Lobbying/Emails/Interviews

If we do not get contacted today, does this mean we have not been selected? Does anyone know if the rejection emails will also be sent today? The DGs I had contact to (DEVCO and EMPL) were kind of vague about this, which makes me think I was not the preferred candidate... But I am really confused by the whole process!

LeireO wrote:If we do not get contacted today, does this mean we have not been selected? Does anyone know if the rejection emails will also be sent today? The DGs I had contact to (DEVCO and EMPL) were kind of vague about this, which makes me think I was not the preferred candidate... But I am really confused by the whole process!

I've been wondering the same thing. I am thinking of calling the DGs that I interviewed for at some point today to ask about the process.

@jessinkaaa that is definitely something to consider! I just got an interview offer by a company in Brussels and a pre-selection email from the EP, and I am still wondering how to proceed. Surely I am not the only one in such a position, so hopefully they put an end to this suffering soon!

LeireO wrote:@jessinkaaa that is definitely something to consider! I just got an interview offer by a company in Brussels and a pre-selection email from the EP, and I am still wondering how to proceed. Surely I am not the only one in such a position, so hopefully they put an end to this suffering soon!

I called the DGs that I interviewed for and one of them told me that they had to put the candidates in a ranking order to send to the traineeship office who will deal with the allocation of places. She did however tell me that I was not their first choice so I would only be allocated a place if their first choice rejects the offer.

Another DG told me that they would send me an e-mail on Monday afternoon. So it's not a very clear process but I would suggest getting in touch with the DGs just to find out any information that they might be able to give you.

Nicholas DK wrote:

valentinusi wrote:Hey guys! Does anyone know if you're contacted by a department and you accept the offer (in December, by e-mail), can other departments contact you in January as well? Or if you accepted that offer, you're "closed" for further offers? Thanks!

As far as I´ve understood, saying "yes" to a unit means that they will book you. Meaning that no one else is going to contact you.
So, if you havnt gotten an offer by now, you will have to sit tight through January or maybe even later, and hope that some units will be doing last-minute snatching of some of the non-booked candidates.

Today was the closing day however. I was offered a place in a national representation of the EC and couldnt say yes right away, but the head of the unit insisted that they were running out of time and might even lose their right to having a trainee at all if they didnt book me by late thursday/early friday. I dont know if this also applies to some of the DG's.

Ahhh I don't know anything anymore. I guess it's the best to ask the DG if you're their first option, in that case it's almost a fact you'll get it. I just hope to find a good accommodation so late

Hi guys,
I'm a bit confused, why did the Traineeship office not directly tell us we should 'lobby'? i.e. sending emails to look desperate.. And how come the DGs already chose their candidates last Friday, if the decisions are final by January 15-30 (as someone here mentioned)? Can anyone explain the process a bit more to me?

Hi!

Lobbying is not a standard practice with all of the units/DGs, some of them choose directly from the info in the Blue Book and ignore lobbying e-mails, others look at the e-mails they receive, some contact the candidates by phone or e-mail or both, while others do not at all. Technically, I do not even think we are supposed to lobby, it is about the candidates being pro-active and kind of a tradition, so some units actually take it in consideration, while others do not.

It seems like the DGs had to choose their short-listed candidates by Friday (3 per unit) and then it is up to the Traineeship Office to actually confirm their choice. The reason why we probably will only find out the results in January is that several units might have preferred the same candidate, so some of them will have to change their choice, there might still be a lot of changes in between and only in January with the preparation of the official confirmation letters they will be able to publish the final results.

If you browse through threads on this forum from previous years and this year, too, you'll find cases where candidates were told in December by a unit they would book them, or candidates being contacted by a unit that was initially interested in them, but couldn't book them, because some other unit was faster, so that's how they found out they secured a spot. However, there are also cases where candidates didn't hear from any unit at all and only in January found out to their surprise they were in.

At this point I guess we have to just wait and hope for the best. Good luck!

Hi, I had a call on Friday with DG FISMA, where they told me I was one of thir 3 short-listed candidates and they asked me a single question about motivation for a traineeship with FISMA. They said they liked the interview responses and sent me an e-mail with more information about their unit and saying they would be happy to provide more information. Although the e-mail did not directly mention an offer.

At the same time, I already have a final offer from General Secretariat of the Council (GSC) which I received just before the call with FISMA and which I have to confirm ASAP. So if there is some additional selection step from the Traineeship office, I should probably rather confirm that offer.

In either case, I wish you best luck and hope to meet you in Brussels :-)

Congrats!! I'd go for the final offer from the Council! Commission TO for sure needs another month to tell you the results of the selection process

Anybody got news today? I was hoping for an email or something, but nothing so far...

LeireO wrote:Anybody got news today? I was hoping for an email or something, but nothing so far...

