Dear all,

The right chemicals have been combined! Administrators in the field of Chemicals Policy AD6 has been released. 45 places for the lovers of the chemistry, atoms and European policies. This competitions and the ones for Administrators in the field of sustainable agriculture and proofreadres, are the lion share of the competitions expected for this 2021 winter (besides the CBT sill running for EU law, Secretaries and External Relations,) and loyal to the YSE commitment with you, here you have our analysis of the competition, composed of the finest chemicals and materials.

How many spots? When does it begin?

A good number of spots are available in total 45 spots, There is for all!!! be careful, the process has begin the 11th March and it will be open for joining until 13 April NOON (let’s say 11.59 AM CET). Until then, you can fulfil and validate your application. Approximately you have been given one month +2 days , that’s more than enough but don’t fell sleep.

What are criteria to be a candidate?

The classic(or general): Enjoy full rights as a citizen of a Member State of the EU (UK is not longer an option), meet any obligations under national laws on military service , Meet the character requirements for the duties concerned

Specific criteria – languages

LANGUAGE 1: You can choose among the 24 official languages of the EU and you should have, minimum, C1. If you are a native speaker, you should qualify yourself as C2 and CAREFUL! do not put any item of the level of language under C1 (otherwise you will be disqualified automatically). The CBT (verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning) test will be taken in this language 1 and also we can fill in our application (except the talent) in this language.

LANGUAGE 2: ENGLISH or FRENCH (sorry, you can only choose between these 2, duty calls for it) Here we need a B2 level minimum (no need of having a degree to justify it, the assessment will be in this language and if you can work through it, then you have the level required). Remember not to put any item (written, oral level, or any other) below B2 level in your application.

REMINDER – language 1 and language 2 can not be the same. Even if you try, the application form will alert you. On the bright side, communication with EPSO can take place in one of the languages you have declared in your application form at B2 level or higher.

Specific conditions – Work experience and studies

• Option 1 : LONG ACADEMIC BACKGROUND+PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE – you’ll need a university degree (of minimum 4 years length attested by a diploma in chemistry, chemical engineering, mineralogy, mining, toxicology, ecotoxicology, biology, environmental studies, human or veterinary medicine, pharmacology, or by a diploma in another subject directly relevant to the nature of the duties (come on! except lawyers, we see a broad list of degrees acceptable). With this you’ll need at least 3 years’ professional experience in the field of chemicals.

• Option 2 : SHORT ACADEMIC BACKGROUND+PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE – this time with a 3 years degree attested by a diploma in chemistry, chemical engineering, mineralogy, mining, toxicology, ecotoxicology, biology, environmental studies, human or veterinary medicine, pharmacology, or by a diploma in another subject directly relevant to the nature of the duties . With this you’ll need at least 4 years’ professional experience in the field of chemicals.

REMEMBER! «professional experience in the field of chemicals» means that when describing your professional experience in the application, you must clearly identify the experiences and activities equal or similar to those you are expected to do in the European Institutions and describe in the notice. This webinar can help . Bear in mind EPSO is looking for people with real experience on the subject.

What are test I have to pass? and the competition phases?

Based on the notice + our experience we split the process in 5 phases : 1) fill in the application, 2) The CBT test, 3) the eligibility checks of the files of the candidates, 4) Talen screener and 5) the assesment.

• Phase 1 – You got until 13 April (noon) to send your application and before that, fulfil it with love and care. This is the first step of a competition and the way to differentiate you from many other, perhaps hundreds, of candidates and also give you the green light in phase 3 and phase 4.

