The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is the interinstitutional office responsible for recruiting staff for the institutions, agencies and bodies of the European Union, including the Parliament, the General Secretariat of the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the Committee of the Regions, the Economic and Social Committee, the Data Protection Supervisor, the External Action Service and the Ombudsman. It does this by organising open competitions, known as the concours, the results of which permit it to draw up reserve lists of suitable candidates from which the institutions may then recruit. These open competitions are the gateway to permanent careers in the European civil service. On average, EPSO receives around 60,000-70,000 applications a year with around 1,500-2,000 successful candidates. Testing is carried in all 24 official languages of the Union, a unique system in the world. In addition to the permanent postings, EPSO manages a database of over 70,000 registered candidates for approximately 800 annual contractual positions (CAST).
Organisation Created in July 2002 and assuming full operational responsibilities in January 2003, EPSO is administratively attached to the European Commission - from which it receives its budget - but is governed by an interinstitutional management board, its highest decision-making body. This management board, which comprises one member per institution, approves the operational and organisational rules, as well as the principles governing selection policy. Its mandate is laid down in its Founding Decision from 2002: to organise 'open competitions with a view to securing the services of officials on optimal professional and financial terms' for the EU institutions. In 2026, the annual budget of EPSO amounts to €29.39 million, financed under the administrative expenditure of the Commission.
Selection policy
Open Competitions The selection of staff is based on a system of open competitions. They are organised by EPSO for permanent positions as career civil servants, and for a limited number of fixed term contracts in accordance with the Staff Regulations of the EU institutions, on the basis of harmonised criteria. EPSO cannot consider any application or CV submitted outside the framework of an official competition or selection procedure.
The details of an open competition are set out in a Notice of Competition, which is published in the Official Journal of the European Union and made available on the EPSO website. The Notice includes information on the selection criteria, the job profile and duties involved, the number of places on the reserve list, the qualifications and experience required, and the format of the tests at each stage of the selection process. EPSO runs competitions targeted towards both generalists (e.g. graduate administrators) and specialists (e.g. architecture, artificial intelligence, audit, cybersecurity, data management and data knowledge, data science, electrical engineering, financial management, ICT, international affairs, lawyer-linguists, taxation, translation). To reach a wider range of candidates in the Member States, additional information about open competitions may be published in the national press, specialised press or electronic media. EPSO also participates in recruitment fairs for graduates in the Member States.
The schedule of current and planned competitions is available on the EU Careers/EPSO Website.
Selection Criteria The eligibility requirements for EPSO selection procedures vary depending on the profile sought. In general, EU citizenship and thorough knowledge of a EU language plus satisfactory knowledge of a second official EU language are required.
Profiles sought The majority of EU staff is made up of permanent civil servants, who are selected through a series of competitive examinations, commonly known as an open competition, which are organised by EPSO. However, many senior staff are recruited from outside the EU civil service.
The EU institutions also employ staff on a temporary basis and these are also selected by means of tests organised by EPSO.
The staff of the EU institutions fall into one of the following categories:
Permanent officials Permanent staff is divided into three categories: administrators (AD), assistants (AST) and assistants-secretaries (AST-SC)EU Staff Regulations , retrieved 2021-01-28
The work at the EU Institutions covers a huge range of areas and types of work. Graduate level administrators' work include formulating and negotiating draft EU laws, managing EU-wide programmes, or administering aid projects in the developing world. Equally, employees might also be participating in a specific scientific research programme, or for example, drafting the decision of the European Court of Justice or the European Ombudsman.
Assistants and Assistants-Secretaries contribute to implementing policies in various areas of EU activities or are responsible for secretarial and clerical work and ensuring the efficient operation of an administrative unit. They also play an important role in the internal management of the Institutions, notably in budgetary and financial affairs, HR, IT or librarianship.
Contract agents EPSO also organises the selection of contract agents, who are employed for a temporary period with an initial contract running for a maximum of three to six years, depending on the type of the contract. Contract agents are recruited, for example, to do manual or administrative support–service tasks or provide additional capacity in specialised fields where officials with the required skills are not available.