Hello, I haven't received anything yet and probably won't until January. Units already made their selections and booked their preferred candidates. It's up to the TO now. So let's sit tight until January I myself haven't been contacted which surely lowers my chances... but I am still optimistic as I've read about several people who were simply selected without being contacted!

Good luck!

LeireO wrote:Anybody got news today? I was hoping for an email or something, but nothing so far...

I got today a few units booking me as their first choice and now trying to convince me to select them... I did not lobby but apparently I am a subject of lobbying.

I asked one of the persons who contacted me: "what should I do now and how can I pick the unit I want to cooperate with?". Answer: "I actually do not know, this whole process is not clear even for us".

kagathos wrote: "I actually do not know, this whole process is not clear even for us".

I cannot believe this!

Congratulations anyway, it looks like you will have a spot

A unit told me last week that I was among their top 3 and I had an interview with another unit that told me that I would know something from the TO probably before Christmas. I got no further info so far, so I guess I was not their first choice, but I was hoping to get at least a rejection email from those units, just so that I stop hoping hahaha.

LeireO wrote:Anybody got news today? I was hoping for an email or something, but nothing so far...

I sent an email to the (only) unit I had an interview with (DG TRADE), and they told me I was selected, and would receive the official letter by January.
Best of luck to all of you !

Soleilvert wrote:

LeireO wrote:Anybody got news today? I was hoping for an email or something, but nothing so far...

I sent an email to the (only) unit I had an interview with (DG TRADE), and they told me I was selected, and would receive the official letter by January.
Best of luck to all of you !

Maybe a stupid question, but how do you phrase the email? Did you directly ask if you got selected or...? I would like to send an email as well but am not sure how to go about it

abcdefg wrote:

Soleilvert wrote:

LeireO wrote:Anybody got news today? I was hoping for an email or something, but nothing so far...

I sent an email to the (only) unit I had an interview with (DG TRADE), and they told me I was selected, and would receive the official letter by January.
Best of luck to all of you !

Maybe a stupid question, but how do you phrase the email? Did you directly ask if you got selected or...? I would like to send an email as well but am not sure how to go about it

I asked about the outcome of the decision, because during the interview the head of unit told me they would inform me whether I was selected or not the following day (Friday), and I still had no news today at 12. I think that other units are not willing to tell the outcome before January; I asked because he mentionned they would inform me, but wouldn't have done so otherwise

Soleilvert wrote:

abcdefg wrote:

Soleilvert wrote:

LeireO wrote:Anybody got news today? I was hoping for an email or something, but nothing so far...

I sent an email to the (only) unit I had an interview with (DG TRADE), and they told me I was selected, and would receive the official letter by January.
Best of luck to all of you !

Maybe a stupid question, but how do you phrase the email? Did you directly ask if you got selected or...? I would like to send an email as well but am not sure how to go about it

I asked about the outcome of the decision, because during the interview the head of unit told me they would inform me whether I was selected or not the following day (Friday), and I still had no news today at 12. I think that other units are not willing to tell the outcome before January; I asked because he mentionned they would inform me, but wouldn't have done so otherwise

Ah okay thank you! During my interview they told me I would have to wait till January for the final results so I guess there's no point in writing them since the circumstances are different :/ Congrats on being selected btw!

Hey guys...finally activated my account after reading you with attention for a while

Just wanted to let you know that I received an email offering me an interview with a unit today.
The message says their unit is just starting to look for a trainee... in other words the process of selection is still not over.

Good luck to you all!

Hello everyone! Today I got an email saying that I had been selected by two units and they were letting me choose which one I preferred! So that's an option as well Good luck to everyone!

In the message I received on 12.12 from the traineeship office it says "Soon the Commission departments entitled to recruit trainees will search the database containing all preselected applications for suitable candidates. They may contact you for an informal interview. Please bear in mind that these contacts are not binding and that only a written placement offer from the Traineeships Office will confirm that you have been selected as a trainee."

However, today after sending an lobby email to a DG, I received this "The selection process will start on 7th December 2016 and the Head of Units will then look for the most suitable candidates according to their needs and the number of places available. If you have mentioned your registration number, Units will easily find you in the VBB. You may also already mention the names of a few units which you are interested in. All the DG's will make the reservations on 15th December 2016. The selection process will be closed. If you are selected, you will receive personally an offer from the Traineeship Office as from the 20th January 2017. If, however, you have not received any word by 31 January for the period beginning in March, you may consider that your application has not been successful."

From this I understand that the VBB is closed now for any further selection, and only after January 20th we will find out whether we are in or out.

I received a strange email today. My second choice, with which I interviewed last week, told me that they had tried to "book" me but found that I had already been selected by another unit. Now, I know my status with all the units I've interviewed with, and none of them selected me either.

