The EU’s recruitment office is planning to split the selection process for more than 170,000 applicants seeking careers in the European civil service into two stages, the agency announced on Instagram.

A surge in applicants for the EU’s generalist entry examinations – exceeding expectations threefold – has forced the executive to split the procedure into two sessions to filter the candidates.

“Instead of sitting all tests at once, candidates will complete them in two separate sittings,” the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) told Euractiv.

The first part is expected to take place over a few weeks during October and November this year, while the second part would take place sometime in 2027 at a time that has yet to be announced – but expected during the first half of the year.

Ultimately, only 1,490 applicants will make it to the Commission’s reserve list allowing hopefuls to apply for jobs during the Commission’s internal hiring platform.

The plans were reported in April by Euractiv. But some member states said they would have preferred clearer communication from EPSO. “We would have appreciated a heads up from EPSO before they publish this news,” one EU diplomat said.

The split would leave the EU’s recruiting arm time to catch up with potential complaints and technical issues. With only some progressing to the next stage, the bureaucratic burden for EPSO would lessen for each stage.

Candidates who pass the initial part focused on verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning, will move on to the second round focused on EU-knowledge and digital skills in – and a written essay on EU affairs.

Normally, the general civil service exam was designed to run over a single day, with all applicants taking the test in one sitting.

Last week, Euractiv reported that Spain alongside other EU member states are suing the Commission over new hiring guidelines to even the geographical balance of the EU’s civil service. Belgium and France have joined the lawsuit in support of Spain. The Netherlands is supporting the Commission.

Almost half – 79,000 of the 174,000 applicants to the generalist exam – are Italians. Yet, the new hiring guidelines in question will only affect the 1,490 making it to the reserve list.

The exam is the first of its kind since 2019 as EPSO has been unable to organise large-scale online exams due to the pandemic and repeated IT difficulties.

Source: Euractiv.com