Antti's job in the EU Commission

Hello! My name is Antti. I have been working in EU commission for five years. I work as a European Commission administrator in Brussels, Belgium. I applied online, and I was interviewed at the European Commission (Belgium) in January 2012. I’m on the AD 12 (level of salary) and my salary is about 10,000 euros per month. For this salary level, you must have some kind of leading experience in another company.

Typical responsibilities of the job include:

• writing reports
• managing budgets
• organizing and attending meetings
• preparing policy proposals
• implementing policies
• managing staff and resources
• undertaking research to ensure consistency of policies and procedures throughout member states
• debating and negotiating ideas
• drafting European Community legislation
• overseeing relations between EU and non-EU member states

How to get the job?

For the posts of permanent officials, one has to pass the selection procedure (concours). You have to apply online within a certain deadline. It can be a rather lengthy process. It can be really difficult to get a job because there can be tens of thousands of candidates for only 150 posts. The selection process only selects the "best" candidates (in terms of performance at the tests, professional experience if it’s required, performance at the assessment centre), who are then placed on a reserve list, from which the institutions then recruit depending on their needs.

The candidate has to speak at least two of EU languages. Some of the tests are in any of the EU’s 24 official languages and some are in the working languages (English, French, German). The procedure has several steps, and only the x best candidates make it to the next stage. It is a very competitive procedure, but it is quite fair in our opinion. The tests make it easy to evaluate tens of thousands of candidates with different backgrounds, different education, different languages and nationalities.

Pros and Cons

I like the international working environment. I like and have an opportunity to work with many EU countries and other international organizations. I think my salary is also really good. Only bad side is that I have very limited progress for career development. I have a job now but I don’t know what I will do in the future if I won´t be able to work in the EU Commission anymore.