Preselection

I am still wondering whether people who applied for other places than Brussels or Luxembourg have received offers already? Because I've looked through this topic and I don't think that's the case (still hoping, haha!)

Elske1992 wrote:I am still wondering whether people who applied for other places than Brussels or Luxembourg have received offers already? Because I've looked through this topic and I don't think that's the case (still hoping, haha!)

You go girl! :-D That's a good attitude!
Hope is the last to die ;-)

Hi.
Does anyone know the Traineeships Office's phone number or any number appropriate to call to ask a question directly (specifically about the traineeship offers)? Thanks

lisa1989 wrote:
If they won't reply or turn down the offer (for various reasons), the person placed 2nd on the list will get the offer. In the email, the TO sent to us together with the offer, it is stated:

"If you do not confirm your interest within 5 working days, the traineeship will be immediately offered to the other candidate on the list. If you confirm your interest, the admission letter will be sent to you by email in January, at the latest."

"the other candidate on the list" implicates that there is a reserve list, some people have to be on.

Thank you for this! Definite proof of what we knew, that there must be, and indeed is, a reserve list. The fair thing for the TO to do would be to let the 'other candidate on the list' know if the first one accepted the offer. That way one doesn't waste hope and time...

I interpreted that email differently.

It is possible that there is no actual reserve list. I believe that for every position 2 candidates were shortlisted. The one who sent in his/her documents first then received the message with the offer, the other person is now waiting and will eventually get the rejection email I think (unless of course the first person turned down the offer).

There may of course be a reserve list as well on top of this though. Yet, the message that the position would be offered to the other candidate on the list may implicate that 2 persons had equal chances of getting that offer; I believe that whoever was first to send their documents received it.

I have just sent an email to the information centre in The Hague asking about my situation. I have just explained the situation (explaining that the selection procedure seems to be different this year), and I asked whether they know if I am on a waiting list or whether I should just wait patiently.

I'll let you guys know if I hear back from them! Hopefully it'll give some closure haha! I'm fine with not getting the traineeship (I have another internship lined up as well), but I just want to know for certain so I know which intern/traineeship to go for haha.

Thank you Elske!
Please inform us as soon as you find out more because I seriously can't deal with this nervousness anymore :-(

Maria62 wrote:Thank you Elske!
Please inform us as soon as you find out more because I seriously can't deal with this nervousness anymore :-(

If you want to be sure, just sent an email to the location you applied to as well! They should know more (:

And it never hurts to sent an email! If anything, it shows that you are an engaged person haha.

Elske1992 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:Thank you Elske!
Please inform us as soon as you find out more because I seriously can't deal with this nervousness anymore :-(

If you want to be sure, just sent an email to the location you applied to as well! They should know more (:

And it never hurts to sent an email! If anything, it shows that you are an engaged person haha.

I have already contacted the information office but they replied that this is all handled centrally and that the only one to give us further information is the "Stages" traineeship office.

I just realized that in your earlier message you said that you've contacted the office in the Hague, sorry I thought that you've contacted the TO. You're probably gonna receive the same message as me.

Maria62 wrote:I just realized that in your earlier message you said that you've contacted the office in the Hague, sorry I thought that you've contacted the TO. You're probably gonna receive the same message as me.

What message did you receive then?

This is what they sent me:

All applications are handled centrally, so must be done through the application process detailed on the website, rather than by contacting us at the office, I'm afraid. I'm assuming this is what you did for the March intake, in which case you will have received an email confirming your application was received with details on who to contact if you have questions about the application.

If you have been informed that you are shortlisted usually this notification should also specify which traineeship you have been shortlisted for, but if you have more questions about this I would advise you to send an email to the traineeship office (indicated below) or to the contact details contained within the notification.

...also indicates that at the information offices they don't even know that the procedure has changed this year.

Have you contacted anyone after that? Stages office?

I do believe they are totally overwhelmed by the amount of candidates/documents and emails they need to handle right now...