Temporary agents EPSO does not organise the selection of temporary agents. The institutions' vacancy notices and employee profiles are published on the EPSO Website and sent to the Permanent Representations of the Member States. Temporary agents may be employed to perform a range of highly specialised or temporary tasks for a maximum period of six years.
Career opportunities The European Civil Service offers a range of career opportunities throughout the European Union institutions. The majority of graduate opportunities are in administration and management, giving staff the opportunity to work in a variety of policy areas throughout their career. Each Notice of Competition provides a detailed description of the expected job content and qualifications or experience sought.
A job may involve participating in the EU legislative processes such as drafting a new legislation to tackle climate change, shaping EU's Energy policy, interpreting and applying EU law, analysing European markets to ensure free and fair competition, participating in operations providing humanitarian aid or monitoring the application of the Lisbon strategy to achieve the growth of the European knowledge based economy. Scientists and researchers form an important base for developing the EU's research and technological development policy. As in any international and multicultural organisation, the support tasks of Human Resources, Financial Management, IT and linguists are very challenging and important for the working of the institutions.
There are 24 official languages in the European Union; and so a variety of career opportunities are available to linguists (translators, interpreters, as well as lawyer-linguists (legal translators)), for example, interpreting the President of the European Parliament, the commission and allowing the citizens to read EU legislation, Court decisions and the European Parliament or the European Council debates in their mother tongue around the European Union.
Assistants may become administrators through an internal certification process and take on more responsibilities.
Selection process The selection procedures were reformed in 2010. The structure of each competition and the types of tests are described in detail in the Notice of Competition. After each stage in the competition, only the highest scoring candidates (usually a pre-determined number in the Notice) who have achieved a pass mark are admitted to the next stage.
When a competition is published, EU citizens are invited to apply electronically by creating their own EPSO account directly on the EPSO website. All communication with candidates is done electronically through their EPSO account. EPSO normally organises pre-selection tests in specialised test centres worldwide; therefore, candidates may select their preferred testing location at the time of online registration. The assessment phase is usually held in Brussels or Luxembourg.
A Selection Board, made up of representatives of the institutions and staff representatives, is responsible for approving the content of the questions and evaluating candidates at written and oral stages of the competition.
EPSO ensures that its selection procedures are fair and effective. In particular EPSO applies a policy of equal opportunities throughout the selection process. EPSO also ensures that applicants' personal data are processed in compliance with the rules on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data (Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000).
Stages of the competition The selection procedure for permanent officials normally begins with Computer Based Testing (CBT) that comprises multiple-choice tests assessing candidates' knowledge of the European Union, and numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning skills and situational judgement.
Depending on the profile sought, intermediary tests can be organised, such as translation tests, E-tray, and Talent Screener (an in depth analysis of the candidates' files based on a series of specific questions).
In the assessment centre, there is normally a case study, oral presentation, group exercise and a competency-based interview. EPSO does not organise courses to prepare for the different stages of the competitions but candidates can follow the courses from companies where they have the chance to simulate the different tests.
For contract agents, the pre-selection stage is similar to that of the open competitions for permanent staff and consist of verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning. In addition, candidates may be asked to sit a third test to ascertain their specific competences relevant to the profile of the competition.
Recruitment Recruitment is the sole responsibility of each individual institution. EPSO's task is to deliver and manage the reserve lists of qualified successful candidates. At the end of the selection process the highest-scoring candidates are placed on a reserve list for consideration by the institutions for specific vacancies. These reserve lists are published in the EPSO website and are normally valid for one to three years, with the possibility of extension.
Language regime In its judgment of 24 September 2015 (joined cases T‑124/13 and T‑191/13), the Court found EPSO's linguistic regime objectionable on the two grounds raised by the Italian and Spanish governments. Firstly, it held that it was unacceptable for EPSO not to communicate with candidates in languages other than the three working languages. In essence, the Court expects EPSO to ensure that candidates are able to submit their application in any of the 24 Official EU Languages and any EPSO correspondence with applicants must also be in the language they chose for their application. Secondly, the Court also annulled the requirement to choose English, French or German as the second language of the selection (essentially the language of the Assessment Centre phase). This again has been viewed as discrimination on the basis of language.