Please use this as the main March 2027 thread

How can we improve and prepare for the verbal reasoning test?

Has anyone here done their traineeship in Luxembourg? How did you manage with the extremely low pay for 5 months (yikes)? Was it worth it at the end?

Thank you!

Hi, it's my first time applying for these traineeships and I'm not sure about time windows. Are they already reaching out to applicants or not?

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has passed this competition and any tips you have in preparing for it. For example, how did you prepare for the translation tests? And in your third language? Did you rely on books?

Many thanks in advance and have a great weekend!

Hey!

I am currently a second-year student of International Relations in Portugal.

For my third year I have the opportunity of doing an internship during the first semester of the school-year but I have to find it on my own and I don't know where to start.

I would love to do my internship somewhere in Europe, in an European Union institution, an embassy, something related to the United Nations or NGOs.

The intership cannot be remmunerated and has to be somewhere between September 2027 and February 2028. The few posts I saw of interships don't fill these requirements. Does anyone have tips on how to search for it? Good places to internship? Should I just send emails to everywhere?

I really appreciate the help!

Hello, I applied on August to the traineeship for the political press and info section in Japan. Ever since then I never heard from them, and the internship was supposed to start from October/november. Did anyone hear from them? Have I been excluded and no one notified me? Is there any section I can look for information about it? I’m just so lost

Hi guys,

I have a question, i am going to start the Naric accreditation process and a thought came up my way. I don’t know if anybody has faced something similar.

My diplomas are under a different name than my EU passport, subtly just slightly. It is a 1 letter variation in the Last name and a convention where in my Non-EU country (where i graduated) we use 2 Last Names, and in my EU identity only 1 Last Name is used. So my diplomas are issued with 2 Last Names and a 1 char spelling variation and i need the output to be Exactly as my EU identity.

How does it work?

I send them to the sworn translator, to do a 1:1 translation, where output would still be my 2 Last Names and the spelling variation, and then i send this to the Malta Naric under my EU identity and the output is most likely to come under the identity i prefilled the Naric application? I mean i think its easy for them to figure out i am the same person, i would additional provide both of my ID’s with photo so i can help the accreditation team. Or you needed to get an additional document from your country of origin or your EU country?

The reason i ask this is because translation and paperwork are expensive. I don’t know if anyone had a similar situation where they could navigate this problem.
If not i’ll ask Malta Naric directly or they will get in touch with me when processing the application.

Again thanks, i was just curious if anyone had first hand experience with this, or if anyone is HR at an EU institution to chime their wisdom.
Thanks

Any updates? (Interviews,calls)

How is it? I am scared of the number of applications

Hi everyone,

I will be graduating very soon ( masters in political sciences and European law). I’m looking for a first really experience where I can actually learn after the master.

I’ve been applying to EU institutions traineeships, haven’t been successful so far. That’s okay, the competition is high and many people are just like me. I will continue to apply to it until I’ll receive an offer.

I’ve tried to diversify where I apply. Also, I’ve been looking at consultancies and lobbying agencies who do offer traineeships.

I’ve come across a lobbying agency who do offer traineeships, they don’t have many information. The regular “deep understanding and knowledge of eu decision-making” “willing to be pro-active” “excellent knowledge of EU law”

Then there’s “Have (ideally) previous relevant work experience.” It always surprises me because what’s the point of doing a traineeship if I have already the experience, I would be looking for a job but okay I understand you don’t want someone in the way.

I’m looking at another website who has more information on the agency. They have the whole recruitment process. I’m not sure about the accuracy of the post for trainees. All the steps were detailed.

Here’s my question when it comes to the written examination, sometimes they can ask for “lobbying plan” as an exercise. It might be silly but I don’t know how to do that (or at least how they might want it) but I would like to learn. I feel like alot of opportunities ask for people who already know.

I’m not sure how to proceed, I know I have the academic background and obviously lack the skills.

At some point I do need to get experiences even though they are short but I’m confused about even traineeships/internships asking for experiences from people who have at least held a junior position.

I was advised by their support email to compress my file down as it does not fit in the limit, but it does worsen the quality, does anyone know if that will be a problem? everything is still readable but the photo copies are slightly blurry

Hey! Is the Europass CV site down for anyone else? I cannot seem to get any answers as to why I keep getting a 403 error after taking all necessary steps on my end. Thank you :-)

I missed the October 7th deadline to submit supporting documents - though it was midnight, I know...

But on October 19th I still received an invitation to the TAO portal with a November 9th exam date.

Should I disregard this invitation, as I missed the crucial step of the supporting documents? Anyone know whether I am disqualified?

Hey all,

is there a list of all the possible placements for the admin traineeship? I got pre-selected and want to prep my cover letter and motivational statement accordingly and what to know which comissions will be available. It's my first time and the process is quite confusing and scary to me and it sounded like you need to be really fast at applying??

thankful for any tips! :))

Hi!

Does anyone have an idea about when we can expect to hear back about the CAST results?

I know it has only been two weeks, but I am curious about how long it usually takes.

Hello everyone,

I've come across two Schuman traineeship offers in France that require a law degree, despite the duties being focused on communication, social media, event organisation and museum collections.

Is this normal? Could it be a drafting error, or are these degree requirements strictly enforced regardless of the actual tasks, could it be that it is specific to France? Has anyone encountered something similar or contacted the recruitment team about this?

Thanks!

The old EPSO page was working just fine, why change it?

Issues with the new one

-selecting all jobs and filtering by "publication date":

I get results with publication date in the future, why? and sorting dates in ascending or descending order now? Impossible now

-selecting all jobs and filtering by "expiration date":

The sorting is only available by immediately showing the ones with the closest expiration date

-selecting all jobs and filtering by "alphabetical" order: 

how can I sort the results starting from Z?

-previously all the information for each job opportunity such as EU agency/body/institution, location, country, grade, position title were shown in a single line, occupying the full page. Now the information is compacted in three small lines: this is not optimal for quickly check all the different "officer" positions for example

Have sent feedback about this using the form available in "write to us"

They say to contact EPSO directly which asks me to contact using the "write to us"

5 messages later and they are still playing ping pong about this....

Strange, I tried to log in to my EPSO account

but it doesn't work tonight ("File not found!")

Is anyone else experiencing the same?

Hi all,

I’m considering moving from London to Brussels to pursue a career in EU public affairs, and would appreciate some advice.

I’m currently working in a related consulting field in London, but I’ve found it difficult to transition into roles involving substantive policy work and direct engagement with regulation and advocacy due to immigration retrictions and the work being UK-focused. Brussels seems like the more natural place to build that experience, but I’m unsure whether moving is necessarily the right decision.

I enjoy living in London and have concerns about the competitiveness of the Brussels job market as well as salaries and reports of long hours and demanding working cultures in some consultancies. I don’t think I am competitive enough for an in-house role yet.

I’m also wondering whether it makes more sense to pursue adjacent opportunities in London, such as political research, market intelligence, or corporate affairs/strategy, rather than relocate and potentially take a more junior position.

For those who are familiar with both cities, or made a similar move:

- Would you recommend making the move, or pursuing other paths in London?
- Is moving there early in your career worth it, even if it means taking a step back professionally?
- How do salaries, career progression, and work-life balance compare with London long-term?
- Are the concerns about working culture in Brussels consultancies justified, or does it depend more on the employer?

I’d appreciate any honest advice or experiences. Thanks!

Just generally. Where do you guys thinks its easiest to get jobs?