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Careers in the EU
The following is a guide for those who intend to compete in
European recruitment competitions. The guide highlights how the EU
recruits its staff and throws light on how one might increase one's chances of
being recruited.
Career Structure
There are four main categories of permanent staff in the EU
institutions, known as A, B, C and D grades, all of whom are recruited by means
of open competitions or concours. The competitions we are principally concerned
with here are for graduates applying for 'A' grade administrator competitions.
However, there are other grades for which the general information in this short
guide is valid such as for LA grade candidates (graduate linguists working in
the Joint Interpreting and Conference Service or in the Translation Service) and
B grade (non-graduate) candidates.
Administrators are the officials who develop and implement
EU policy. As an A grade official, you might be running large economic aid
programmes, shaping the Union's thinking in areas as diverse as environmental
quality or competition policy, working overseas with the European Commission's
external relations services or developing and monitoring existing policies in
areas such as health and agriculture. All A grade posts demand not only
intellectual ability but also the capacity to manage people, money and other
resources. Approximately 5,200 administrators are employed in the Commission,
with significantly fewer in the Council and the European Parliament.
In recent years, graduates have mainly been recruited at one
of two levels.
Grade A8 is for new graduates or those who graduated in the
three years preceding publication of the competition. The degree obtained must
be of a level, which gives access to doctoral studies. Some competitions are
open to graduates of any discipline; others may require a degree in a specific
subject such as law or economics. No work experience is required. No formal
language qualification is necessary, but the competition will test your
knowledge of a second EU language to a standard equating roughly to a good
A-level.
Grade A7 is for graduates with at least three years'
relevant work experience at graduate level (which may include some postgraduate
studies) and a degree of a standard, which gives access to doctoral studies. At
A7 level, there are usually the options of applying as a generalist
administrator (a graduate of any discipline), or as a specialist such as a
lawyer, accountant/auditor or an economist/statistician. Again, no formal
language qualification is necessary, but the competition will test your
knowledge of a second EU language to a standard equating roughly to a good
A-level.
Career prospects within the EU institutions are good. A8
recruits can usually expect to reach A7 after two to three years and A6 within a
further four or five years. For able employees, further prospects are excellent.
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