r/EUCareers

I finally signed a job offer after applying and reaching out since February.
thought I'd write some tips from my personal experience because I tried everything and was desperate. For context (foreigner, but got my masters in the UK ).

my early mistakes: just applying without customizing my CV for each role and without reaching out or following up.

after hundreds of "unfortunately", I started customizing my CV for each role (I did not use any paid tools here, just ChatGPT with a don't make it feel like it was ai generated instruction) too much work ik but worth it. Also (and this is the best tip I wish I knew earlier), LOOK FOR MANAGERS AND EMPLOYEES YOU FEEL THAT THEY HAVE A WORD IN THE COMPANY, you can usually find them in the job description or have "manager" "director" in their job title. Send them a LinkedIn request, if they accept, >90% of the time you can see their email in the contact info in their profile, shoot them a very short email (one or two sentences) asking for a call or advise.

Finally, I caved and tried a couple paid tools too, ngl, but I only liked these 2 (not affiliated, no ad, they don't even know I exist):

PitchHired (finds hiring managers and generates personalized outreach emails)

Simplify (application autofill).

One final tip for non UK residents mainly, apply more to startups ☻.

Hope this helped, good luck!

When it comes to the recruitment, evaluation or promotion of its agents, do the various EU institutions, bodies and agencies favor the use of British English (more generally, a European version of English) over American English (or Australian, South African English)?

I want to know whether I should invest some time "europeanizing" my English for EPSO tests. Thanks

has anyone already been contacted for an interview?

I know several people getting a call before being officially shortlisted telling them that they are the preferred candidate. Is it a usual practice? Are there a lot of people who have been contacted this way? Is it possible to be the first choice without receiving a call?

Any advice for the JPP preselection interview? Could someone that has gone through the process tell me what kind of questions are usually asked? Thank you!

Hi! I haven’t been short-listed for the Schuman traineeship yet (and maybe it’s over for October 2026) buuut, do I still have some hope left?🥲
Someone said it’s possible to be shortlisted between July 1 and July 15. Thank you and congratulations for those who have been selected!

Hi! Has anyone accepted traineeship within Luxembourg / currently / previously and have any advice on accommodation?

I gave an OA today, the dsa one I managed to pass only 7/15 and the development one passed all tests, would there be any chances of interview!??

Job Id-10408763

An sde reached out to me on LinkedIn for the role...

(I'm based in India, job location is London)

Most shortlists seem to have been released on July 1st. Has anyone already received an offer? Feel free to share which unit and when you heard back!

Has someone already received an offer from Schumann traineeship at EP? If yes, can you please share when and specify which DG🙏

Hi all! For those of you who got shortlisted and are currently filling out the personal info / documents section, I have a question about the degree upload.

My Master’s is still ongoing, so I don’t have a certificate for it yet. My highest completed degree is my Bachelor’s. The form seems to want proof of academic qualifications, but I’m not sure if:

1. I should just upload my Bachelor’s certificate (my only “official” one so far), or
2. I should also include a screenshot from my university portal showing my Master’s progress (though it’s not formatted nicely, just a plain grades page)

Did anyone else run into this? What did you end up submitting? Don’t want to get flagged for incomplete docs over something like this. Thanks in advance!

I'm trying to figure out how to get into the portal but i always got a dead loop with GDPR (avg EU reliability, for shure).

Anyone with this problem find a feasible solution?

Hi everyone,

​I’m a recent graduate (AI/Security background) needing some objective advice between two 1-year traineeships starting this October.

​Option 1: eu-LISA (Strasbourg)

-​Status: Official offer (deadline to accept is in a few days).

-​Pros: Good traineeship salary + relocation and the interviewers were nice.

-​Cons: The role is Network Infrastructure/ITIL. It’s a bit more physical (data center, Layer 2/3, firewalls) than the software/AI engineering I’m used to.

Option 2: Eurocontrol (Brussels)

-​Status: Verbal offer (Mentor says I'm his #1 choice, but HR won't send the official offer until late July).