• (wait we are still in phase 1) What is a TALENT SCREENER? This is a list of questions according to the selection criteria that you must answer in your application, these questions are on the Annex II of the call . The board of the competition is in charge of evaluating the answers. Keep in mind that all candidates answer the same questions. In this way, the responses of all the candidates are structured in the same way, which allows the board to make an evaluation (as objective as such type of test allows) of the compared merits of all the candidates. To sum up, the points, all in the area of chemicals policies, that will assessed in the talent (look annex II for full detail or the application form)

1. Professional experience in preparing or developing policy or legislation in public administration and private organisations.
2. Professional experience in carrying out scientific, technical or political work
3. Professional experience in developing legal analysis or documents in the context of Court proceedings, appeal bodies, and access to information requests, or in giving legal advice
4. Professional experience in socio-economic analysis, welfare economics, or similar economic disciplines,
5. Professional experience in implementing chemicals legislation at company or industry association level, or in administrations or agencies
6. Professional experience in monitoring or contributing to international policy activities

• Phase 2 – The first test will be the classic CBT (computer based test) This includes our classic verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning, remember, for your mental peace, you only need to get a 10 out 20 in verbal or 10 points with numerical+abstract. This phase will be passed by all those who exceed the minimum score, but the evaluation of elegibility criteria and talent (subsequent phases) will be done in order of your results. Focus, keep calm and get a good result, this is easier than it looks, trust yourself!

About verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning won’t talk here too much (you can visit our blog and also you can find here our resources and trainings .

• Phase 3 –Eligibility checks EPSO will verification your compliance with the conditions required (assessment of your CV to check that you really meet the profile and experience). Make sure that your CV fits that of a competition for experts in chemical policy, do not forget to put all your relevant information (degree and work experience, even if you describe it in the talent part, doesn’t matter. Consider the CV part and the talent as two different applications. As they review CVs, in the order that came out of phase 2( results obtained in the CBT) and meet the requirements, the pool of candidates who pass to phase 4 will be filled, up to a total of 10 times the places will be checked, we are talking about 450 candidates.
• Phase 4 – Talent screener evaluation. Here you can do nothing but wait. It is the task of the board to read your talent and rate it. We remind you the selection based on qualifications will be carried out, only for those candidates deemed eligible… , using solely the information provided in this Talent Screener section (in language 2). You should therefore include all relevant information in your Talent Screener answers, even if already mentioned in other sections of your application form. The questions are based on the selection criteria included in this notice (Yes we have copied the call , why? so that nobody gets confused and forgets to put the relevant information (yes, these things happen, we have seen them). The best of all this, up to a total of 3 times the places , we are talking about about 135 candidates (3 × 45, math does not deceive 🙂) they go to the Assessment phase, you are almost there!
• Phase 5 Assessment. We have reached the final round, in addition to having to present all our papers in digital format (the famous USB memory stick,, now in the online assessment, turned into upload the pertinent papers before the assessment, so prepare them in advance but no need to do it during the CBT). Here things get peculiar, since last year, the competition tests replaced the group exercise by a Situational Competence interview. The rest, business as usual, competence interview and case study for the Competence part (80 points) and for this no knowledge is required, only your competences. BUT (yes, big but) the key part is the field-related test where you will have to demonstrate your knowledge, and above all, your relevant experience for this position. To do so, you will have the Interview in the Field (also structured but with clear focus on your work experience) and the written test in the Field (focus on your practical knowledge for the position)

What can I expect of this job? Is my degree valid?

Both are typical questions of all the candidates, therefore we invite you to check Annex I and Annex III from the notice of competition. In Annex I (image on your right) you can find the expected tasks to be performed once you are an administrator in the area of chemical policy (you won’t be caught by surprise). Also we remind you an AD6 will join the institutions with a net salary above 5.000 € and this can be higher depending if you have family dependent on you and other conditions.

In the Annex III we have a fantastic list of degrees and academic titles with the corresponding competition level we can candidate, also order by country, so you can check if your degree is enough and the right one to apply for this competition.

Can you help me?

The fact all other competitions at the CBT stage and with remaining candidates to take the CBT have adopted the same dates gives us some solid hope this time it will be the right one (in case you still need some help with the CBT check this (in English) and this for CBT trainings in Spanish .

List of useful resources

1. El CBT o los test psicotécnicos (ES)
   • El test de razonamiento verbal.
   • El test de razonamiento numérico.
   • El test de razonamiento abstracto.
2. The Assesment centre (EN)
   • La entrevista estructurada
   • Presentación oral
3. 10 free resources (EN/ES).
4. YSE trainings