Dear all,

Right, we are living troubled times, the situation caused by the Corono crisis is something completely unforeseen and this brings some inconvenient consequences at all levels. Information changes rapidly  European institutions, WHO and national institutions work and report constantly on it.  Therefore, from YSE, there is no point to inform on the virus, instead, it’s better if we talk about the topics we know better, let’s say EPSO and help you to go through all thses difficult days and put bring some peace to your nerves.

How does Corona-crisis affect to EPSO competitions?

Let’s see, step by step to avoid getting lost.

Step 1 : All competitions have been temporarily suspended. Those who had their assessment this month of March have received a letter from EPSO saying their competition (and their exams) are suspended until next month or further notice.  Those who are call in April, haven’t received any communication letter yet but most probably they will soon, as the crisis may take longer than one month.

Step 2 : all competitions on hold? YES, even the case study for  Ad5-generalists, foreseen for 16th March, was suspended without new date, only a commiment to prevent  to the candidates 3 weeks in advance of the new date.  Originally, April and May were the scheduled months for the AD5 generalist Assessment , now they are May and June  June and July (the latest announcement from EPSO is the Assessment Centre will be close until end of May). Other competitions, as Auditors o Administrators AD7 have had an «assessment interruptus». Be patient our friends!

EPSO echa el cierre hasta fin de Mayo

Step 3 : What  have happened with the rest of testing facilities? Some of you already have been taking your CAST test last week (by computer, the computer based test CBT) but from 16th most of the facilities, in Europe (but also worldwide) are closed until end of May or further notice. Consider yourself lucky if you took  your CBT last week (9-15th March).

Step 4 :  Everything is stopped?   No, but it doesn’t look it will move fast neither.  Besides the exam itself, all EPSO selection process takes a lot of internal work from the Institutions (and its staff) . Even if now all the institutions are switching to telework, the assessors training , exams reviews/appeals or the publication of new competitions will slow down and most probably won’t meet their initial foreseen calendar.  Adjusting such a big machinery as the European Institutions , for teleworking all at once, is not an easy task and even less in the middle of a virus outbreak.

Step 6 :  When can I expect for the next competitions? right, we all were expecting,like a breath of fresh air, the next competitions Secretaries, Administrators AD5 & AD7 in External Relations (EEAS) y Administrators AD5 in EU law.  We expected them for the end of March, beginning of April , right before Easter time but taking into account the present circumstances, an optimistic forecast would be end of April, beginning of May for the opening(publication) of the competitions. Therefor, the CBT would be around June and/or July if the crisis is solved before April ends.  Take into account that is very likely these competitions will attract a lot of candidates , what implies a strong need of center test available (Italy of Spain take the lion share, after Brussels) what it is not the case nowadays.  

Now, what?

In YSE we have decided to face this crisis and contribute to the campaign #IStayAtHome . This situation will end eventually and the competitions will come back to normal. Perhaps this is the moment to begin your training in EPSO competitions , now that you are bored at home 😉 with that purpose we offer you some tips:

• Practice some EPSO-reading Do you want to know how to survive the Assessment centre? click here ,Do you want to know more on the CBT test?  click here (in Spanish for the moment)
• You can always visit our youtube channel (if not for EPSO, to learn new languages). On the practical side, find here 3 (1, 2, 3)  examples of abstract reasoning (in the coming days we’ll publish more). If you had already too much Netflix in the last few days and run out of new series to watch, why not to watch some EPSO-documentary? (If you feel strong in Spanish) there it goes the «documentary» (right, it’s not a documentary but our presentation on EPSO process, type of contract and traineeships process) .
• Some practice for the next test . How? quite easy, using the free resources available.  . Here you can find a compilation of resources.
• Join our next trainings (ONLINE) for Assessment and CBT   Yes, you have read correctly, we are back with our courses. Taking advantage of our long experience in online (and its good results) trainings, also considering all the time we are going to spend at home, why not to use it for something fruitful? Therefore, we launch a complete course for CBT (in Spanish but if there are 3 o more of you interested an English or Italian version can be arranged)  and also several Assessment centre sessions (to prepare case study, competence based, motivational and field related interview, oral presentation). Now it’s the right time to show your «resilience» to prepare in advance the coming competitions. More information
  • • YSE -Assessment Centre – ON LINE training – Spring 2020
    • YSE – Programme EPSO  CBT -ONLINE- Spring 2020  (or write us , yasemoseuropeos@gmail.com to ask when the next CBT training in English will take place)

You know better, it’s time to take care of your beloved and of yourself but also there is an opportunity to start (or keep)  your next steps on the EPSO competitions. Sooner or later everything will come back to normality, those who took advantage of this time will have better chances of succeeding.