The European Union’s institutions offer career opportunities for citizens of the 28 Member States.

The European institutions select future officials through open competitions, which involve a series of competitive examinations. The competitions are organized by European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO). The competitions are open to all citizens of the European Union who meet the specified requirements. This procedure gives all candidates a fair chance to demonstrate their abilities and guarantees selection based on merit while observing the principle of equal treatment.

Candidates who pass a competition are placed on a reserve list from which the institutions draw recruits as and when they need them. The aim of a competition, then, is not to fill a specific post, but to constitute a reserve pool for recruitment.

Types of employment

Different categories of staff can work in the EU Institutions, as follows:

• permanent officials,
• contract staff,
• temporary staff,
• interim staff,
• trainees,
• seconded national experts (SNEs),
• parliamentary assistants.

Regulation No 31 (EEC), 11 (EAEC) lays down the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community.

EPSO publishes, on a regular basis, the current job opportunities.

EPSO Role

Applications for an EU job are made through a centralised recruitment process led by EPSO.

The EPSO role is to make available of the institutions of European Union with procedures for effective and quality selection so that they can recruit the right person in the right job at the right time.

EPSO is responsible for selecting staff for the institutions and agencies of the European Union: the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Auditors, the European External Action Service, the European Economic and Social Committee, Committee of the Regions, the European Data Protection Supervisor, the European Ombudsman, etc.. Each institution may then recruit from the pool of candidates selected by EPSO.

EPSO was established on 26 July 2002 and became operational on 1 January 2003. EPSO headquarter is in Brussels.

The European Central Bank, European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund have their own selection procedures.

The EU’s agencies and decentralised bodies offer job opportunities, primarily for specialists. They may offer recruitment opportunities when no competition is running.

Some agencies are entitled to recruit from the EPSO CAST database contractual agents.