How the Junior Professionals Program makes an otherwise objective selection system become biased and unfair.
The European Commission is proud of its equal opportunity practices and fair selection/recruitment process, but this has recently come under fire after the launch of a controversial pilot recruitment program.
Labelled “discriminatory” by many trade unions inside the institutions, and opens the gate wide open to nepotism and favouritism, the "Junior Professionals Programme" (JPP) is causing quite a stir.
If you’ve been preparing for the Administrator exams, patiently moving through the long and arduous EPSO recruitment process, working your hardest to get on a Reserve List so you can finally start applying for real EU jobs - now’s the time to express your indignation about this new program.
In short, the JPP allows a select “sub-group” of candidates to apply for a sweet deal, giving these preferred candidates a fast-track route to Administrator (AD5) positions.
Let’s take a look at some of the details to get a clear picture of what’s really going on.
Limited Selection Pool Handpicked by Director Generals
In theory, the JPP is available to those who have a maximum of three years professional experience and already work at the European Commission as either a blue book trainee, a contract agent in Function Group IV, a Temporary Agent (AD), or an AD official.
However, in reality, only the candidates handpicked (!) by the Directorate Generals will be allowed to progress on to the selection process: each DG will have a chance to select up to 5 candidates and only those selected will be allowed to participate in the process.
No Reserve List
Candidates that undertake an EPSO competition go through a highly competitive selection process, where only the 'crème de la crème' make it onto a Reserve List. Making it onto a Reserve List is an outstanding achievement, though it still doesn’t guarantee an EU job. Then the hard slog starts, of trying to land an EU position by the time the Reserve List expires.
You guessed it: the JPP works very differently. Up to 40 candidates will be selected to participate in the JPP, with a guaranteed 24-month contract, starting in November 2018 as an AD5 Temporary Agent.
After the end of the second year, participants will have the opportunity to sit a general internal competition to access the EU public service. No one knows yet what type of "internal competition" this will be or how greatly it will advantage (yet again) the select few that can participate.
Cherry-Picking The Favourites
The JPP has been designed to favour certain individuals, giving them easy access to a job at the European Commission, while excluding everyone else. Essentially, Director Generals can propose favoured candidates, family members, friends etc. that they wish to offer a golden ticket to.
The application period closed on 19 June 2018. Now it’s in the hands of each Directorate General, Cabinet or any other service of the European Commission to select up to 5 applicants from at least two different categories (blue book trainees, contract agents FG IV, temporary agents AD, and AD officials) to progress on to the selection process.
A Farce Selection Process
The “usual” EPSO candidate sits a gruelling computer-based pre-selection test (CBT) when they undertake an EPSO competition and only those with the highest marks can progress to the next round.
For JPP candidates it appears that a pass mark is all that’s required to progress to the final selection stage. Let’s face it: the majority of candidates that participate in an EPSO competition attain a pass mark for each test they sit, but that’s not sufficient in a ‘classic’ competition as only the top percent get invited to the Etray and the Assessment Centre.
Those that successfully pass the CBT will be invited to a selection interview in Brussels in September. Not surprisingly, there is no demanding Assessment Centre to get through either in the JPP.
Securing Attractive Administrator Positions
Once the panel interviews conclude, the panel will select 30 Junior Professionals from temporary staff (blue book trainees, contract agents FG IV, temporary agents AD) and 10 from permanent staff (AD officials).
If the program is run twice a year (as we understand the plan is), that’s going to take a massive chunk out of potential positions available to those on the AD5 Reserve List. 80 Junior Professionals per annum translates into approx. 20% of all AD5 permanent positions up for grabs.
What Now?
From this brief overview, it’s easy to see, why this new program is unfair on so many levels.
Every aspect of this process has been designed to make it possible for the European Commission to exclusively select the people that they want and exclude everyone else.
With intense opposition and objection coming from the trade unions, it is unclear how this will play out, but the louder the protest the greater the impact.
Now’s the time to let European Commissioner Günther Oettinger and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker know that you object to this programme and demand that they uphold the equal opportunity values of the European Union.
At EU Training we believe that every EU citizen should be given the same opportunity to secure an EU job. That’s why our ultimate mission is to support you with the right tools to succeed in the selection process, so you can land your dream job at an EU institution.
It is also our mission to keep candidates fully informed and support campaigns that ensure every candidate gets the same equal and fair treatment.