Maria62 wrote:This is what they sent me:

All applications are handled centrally, so must be done through the application process detailed on the website, rather than by contacting us at the office, I'm afraid. I'm assuming this is what you did for the March intake, in which case you will have received an email confirming your application was received with details on who to contact if you have questions about the application.

If you have been informed that you are shortlisted usually this notification should also specify which traineeship you have been shortlisted for, but if you have more questions about this I would advise you to send an email to the traineeship office (indicated below) or to the contact details contained within the notification.

When did you got this?
I assume you didn't send it to the mail that I posted here.

Friday was holiday (It slipped my mind completely) and you're lucky if you got reply on Thursday.

tpauli wrote:Have you contacted anyone after that? Stages office?

I do believe they are totally overwhelmed by the amount of candidates/documents and emails they need to handle right now...

I haven't because of the reason you stated. The TO must have received a huge amount of mails. That's why I tried with the information office but apparently they don't know anything either.

Maria62 wrote:This is what they sent me:

All applications are handled centrally, so must be done through the application process detailed on the website, rather than by contacting us at the office, I'm afraid. I'm assuming this is what you did for the March intake, in which case you will have received an email confirming your application was received with details on who to contact if you have questions about the application.

If you have been informed that you are shortlisted usually this notification should also specify which traineeship you have been shortlisted for, but if you have more questions about this I would advise you to send an email to the traineeship office (indicated below) or to the contact details contained within the notification.

Just got an email back from the Hague! They basically told me that my application did not go through to them (they unfortunately for some reason hadn't seen my email with my motivation letter - and the lack of conformation email from that confirms that) and that they already selected two candidates. Ah well, it seems that for me a lot of other things went wrong as well haha! I'll try again next year, and I'll make sure that my email will go through to them this time (I definitely emailed it to the right address... no clue what happened! Maybe they just overlooked me).

@ Icf99: I sent the e-mail yesterday and they just answered me this like an hour ago.

Maria62 wrote:@ Icf99: I sent the e-mail yesterday and they just answered me this like an hour ago.

yes, I see. to the information office and not the TO

Elske1992 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:This is what they sent me:

All applications are handled centrally, so must be done through the application process detailed on the website, rather than by contacting us at the office, I'm afraid. I'm assuming this is what you did for the March intake, in which case you will have received an email confirming your application was received with details on who to contact if you have questions about the application.

If you have been informed that you are shortlisted usually this notification should also specify which traineeship you have been shortlisted for, but if you have more questions about this I would advise you to send an email to the traineeship office (indicated below) or to the contact details contained within the notification.

Just got an email back from the Hague! They basically told me that my application did not go through to them (they unfortunately for some reason hadn't seen my email with my motivation letter - and the lack of conformation email from that confirms that) and that they already selected two candidates. Ah well, it seems that for me a lot of other things went wrong as well haha! I'll try again next year, and I'll make sure that my email will go through to them this time (I definitely emailed  it to the right address... no clue what happened! Maybe they just overlooked me).

That's interesting, is it dealt with differently in the Hague? Didn't you just apply through the central TO, like everyone else?

lcf99 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:@ Icf99: I sent the e-mail yesterday and they just answered me this like an hour ago.

yes, I see. to the information office and not the TO

exactly

Maria62 wrote:

lcf99 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:@ Icf99: I sent the e-mail yesterday and they just answered me this like an hour ago.

yes, I see. to the information office and not the TO

exactly

well, they don't even know the procedure this year.
This is almost hilarious.

lcf99 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:

lcf99 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:@ Icf99: I sent the e-mail yesterday and they just answered me this like an hour ago.

yes, I see. to the information office and not the TO

exactly

well, they don't even know the procedure this year.
This is almost hilarious.

I know, right? lol

lcf99 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:

lcf99 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:@ Icf99: I sent the e-mail yesterday and they just answered me this like an hour ago.

yes, I see. to the information office and not the TO

exactly

well, they don't even know the procedure this year.
This is almost hilarious.

