Dear colleagues, despite all odds, the internal competitions are moving forward. Recently, the organisers have published an update of the indicative calendar for AD5, as well as some addenda to the other competitions. 

What do we know and what to expect?

As we speak, only the AD/03/22 (AD5) has published an indicative planning of the competition. As for the other internal competitions, let’s make a split between AD7, AD9 and AD12 on the one hand, and AST/SC2, AST2 and AD6 on the other.

As regards AD7, AD9 and AD12, we don’t know much and we can only wait. Applications were submitted before Christmas and now the eligibility check and talent screener review are going on. Will the board let us know if we just passed the eligibility? Yes, as set out  in the point 4.2.1. Disclosure of information of your notices. This means that eligibility checks are ongoing as we speak and HR will then evaluate the talent screeners of those who fulfill the eligibility requirements (several hundreds of colleagues). Being optimistic, the oral interview for these competitions won’t happen until May in these competitions.

For AST/SC2, AST2, AD6 we just saw the addenda published last Friday (3^rd February) where the organisers decided to change the order of the phases. Now, the eligibility checks will take place before the tests (MCQ and Written test). In practical terms, this helps them to reduce the amount of candidates in the competition, remember that only in AD6 we had more than 1700 applications submitted and there are only 100 laureates sought. The MCQ and the written test were announced for March.

Dates foreseen for each phase

We have done our best to map what we can expect in the competitions AD5 + AST/SC2, AST2, AD6. Further below you can find some details on each competition.

COM/AD/03/22(AD5) has a month of advantage in the eligibility checks. The results of the eligibility checks have been announced for February (more than two months after the submission of the applications) and the exam is scheduled for March, most probably the first half, which leaves us 4-5 weeks to get ready for it. Don’t panic, it is feasible, remember you just need 30 out of 50 points to pass the MCQ and you can still practice with 1 or 2 written tests per week. 

For AD6, AST and AST/SC2, if we consider a similar period for their eligibility checks as for AD5 (a bit optimistic due to the higher number of candidates), exams should not come sooner than second half of March. As Easter time is early April, probably the organizers will do their best to organize the exam prior to it. Although we have more time to prepare, the difficulty will be higher (you need to get 35 out of 50 points in the MCQ) so we need to do an exhaustive work studding policies and institutions. For the written test, we can practice with 1 or 2 tests per week.  

For AD7, AD9,AD12 we can only wait to have the outcome of the eligibility and talent, whether they will assess the talents profile by profile of each level, so they can move faster to the oral test on that profile or they will release the results all at the same time, is not clear. Considering the total amount of candidates in the 3 profiles (641, 898 and 515 respectively) it seems unlikely the will have finalised the talent screener of all the candidates by mid-April. Let’s wait.

How can I prepare?

For the MCQ, the resources are simple and publicly accessible. First thing, you have The Treaties, and the ABC-EU law, which contain the basics of the institutions and our policies. To go deeper in policies, our suggestion is to check the European Parliament factsheets  and the different materials develop by our Communication colleagues to explain the Commission’s policies and actions, always following the 6 priorities of the current Commission. Altogether, this is a lot of material and should be more than enough to pass the test, but don’t forget to elaborate your own notes and mind maps to retain it.

For the written test, it’s important to underline what is said in the notice of your competitions:

A written assignment (e.g. a briefing, letter or note) based on various documents on EU policies and institutions. This written test will assess the competencies required to perform the duties of an administrator in the Commission in your field of the competition.

Therefore, this is not like the MCQ. The written tests does not test knowledge, but competencies (or skills if you want). Besides, as most of you are familiar with the EPSO materials, our first advice is to take the EPSO case studies (here the one available from EPSO web page) for practice, which will give you a fair idea on how to handle an assignment under a strict time constraint. Complementary, you could do some of your briefings and work-related tasks against the clock, setting the time every time you had to deliver a briefing or contribution and then checking afterwards before sending it (we don’t want to cause any harm 🙂

Regarding the oral interviews of any competition, as the number of candidates is huge and the invitations to the interviews few, sour surprises may happen. at this moment, using whole numbers of candidates and the total spots offered for a rough estimate, the chances of being invited to the interview are of 1 in 3 for AD12, 1 in 8 AD9 and 1 in 4 for AD7.

Therefore we don’t advice to prepare the oral interview in such an early stage. Wait until you had confirmation of passing the eligibility checks at least.

What can YSE do for you?

We will do our best to help you passing the test. Based on our experience and success in previous internal competitions (the last AD5 had a 90% success rate in the MCQ and the written test), we have developed an online training that allows you to advance at your own peace. We offer to you:

• A set of 650 original questions for the MCQ with a collection of supporting materials
• 6 written tests that will guarantee you get the practice you need.

Each MCQ and written test contain a video-feedback highlighting the most relevant aspects of the test.

To join our training or get additional details on it, here you can find the form.

Also, all our latest news are available in our Telegram channel @yasemoseuropeos