-​Pros: Amazing tech stack (RAG pipelines, LLM APIs, agentic AI). The mentor is incredibly supportive.

-​Cons: The pay is only €1,350/month, which seems very tight for Brussels.

​My Dilemma: Do I take the official, well-paying eu-LISA offer, even if the day-to-day tasks are more traditional networking/IT infrastructure rather than cutting-edge AI?

​Also, if anyone has personal experience working at either eu-LISA or Eurocontrol, I would love to hear your thoughts on the work culture and day-to-day life! Any insights would be hugely appreciate.

Hi!

I currently work in the private sector and saw a job opening in one of the European institutions for a contract/temp position that could strongly match my profile and be exactly in my field of expertise.

However, as an "expert", I also think the job description is pretty vague for someone in the field and could cover a few different specialties and specialised skills, some of which don't match my profile.

I remember reading in one of the EU job notices that you could be disqualified if you tried to reach out to someone from the recruiting team? Or did I dream this?

In my field in the private sector, it's not a good look if you apply blindly to a position without trying to reach out to someone from the recruiting team to get to know more about the job, especially when the description is a bit vague. I saw the position was posted by some people from said institution on LinkedIn.

Is reaching out to someone from the team/organisation something you can do for European jobs or can it exclude you from the competition?

hello! should i be concerned that i still haven’t heard back from any of the positions i applied for? timeline is july 1st-july 15th but seeing some people got pre-offers/interviews worries me.

thanks!

I’m a student now finishing my bachelor. I currently work full-time at a Big 4 firm — the job is comfortable, fully remote, decent, and I know the environment. Honestly though, I don’t love it. Day to day I don’t feel like I’m learning or growing much. But it’s safe and relatively easy.

I just got offered a traineeship at the EIB (Luxembourg,~5–6 months). The interview was amazing, the people were brilliant and passionate, the work sounds genuinely exciting. It’s the kind of opportunity that doesn’t come around often.

Here’s my dilemma:

1.The allowance (\~€1,500/month) won’t cover living costs in Luxembourg, so I’d actually be spending down savings.
2.My plan is to start a master’s in Sept 2027. The traineeship ends well before that, so I’d come back and need to fill \~7 months with *some* job before leaving again which feels hard and messy to arrange as well as uncertain given that I have to find a job only to leave it after 5 months
3.This is also probably the last year my close friends are all still around before everyone scatters for their own master’s. Part of me really wants a calm, stable year with them.I haven’t had a single non-chaotic year in a long time and I think I need the rest.

So it’s basically: rare, exciting, CV-boosting opportunity (with real financial + logistical + timing costs) vs. a comfortable but unfulfilling year that gives me savings, my friends, and breathing room before grad school.

I have to decide in 3 days. I keep going in circles.

For those who’ve done EU institution traineeships (EIB/ECB/Commission) or made a similar call early-career: how much did it actually pay off later? Is a 5-month traineeship worth uprooting your life and savings for, or is the “great opportunity” more prestige than substance at this stage?

TL;DR: EIB traineeship (exciting, expensive, logistically messy) vs. comfortable remote Big 4 job (boring but stable + friends + savings) before a 2027 master’s. Worth it?

Hi everyone,

I have been offered a contract staff (FG IV) position in one of the DGs. The initial contract is for one year, and the renewal is subject to the interest of the service. I currently work in the private sector in Brussels and earn the same salary. So my incentive is for long-term career goals (becoming later temporary or permanent civil servant):

• how easy is it to renew a contract staff position ?
• during the contract staff duration, can you apply to EU Commission internal competitions to become permanent ?
• how easy is it to convert a contract staff role to a temporary agent ?

Thanks in advance for your replies and help to a confused person.

Hello, I have the PACs, but I see in the regulations that for the household allowance I must be married, because PACS, per se, doesn't count (unless marriage is illegal in my country for gay people, which is not). Is it really like this? Or PMO also considers that PACS can get the household allowance?

Also, what should be the max salary of my partner to be able to access the household allowance?

Thank you!

Today is the day they were supposed to contact the applicants but I've got nothing.