Notice of open competition EPSO/AD/235/12 — Croation-language (HR) lawyer-linguists (AD 7)
Date: 2012-06-21
Institutions: European Personnel Selection Office
Subjects: Croatia, EPSO, competition (EU), lawyer








CA2012180EN.01001801.xml










21.6.2012   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


CA 180/18





NOTICE OF OPEN COMPETITION EPSO/AD/235/12 — CROATION-LANGUAGE (HR) LAWYER-LINGUISTS (AD 7)
(2012/C 180 A/04)
The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is organising open competitions, based on qualifications and tests, to establish a reserve pool from which to recruit lawyer-linguists (1) (AD 7).

EPSO/AD/235/12 — Croatian-language (HR) lawyer-linguists (AD 7)

The purpose of these competitions is to draw up reserve lists from which to fill vacant posts in the institutions of the European Union.


Before applying, you should carefully read the guide to open competitions published in Official Journal C 315 A of 8 October 2011 and on the EPSO website.




This guide is an integral part of the competition notice and will help you to understand the rules governing the procedure and how to apply.


CONTENTS






I.



GENERAL BACKGROUND











II.



DUTIES











III.



ELIGIBILITY











IV.



ADMISSION TO THE COMPETITION AND SELECTION BASED ON QUALIFICATIONS











V.



COMPUTER-BASED PRELIMINARY TESTS











VI.



OPEN COMPETITION











VII.



RESERVE LISTS











VIII.



HOW TO APPLY





I.   GENERAL BACKGROUND













1.


Number of successful candidates by channel






‘Court of Justice’ channel


‘Parliament/Council’ channel




35


12










2.


Remarks






This competition includes two channels. You may apply for only one of these channels.
You must make your choice when you apply online and you will not be able to change it after you have confirmed and validated your online application form.
These competitions are intended for candidates who have a perfect command, both written and spoken, of the language of the competition (mother tongue or equivalent knowledge). If you do not have such a command, we would strongly advise that you do not apply.




II.   DUTIES






The European institutions recruit highly qualified lawyers, who must be able to translate often complex legal/legislative texts into the language of the competition from at least two other languages and check such texts. The work of a lawyer-linguist involves the use of standard IT and other office-technology tools.




‘Court of Justice’ channel
Translating legal texts (judgments of the Court of Justice, Court of First Instance, and Civil Service Tribunal, opinions of the Advocates-General, written pleadings of the parties, etc.) into Croatian from at least two official languages of the European Union; providing legal analysis in cooperation with the Registries and the other departments of the Court of Justice.


‘Parliament/Council’ channel
Follow-up of the legislative procedure and checking legislative texts in Croatian which have already been translated and revised for both linguistic and legal consistency with other language versions of the texts; checking the quality of the drafting and compliance with the formal rules on layout. Frequent contact with the various participants in the legislative procedure.
Occasionally translating short legal texts, particularly from English or French.




III.   ELIGIBILITY

On the closing date for online applications, you must fulfil all the following general and specific conditions:














1.


General conditions














(a)


You must be a citizen of one of the Member States of the European Union or, under the terms of Article 28(a) of the Staff Regulations for Officials of the European Union, of Croatia, an acceding country.










(b)


You must enjoy your full rights as a citizen.










(c)


You must have fulfilled any obligations imposed on you by the laws on military service.










(d)


You must meet the character requirements for the duties involved.














2.


Specific conditions








2.1


Qualifications
You must have a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a degree in Croatian law.
To determine whether a candidate has reached a level corresponding to completed university studies, the selection board will take into account the rules in force at the time when the degree was awarded.




