To be employed in EU institutions, candidates must undergo an extensive selection process regardless of the level of responsibility of the specific position.
At the end of May, applications for management positions AD9 and AD12 closed. A total of 603 candidates applied for the 35 available positions.
The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) announced several competitions in 2012 and 2013, opening up employment opportunities for Croatian citizens in various EU institutions, primarily in the European Commission, the Council, and the European Parliament. Following the competitions for Croatian translators, interpreters, lawyer-linguists, editors, assistants, and administrative officers at the AD5 level, applications for the management positions AD9 and AD12 in the fields of economics, law, and public administration have recently closed. An additional competition for Croatian translators will be announced on June 20.
EPSO is the service of EU institutions that centrally conducts competitions for the recruitment of new staff in EU institutions. Competitions are generally held once a year for administrator positions, which require a high level of education, and for assistants who perform auxiliary tasks such as administrative secretaries, IT technicians, etc. Since the competitions are open to all EU citizens, and given that EU institutions are considered desirable employers due to the working conditions they provide, it is common for several tens of thousands of candidates to apply, making the selection process quite complex and relatively lengthy (up to a year.)
Croatia is in a favorable position due to its imminent accession to the Union, as it is expected that a certain number of Croatian officials will start working in the institutions at the time of accession. The ongoing competitions are exclusively reserved for citizens of the Republic of Croatia, which significantly reduces competition compared to future EPSO competitions. This opens up opportunities for Croatian citizens to be employed in EU institutions at almost all levels of responsibility, not just in assistant roles and entry-level administrator positions.
All candidates can expect tests that in the first phase include elimination tests of verbal and numerical reasoning. Since candidates for employment in Croatian institutions and companies do not undergo such rigorous selection processes, potential applicants are advised to familiarize themselves with the content and types of tasks. To this end, preparatory workshops are being held in Zagreb, which provide participants with a practical approach to the types of tasks and familiarize them with effective problem-solving techniques.
