Any else apply for administrator roles in the E.U via EPSO?

Eod100

Hi,

Did anyone else apply for administrator roles in the E.U via EPSO?

I validated my application by the deadline (April 17th) but made a very stupid mistake - I didn't check my EPSO online account and so missed the chance to book an admissions test.

I assumed that if I got a message in my EPSO account that I'd automatically get an email notification to alert me to this. It was a stupid mistake to make admittedly.

Did anyone else mess up like this?

Any way I could book an appointment at this late stage? The deadline was yesterday at 12 noon Brussels time and they don't seem very flexible so I think it's a no-go but any help at all would be great!

Thanks very much (and sorry this is such a long post)

Denerick

Do you always need a foreign language to be a Eurocrat?

Eod100

Denerick wrote: »

Do you always need a foreign language to be a Eurocrat?

Pretty sure it depends on the position so no not necessarily.

Generally it seems you need a thorough knowledge of one of the 23 languages of the E.U and a satisfactory knowledge of English, French or German.

Irish is one the 23 languages so if you're almost fluent in Irish and can speak English you'd meet the criteria.

Aglomerado

Op, they seem to be pretty rigid regarding deadlines and bookings. I don't think they even allow you to change your test date unless there are exceptional circumstances.

I think these competitions come round every year though! (this is the second year in a row I've applied.)

barrybones_wx

considering the lengths they make you go to just to get an application in that's absolutely absurd. Missed the deadline too... Absolutely sickened....

Aglomerado

The form is absolutely painful all right! Especially the motivation and strengths bit. That took me ages to get right. And then, if you don't make the cut in the tests, they don't even read that stuff!

Eod100

Yeah they don't really seem the flexible sort!

Sent them an email yesterday seeing if there was any hope but I've given up at this stage!

I know they say candidates should check their EPSO account twice a week but I completely forgot.

They should really look into a system that sends out an automatic email notification to let you know you have a message (a bit like boards one when you have a new pm).

The time-frame for booking the test was only a couple of days which I'm fairly annoyed about as well!

barrybones_wx

i can only imagine the number of people who missed out cause of this - I remember looking at it last weekend and there was nothing about it and then thought to have a look at it only today and i've missed out. It's a daft system, can't understand why it isn't email based in this day and age.

Eod100

Totally agree with you!

EPSO sent me back a big long email basically saying its my fault for not checking.

I accept that but they also said they post updates on facebook and twitter. In that case, the could have just send around a generic email to everyone who had their application validated to remind them to check ESPO.

Ah feck it, there's always next time I suppose!

Eod100

Weird.. Just emailed EPSO again and got an automatic relply saying :

''Dear candidate,
If your query concerns the access to your EPSO account, we regret to inform you that we are facing server problems. We are currently working on a solution. We will let you know when the connection is restored as soon as possible. Please stay updated on eu-careers.info.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Kind regards,
EPSO Candidate Contact Service''

Not sure how long this was going on for but maybe someone could chance their arm and say that was why they couldn't book an admissions test..

I would do it only I emailed EPSO saying I missed the deadline and never mentioned any technical problems so chances are they'd get suspicious if I brought it up at this stage!

Lockstep

I sat them last year for the law discipline, they're extremely competitive. I came in the top 20% and didn't make it through to the next stage (by contrast, I came 25th in the Irish AO exams)

Languages are very important, you have to sit the job simulation part of the exam through your second language.

It's a great job if you get it though.