2.2



Knowledge of languages





 



The official languages of the European Union are:





BG (Bulgarian)
CS (Czech)
DA (Danish)
DE (German)
EL (Greek)
EN (English)
ES (Spanish)
ET (Estonian)


FI (Finnish)
FR (French)
GA (Irish)
HU (Hungarian)
IT (Italian)
LT (Lithuanian)
LV (Latvian)
MT (Maltese)


NL (Dutch)
PL (Polish)
PT (Portuguese)
RO (Romanian)
SK (Slovak)
SL (Slovenian)
SV (Swedish)




Language 1:


main language
perfect command of Croatian




Language 2:


first source language
thorough knowledge of language 2




Language 3:


second source language (must be different from language 2)
thorough knowledge of language 3













‘Court of Justice’ channel


‘Parliament/Council’ channel










(a)


Language 1
perfect command of Croatian












(a)


Language 1
perfect command of Croatian














(b)


Language 2
thorough knowledge of English, French, German, Italian or Spanish












(b)


Language 2
thorough knowledge of English or French














(c)


Language 3 (must be different from language 2)
thorough knowledge of English, French, German, Italian or Spanish












(c)


Language 3 (must be different from language 2)
thorough knowledge of English, French, German, Italian or Spanish








Language 2 or language 3 must be French


Language 2 or language 3 must be English





NB: please note that tests (e) and (f) on your general competencies will be carried out in English, French, or German.




IV.   ADMISSION TO THE COMPETITION AND SELECTION BASED ON QUALIFICATIONS
1.   Admission to the competition
Your responses to the questions concerning the general and specific conditions will be processed to determine whether you can be included in the list of candidates who fulfil all the conditions for admission to the competition. Initially, compliance will be checked on the basis of the information you provided in the online application form.
2.   Selection based on qualifications
Where the number of candidates admitted is equal to or higher than 15 times the number of successful candidates sought per channel for each competition, the selection board will carry out a selection based on qualifications with a view to identifying, among the candidates admitted, those with the profile (for instance, diplomas and professional experience) most relevant to the duties and the selection criteria set out in this notice of competition. This selection is carried out solely on the basis of the information you provided in the ‘Talent Screener’ tab and takes place in two stages:






—


A first selection based on qualifications will be made solely on the basis of the responses ticked under the ‘Talent Screener’ tab of the online application form and the weighting assigned to each of the questions. The selection board will set the weighting (1 to 3) according to the importance attached to each criterion set out in point 4 below. The online applications of the candidates who obtain the highest number of points will then go through to a second selection stage.










—


The number of files to be examined during the second stage will be approximately six times the number of candidates who will be invited to the assessment centre for each channel. The selection board will examine the candidates' responses and will award 0 to 4 points for each response; the points are then multiplied by the weighting for each question.




The selection board will then draw up a list (2) of candidates in the order of the points awarded. The candidates who obtained the highest number of points (3) in the selection based on qualifications (a maximum of 15 times the number of successful candidates sought, for each channel, as indicated in this notice of competition) will be invited to take the preliminary tests. This number will be published on EPSO's website (www.eu-careers.info).
If the number of candidates admitted is less than 15 times the number of successful candidates sought, a selection based on qualifications will not be required and the selection board will invite all the candidates who satisfy the eligibility conditions to take the preliminary tests.
3.   Verification of information given by candidates
Following the tests held at the assessment centre, and in the light of the results, EPSO will verify the information given by candidates in their online application for compliance with the general conditions, while the selection board will do the same as regards the specific conditions and the criteria for selection based on qualifications (where applicable). In assessing qualifications, supporting documents will be taken into account only to confirm the information already given under the ‘Talent Screener’ tab. If verification shows that the information given is not borne out by the appropriate supporting documents, candidates will be disqualified.
Applications will be verified, in descending order of merit, for candidates with pass marks who obtained the best aggregate marks in the preliminary tests and the tests held at the assessment centre (see Sections V et VI). Verification will continue until the number of candidates who can be placed on the reserve list and who actually fulfil all the conditions for admission reaches the threshold. The files of candidates below this threshold will not be examined.
4.   Selection criteria
For the selection based on qualifications, the following criteria will be taken into consideration by the selection board:
‘Court of Justice’ channel






—


Proven experience in the field of legal translation










—


Professional experience in drafting legal texts










—


Experience in the field of law acquired:






—


in a law firm










—


as an in-house lawyer in a company










—


in a national administration or an international organisation














—


Relevance of the candidate's linguistic profile in relation to the language coverage requirements of the competition










—


Knowledge of additional official languages of the European Union (possibly attested by a certificate)




‘Parliament/Council’ channel






—


Experience in drafting legal texts acquired in a national administration










—


Experience in drafting court judgments acquired in a national court










—


Experience in the field of law acquired:






—


in a law firm










—


as an in-house lawyer in a company










—


in a national administration or an international organisation














—


Experience in transposing and implementing EU law










—


Post-graduate studies in a legal field relevant to the nature of the duties










—


Diploma attesting language training










—


Translation and/or revision experience




V.   COMPUTER-BASED PRELIMINARY TESTS






(a)


Translation into Croatian (language 1), without a dictionary, of a legal text in language 2.
This test will be marked out of 80 (pass mark: 40).
Time allowed: approximately two hours.