This means that some unknown unit must have selected me without even discussing the role with me or asking me if I was interested, which seems really weird! I'm kind of hoping that it is the specific unit I was interested in within my first choice, and since it is a really good fit with my background they just assumed I am interested in that work, but it just seems odd, inefficient and very likely to result in offers being turned down.

Does anyone know if we get to speak to the unit before we have to make a decision regarding the offer? I can't imagine accepting a position without actually discussing it with a person, ideally the hiring manager.

Roeslein wrote:Does anyone know if we get to speak to the unit before we have to make a decision regarding the offer? I can't imagine accepting a position without actually discussing it with a person, ideally the hiring manager.

You can maybe ask the unit of your second choice to let you know who it was? that way you can make a more informed decision? (maybe a phone call would be better though)

Has anyone gone into the EC for an interview? I have an interview in person tomorrow morning at 9:30, and I have no idea what to wear? (F) Should I go full suit? smart office wear?

Roeslein wrote:I received a strange email today. My second choice, with which I interviewed last week, told me that they had tried to "book" me but found that I had already been selected by another unit. Now, I know my status with all the units I've interviewed with, and none of them selected me either.

This means that some unknown unit must have selected me without even discussing the role with me or asking me if I was interested, which seems really weird! I'm kind of hoping that it is the specific unit I was interested in within my first choice, and since it is a really good fit with my background they just assumed I am interested in that work, but it just seems odd, inefficient and very likely to result in offers being turned down.

Does anyone know if we get to speak to the unit before we have to make a decision regarding the offer? I can't imagine accepting a position without actually discussing it with a person, ideally the hiring manager.

Hi!

I was in a similar situation. I was booked by an unknown unit and contacted by other units that they are interested in me but I am already "reserved" by another unit.

As I knew I want to work with one of the units that was "late" with reserving me, I had to write an e-mail to the Traineeships Office with request to "unflag" me from the unit that has booked me and "flag" me as an intern of the unit I wanted to work with.

And btw. the units cannot see who has reserved you!

So I wrote something like:

To Whom It May Concern,

On request of Mr. (name of Head of the Unit), I would like to kindly request "unflagging" me from the traineeship at the unit that has booked me first and "flagging" my candidature to the (name of the unit and DG).

And tagged the e-mail of the Head of the Unit in the mail. The morning after I already had a confirmation from the unit I am interested in that they have changed the reservation.

Hope I was able to help!

Best,
Aga

And an email i received today, quoted below ...

Dear Adina,

Yes, of course, the services are still busy with reservations.
You have absolutely still the chance to be reserved.
Please feel free to contact services which contact mailboxes were communicated in your personal account.

Best regards,
THE TRAINEESHIPS OFFICE

Hi!

I also received a notification yesterday from a Unit. They also told me I was booked by another unit (I had no idea!) So guys don't lose hope. I believe nothing is confirmed until we receive the final offer!
Happy holidays!

Congrats to all of those who have already received some kind of confirmation.

To all who, like me, are still in limbo, please be advised that there's no chance to hear from the EC next week:
When will the Commission be closed for holidays?
For the October 2016 session:
...
26 December to 30 December (5 end-of-year days)
2 January (Monday, day following New Year's Day)

Some mental episode here. So.. following a call where i was informed that i they found someone else, somehow I persuaded the french guy to tell me what is the my status in the Blue Book Trainee. So he told me that I am reserved by the EEAS EUSR Human Rights. Now I just got an email stating that I am on the reserve list at DG NEAR!!. anyone had a similar situation? Broadcasting love to all of you;)

Hello! Congratulations to all those selected!

I'm a non-EU applicant and haven't been contacted yet. I lobbied on the 15th-17th and it seems the selections were already done by the 15th! Wondering if there's any non-EU applicant who's been contacted?

Shai1 wrote:Hello! Congratulations to all those selected!

I'm a non-EU applicant and haven't been contacted yet. I lobbied on the 15th-17th and it seems the selections were already done by the 15th! Wondering if there's any non-EU applicant who's been contacted?

Hi Shai,

Not really, on the 22nd of Dec, I received this message from the TO "Dear Adina,

Yes, of course, the services are still busy with reservations.
You have absolutely still the chance to be reserved.
Please feel free to contact services which contact mailboxes were communicated in your personal account.

Best regards,
THE TRAINEESHIPS OFFICE"

So you still have the change of being selected, keep lobbying, but be aware that from 24th of Dec until 3 or 4th of Jan, the EC is closed with almost everyone on vacation.

I am an EU applicant, but there is really no differentiation concerning that.

Best and good luck,
Adina

Hey! Non-EU applicant here. I half-heartedly lobbied on the 14th. I didn't hear back from any of those DGs. I was I fact called and interviewed by another DG on the 18th and informed a little later on that I should expect to receive an official offer in January. From what I could gather, selections and bookings are still ongoing (and will continue into January). So, there is still time! There is still hope!