For a sec, I was considering explaining the situation of this year to him (so he doesn't think I'm completely stupid) but then I just left it. Seriously, it's not my job to spread this information.

Maria62 wrote:

lcf99 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:

lcf99 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:@ Icf99: I sent the e-mail yesterday and they just answered me this like an hour ago.

yes, I see. to the information office and not the TO

exactly

well, they don't even know the procedure this year.
This is almost hilarious.

I know, right? lol

Yeah, almost. I didn't even expect them to know that because they are not responsible for trainees or have anything to do with that, unlike the TO.
I'm not even sure will the TO answer any of the emails before they send us the offers.

Elske1992 wrote:

Just got an email back from the Hague! They basically told me that my application did not go through to them (they unfortunately for some reason hadn't seen my email with my motivation letter - and the lack of conformation email from that confirms that) and that they already selected two candidates. Ah well, it seems that for me a lot of other things went wrong as well haha! I'll try again next year, and I'll make sure that my email will go through to them this time (I definitely emailed  it to the right address... no clue what happened! Maybe they just overlooked me).

Elske, I'm sorry about your complication. They warned us about bureaucracy procedures. Congrads on the other thing!

So I called an office this morning, and after they redirected me 3 times, they gave me a number to the traineeship office but turns out it was a person who worked there last year...... ..... She was, however, kind enough to tell me that some people from the recruitment office only came back today and they must have been overwhelmed and that the best way to reach them is through emailing stages. She also said sometimes they wait until the very last moment with notifying people on the waiting list in case someone drops out suddenly...

pops wrote:So I called an office this morning, and after they redirected me 3 times, they gave me a number to the traineeship office but turns out it was a person who worked there last year...... ..... She was, however, kind enough to tell me that some people from the recruitment office only came back today and they must have been overwhelmed and that the best way to reach them is through emailing stages. She also said sometimes they wait until the very last moment with notifying people on the waiting list in case someone drops out suddenly...

oh wow. thanks for the update.

pops wrote:So I called an office this morning, and after they redirected me 3 times, they gave me a number to the traineeship office but turns out it was a person who worked there last year...... ..... She was, however, kind enough to tell me that some people from the recruitment office only came back today and they must have been overwhelmed and that the best way to reach them is through emailing stages. She also said sometimes they wait until the very last moment with notifying people on the waiting list in case someone drops out suddenly...

Thanks for the info! :-) ...that's what I assumed, the people on the waiting list are basically a backup until the end, that's why they say that it might take until the 15th of February to be contacted. I gave up hoping now though. Chances are pretty low I guess.

Maria62 wrote:

Elske1992 wrote:

Maria62 wrote:This is what they sent me:

All applications are handled centrally, so must be done through the application process detailed on the website, rather than by contacting us at the office, I'm afraid. I'm assuming this is what you did for the March intake, in which case you will have received an email confirming your application was received with details on who to contact if you have questions about the application.

If you have been informed that you are shortlisted usually this notification should also specify which traineeship you have been shortlisted for, but if you have more questions about this I would advise you to send an email to the traineeship office (indicated below) or to the contact details contained within the notification.

Just got an email back from the Hague! They basically told me that my application did not go through to them (they unfortunately for some reason hadn't seen my email with my motivation letter - and the lack of conformation email from that confirms that) and that they already selected two candidates. Ah well, it seems that for me a lot of other things went wrong as well haha! I'll try again next year, and I'll make sure that my email will go through to them this time (I definitely emailed  it to the right address... no clue what happened! Maybe they just overlooked me).

That's interesting, is it dealt with differently in the Hague? Didn't you just apply through the central TO, like everyone else?

The Hague has their own selection procedure! They sometimes invite people for interviews, and you have to apply to them separately as well. But the employee I spoke to told me that they have just found out that many of the applications they receive have ended up in their SPAM folder (and were deleted after two weeks). This is probably what has happened to me as well. Unfortunately...