European Personnel Selection Office ERIK HALSKOV - DIRECTOR

THE EUROPEAN UNION

Selection and appointment of personnel from new Member States n Introducing EPSO n Recruitment of Czech nationals in context of EU recruitment policy.  What sort of people are we looking for?  How do we make sure we get the best people?  What are the benefits for the Czech Republic?  How is the Czech Republic faring?

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES PERSONNEL SELECTION OFFICE (EPSO) n Established on 26 July 2002 n Mission: to organize open competitions to select highly qualified staff for recruitment to all institutions of the European Union

European Institutions n European Parliament n Council n European Commission n Court of Justice n Court of Auditors n Economic & Social Committee n Committee of the Regions n European Ombudsman n Data Protection Supervisor

CZECH REPUBLIC & THE EU Recruitment of Czech nationals in context of EU recruitment policy n Equality of Opportunity n Recruiting the best n Ensuring perspectives of all Member States are reflected in policy making n Language skills

RECRUITING THE BEST  Selection of permanent officials through open competition  Organised by EPSO to meet needs of Institutions  No national quotas, but special arrangements for enlargement competitions with indicative recruitment targets  No age limits ___________________________________________

Who are we looking for? Interpreters, translators & lawyer/linguists Proof readers and correctors Secretaries Administrators in law, finance, audit, IT, public administration, human resources, economics, agriculture, nuclear inspectors, public health & food safety, press & public relations, research, engineering, statistics

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES The New Career Structure  2 function groups – Administrators & Assistants  Linear pay scale with 16 grades  Each grade has 5 seniority steps  Automatic advancement in step every 2 years

n Administrators (entry grades 5 – 8) n Includes linguists n Basic entry requirement (grade 5) - 3-year degree NON-GRADUATE ENTRY  Assistants (entry grades 1 – 4)  Basic entry requirement – upper secondary education + 3 years experience ENTRY REQUIREMENTS GRADUATE ENTRY

COMPETITIONS STRUCTURE n Registration n Stage 1 - Pre-selection - multi-choice answers - taken in second language - typically verbal & numerical reasoning, EU knowledge and specialist area

COMPETITIONS STRUCTURE  Stage 2 – written test  Stage 3 – oral examination  Reserve list

Best practice in personnel selection n Use of IT n Fair treatment n Sharing best practice

Benefits for Czech Republic n Will EU recruitment cause “brain drain” in Czech Republic? n Czech interests in EU policy development n Benefits to the individual

ENLARGEMENT COMPETITIONS  Competitions organised by country during a 7-year transition period  First wave of competitions to meet most urgent & most general needs of Institutions  Priority given to recruitment of linguists

1 st Wave of Enlargement Competitions n EPSO/LA/1-9 – interpreters n EPSO/LA/11 – translators n EPSO/LA/10 – heads linguistic divisions n EPSO/LA/12 – lawyer/linguists n EPSO/A/1-10 – administrators n EPSO/C/1-10 – secretaries

Results: Czech Republic Laureates (Czech) Laureates (Total) Administrators Public Administration96497 Law39207 Economics35211 Audit1039 Secretaries186(+775) Interpreters8(+61) Heads Linguistic Div.420 Translatorspending(+356) Lawyer/linguists39216 TOTAL so far

MIDDLE MANAGEMENT n Published April n Heads of Unit posts n Posts in law, economics/statistics, audit/finance and European Public Administration at A*9 and A*12 level n Posts in information, press & public relations at A*9 and A*12 level n Over 2000 candidates n Assessment centre

NON PERMANENT STAFF n Auxiliary database set up January 2003 n 1,000 recruited from database n Call for staff to be engaged under contract launched June

TRAINEESHIPS n AVAILABLE IN MOST EU INSTITUTIONS n WORK EXPERIENCE WITH MODEST PAY n USUALLY ABOUT 5 MONTHS n COMMISSION TRAINEESHIPS START 1 MARCH AND 1 OCTOBER - APPLICATIONS BY 1 SEPTEMBER (FOR MARCH) & 1 MARCH (FOR OCTOBER)

The FUTURE n Continuation of enlargement programme n Competitions by language open to all EUR-25 nationals n Ongoing improvements to competition procedure, maybe including computer-based testing

European Personnel Selection Office QUESTIONS