Just do it without putting a big burden on expectations on it. It's a remote test, do it without stressing. The good things about this exam is that you can do it without leaving your job to do so. If it doesn't go well, there are more competitions to come at the UE or elsewhere. You could find a more secure job and at the same time try these kind of remote tests. I am 40, I have a secure job now that I don't hate but I don't love either. As you did,  I've spent years and years studying and more years chasing a dream job that didn't happen. I finally settled for plan B because I was tired of putting my life plans on hold but nothing stops me for trying EPSO's exams now. Who knows? I just don't put my life on the line anymore. It can still happens. And if it doesn't it's OK. Your job doesn't define yourself. And you could find along the way something that you desire even more. I hope this was helpful :)

Hi, if you passed a CAST, you can't sit waiting until somebody sends you an e-mail or calls you: that will rarely happen. You have to actively search for available posts in that CAST field, either in the announces here or in EPSO (and LinkedIN, for instance) and apply to absolutely everything, with full dedication and motivation. It is a tiring and burdensome process, and very frustrating: I've been there and I know, but eventually someone will notice. You will probably get hired by the EU when you're in another job: it's Murphy's Law :-) The EU wasn't interested in my profile for DECADES until I was well in my forties and I had had all possible job experiences, and I'm a woman. There's no ageism and no sexism in the EU (in my experience) and I love it for this. You're only in your thirties, how can you believe you're old for this? You're only old for this if you're very near your retirement age.

No, it's not too late for you to try. As many other forum posts on here have said, many people start their careers with the EU institution even in their forties. And I'm even older than that, and I'm doing the competitions, so read into that what you will. 

You are definitely NOT too late. I know for a fact someone with very poor accolades including very poor level of English and limited relevant work experience - who got in through the cheeky way in their 40s and within 2 years are now Head of Sector in an EU agency. I know this is not the norm and surely not how it should be, but yes, it happens!

Well that would be pure discimination. My conviction from own experience and from what I have witnessed first hand: It is never too late, each and every one of you/us are more than capable to apply and succeed, things do not of course always appear fair (quite the contrary, sadly) but all processes are legitimate and transparent. Some people are just luckier than others; there is a randomness element in all of this. I have known people getting selected off a reserve list straight after completing an interim placement and others getting selected after 10 years of waiting (on many different reserve lists which had expired in the meantime). Once the latter enter the arena - with all their professional experience and accolades -  the former who started off junior are by then senior management of some sort. There are also the cases that interims waited and waited and waited and their dream never materialised. Keep trying and keep applying whether in your 40s or 50s, if this is what you really want to do. You will be an asset in any case. Please do not be defeatist; I know sometimes it looks as verging on the impossible but a positive outcome can and does happen. 

I've heard that the only age limit is being at exactly the age you are supposed to retire, that is, in your late sixties or seventies, but I haven't found this information confirmed anywhere. I honestly think there's no age limit. In Luxemburg I once shared a flat with two people in their late fifties: they had just become civil servants 'out of the blue', first time they had ever done a competition (but it was a specialist competition, that is, they were experts in the field, and there were very few candidates, which didn't make the competition less difficult, really). There are thousands of success and failure stories out there -what's important here is that the EU doesn't become an obsession or your only option, because you might get very disappointed too. There's life outside the EU.