Hello candidates or laureats!
I waas a candidate at the ast '15 competition but not a laureate! I'd kindly ask you about your opinion on results as they are out of today. I am very disappointed but I'd like first read some other opinions and then I'll tell you what I mean. I don't want to prejudice anyone with my opinion...
Hello marykit!
First of all I'd like to cheer you up for other competitions. Reaching the AC phase is an important achievement and this experience will help you for the future.
As a laureate, I have to say I am satisfied with my results. I studied hard: Practising drafting skills which were corrected by native speakers; Reading the whole Financial Regulations and its Rules of Application; Reviewing many books in English about finance, accountancy... ; Investing a lot of time practising questions for the interview and guessing what they expected from every competency... Therefore, I feel that my effort was rewarded with my final score.
Our competency passport is a consequence of our performance in three or four exercises. There are many factors which may infuence our results: nerves, fatigue, examiners' attitude, design of the etray exercise... There are some variables out of your control, but you must minimise the negative effect of others on you. Essentially, you must do your best during all the time you are in the AC.
This is my opinion about the results.
Congratulations, I'm trully happy for you, especially because I know what a relief would be for me if I had succeded. It's nice to get a reward for your efforts and I wish you the best in the future.
Me for myself, my only preparation was around the finance part - which was accounting actually. I was studying my books over again but it did not contribute anything because I studied finance, not accounting! Anyway I was good at this part -I guess- scored: 22. I did no other kind of preparation and drafting and e-tray was more than ok.
On the other hand, I am quite unhappy for the interview as it is the only part not to get even the pass mark... This is very disappointing because to my opinion it is the most biased or subjective part of this -or any- competition. You know we were supposedly evaluated by e-tray and interview to certain competencies. For e-tray I was above pass and higher, for interview way below... Accidentally... And by circumstances... Just luck... Errmm no, not easy to understand and to believe! What I mean is that this part is totally useless and ineffective...
There are some other points that I could mention but anyway... No big deal I guess... In addition I totally agree with your point of view to what a competition can be like and the factors you mention etc.
With all my heart, I wish you the best :-) Good luck
I really appreciate your good wishes.
I cannot agree more with your point of view about the interview. There are some interviewers who should take into account that there are candidates who travel hundreds (in my case, thousands) of kilometers to be in the AC who are not used to have interviews in their second language. It's likely the candidates are anxious and exhausted because those minutes are very important for their careers. The job of the interviewers is not making the candidates more relaxed, but, at least, they should avoid making them more nervous, preventing them to do their best. There are some techniques to make you more confident and forget about the examiners: take relaxing pills, look at the nose instead of the eyes (it's impossible to notice the difference...), speak slowly to articulate words correctly... And, what is more important, preparing many situations and follow-up questions (what makes you convincing or not) is essential.
It's a shame you didn't pass after doing quite well at Finance Skills Tests, Etray and Drafting Skills. This is a valuable experience for the future, you will see!
Hello Dario,
Congratulations for being in the reserve list. I am also in the reserve list. Are you based in Brussels (or close
to Brussels)? If yes, we could meet to plan our next steps.
I agree with M.It was my first time on AC and I scored well enough on all tests except for the interview. And that not because I was nervous, but because 2 interviewers who had both a terrible English accent (one french & one belgian) were asking questions I wasn’t able to get them in the first place and I had to continuously asking them to repeat them. They got frustrated I imagine and I got a 3 in communication competency!!!
Come on they treated me like I was being autistic or something...What you have to do to get a 3 on that...I mean if you dont say a word you got a 1 I imagine
For me communication is to be able to express your ideas clearly and if it was someone there who didn’t have communications skills they were those 2 guys. (I forgot to mention that I live in the States and I got a 10 in the drafting skills)
And believe me I worked hard on questions for a couple of weeks.
Very frustrating and clearly very biaised.
I have this feeling that if I would had another interviewers I would have been on the reserve list
Hello Louise,
I'm far away based in Brussels, but if you give me your email we could share our impressions and ideas for the next stages.
Regards.
Hello Dario,
Sure, we could share some impressions/ ideas about the next steps. We could talk during the weekend in skype, if this is ok for you (my skype name is Stavroula Liakea. In the meantime, feel free to email me in
sliakea@yahoo.gr
Looking forward to hearing from you
Hello Louise,
I'm based in BXL. But first of all what are the next steps to take? Don't we have to wait untill agencies contact us?
kind regards
Hello HO,
In fact, I was told that it is better to contact the Head of Units. So it is a little bit a matter of networking. I do not know how valid is it.
We could meet to discuss in more detail.
Hello, congratulations to those who succeded. To those who haven't passed, don't give up and try next time, being in the AC phase it's a proud achievement. I'm waiting for the results of Field 1. Just for curiosity in wich language did you guys attended the AC?
Best regards,
Miguel
jimmysousaa@gmail.com
Moi, ingles :-P