.
anyone may help???

I do it this way:

First go to the DG page and check "Who is who". If you have the name just try to type it in Google, e.g. john.smith@ec.europa.eu.
It should be found easily so you can verify you have the right address of the person.

Good luck

thanks so much it's what I thought.
I have to say I am surprised that some people have been already contacted. So fast!
I am just drafting my lobby email and I hope it's not too late. But the results on preselection were published last week, so I think/hope we still have some time...

I guess we do, some DGs get loads of applications, while other just a few. Besides, their size, number of units are different. Some people get calls early, some get in mid-December (my friend got the message on 22nd of Dec. for example) or January.

I heard that the DG AIDCO has already chosen their trainees, so I won't spend my time sending out applications for it but try for Legal Service, let's see what will happen

Hello everybody,

I'm new here and I'm applying for October 2010 as well.
It might sound a stupid question, sorry about this in advance, but can somebody please explain to me what do you actually mean for lobbying? how are we supposed to lobby?

Thanks
Jago

Hi Jago,
Lobbying is when a candidate contacts a DG after they have been preselected to express a real interest in working within that DG - basically trying to draw positive attention to their application to increase their chances of being selected.

I have found a independent report carried out on the Traineeship which says on page 38 "Lobbying activities are considered as ineffective by Advisers". So looks like the Commission don't want people to lobby or, even if they don't mind it, it doesn't affect their decision. But I bet the debate will rage on!

(I know its sad I trawled through that whole report..! Not very busy at the mo - just waiting for Brussels!)

Oh and here's the link if u fancy some light reading.....

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/evalreports/civilsociety/2008/stagereport_en.pdf

Yes, do lobby the Commission ! In a soft way, but requesting for an informal interview. Do not hesitate, by experience, it works.

www.eurodatum.com (directory of EU links)

.

I spoke to someone yesterday who is on the Pre-selection Committee. He said that the Commission's official rule is not to lobby and seemed quite suprised when I told him that this wasn't made clear!
The debate rages on..

you should definetely lobby, by experience

should I lobby before pre-selection to put my name in the BB??

Well.

First time I was pre-selected, I didn't lobby following the logical train of thought that Loli and other expressed. It didn't work and I felt ''guilty'' I didn't even try when heard about others that lobbied and got at least a reply.
This time I started lobbying, 3 letter over the weekend and got a rather confusing mail:
[i]Dear blue book candidate,

Thank you for your email informing us that you have passed the pre-selection stage, for which we congratulate you.

I note that you wish to have a traineeship within DG Research and Innovation. However, as the selection of candidates is under way, we are not in a position at this stage to be able to guarantee a traineeship in this Directorate General.

If you pass the final selection stage, the Traineeships Office will send you a contract for a traineeship either with us or in another Directorate General. If, however, you have not received word by February for the period beginning in March 2013, you may consider that your application has not been successf[/i]ul.{......}

Well again, what do they mean by ''if you pass the final selection stage''? Aren't DGs doing it now? Does it mean that it's ok with them but they have wait till the whole procedure is formally over? And if so, why other DG have already picked their candidates?
I would appreciate any comment and thought especially if you got similar replies.