(b)


Translation into Croatian (language 1), without a dictionary, of a legal text in language 3.
This test will be marked out of 80 (pass mark: 40).
Time allowed: approximately two hours.




If you fail test (a), test (b) will not be marked.
The marks obtained in this test will count towards the final result together with the marks obtained in the tests held at the assessment centre.
VI.   OPEN COMPETITION














1.


Invitation






You will be invited to the assessment centre if you have obtained the pass mark and one of the highest (4) marks in the computer-based preliminary tests (a) and (b).










2.


Assessment centre






The role of the assessment centre is to assess the following competencies:






A.


Reasoning (5) by means of:






(a)


a verbal reasoning test










(b)


a numerical reasoning test










(c)


an abstract reasoning test














B.


Specific competencies






(d)


an interview to assess your specialist knowledge and language skills in the field of national law and European Union law; during the interview you will be asked to make an oral presentation.




and










C.


General competencies (6)







—


Analysis and problem-solving










—


Communicating










—


Delivering quality and results










—


Learning and development










—


Prioritising and organising










—


Resilience










—


Working with others










—


Leadership




These competencies will be tested by means of (7):






(e)


a structured interview










(f)


a group exercise.




You will be assessed, probably in Luxembourg, during a one and a half-day session.








Each general competency will be tested, as follows:




 


Structured interview


Group exercise




Analysis and problem-solving


 


x




Communicating


x


 




Delivering quality and results


x


 




Learning and development


x


x




Prioritising and organising


x


x




Resilience


x


x




Working with others


 


x




Leadership


 


x










3.


Language of tests






tests (a), (b), (c), (e) and (f): (English, French or German)
test (d): Croatian










4.


Marking






A.   Reasoning skills








(a)


:


verbal


:


marked out of 20




(b)


:


numerical


:


marked out of 10




(c)


:


abstract


:


marked out of 10




Tests (a), (b) and (c) are not eliminatory, and the marks will be added to those obtained in the assessment centre tests.
B.   Specific competencies






(d)


marked out of 20
Pass mark: 10




C.   General competencies
Marked out of 80 for all competencies (10 per competency)
Pass mark:






 


3 per competency and










 


an aggregate of 40 for all eight general competencies








VII.   RESERVE LISTS












1.


Candidates placed on the reserve lists






The selection board will place your name on the reserve list (8) (see the number of successful candidates, Section I.1) if you are among the candidates who satisfy all the conditions set out in Section IV.










2.


Classification






Lists will be drawn up for each channel and names will be listed in alphabetical order.




VIII.   HOW TO APPLY












1.


Online application






You must apply online by following the instructions on the EPSO website and particularly in the online application manual.
Deadline (including validation): 24 July 2012 at 12.00 (noon), Brussels time.










2.


Submission of application files






If you are one of the candidates invited to the assessment centre, you will have to bring with you (9) your full application file (signed online application form and supporting documents) when you come to the assessment centre.
Procedure: see point 6.1 of the guide to open competitions.






(1)  Any reference in this notice to a person of the male sex should be deemed also to constitute a reference to a person of the female sex.

(2)  Candidates who are not invited to the computer-based preliminary tests will receive the results of their assessment and the weighting assigned to each question by the selection board.

(3)  Where a number of candidates tie for the last available place, they will all be invited to the computer-based preliminary tests.

(4)  The number of candidates invited to the assessment centre will be approximately four times the number of successful candidates (per channel) indicated in the competition notice and it will be published on EPSO's website (www.eu-careers.info). Where a number of candidates tie for the last available place, they will all be admitted to the assessment centre session.

(5)  Depending on logistical constraints, the reasoning tests may be organised in test centres in the Member States and/or in Brussels, separately from the other assessment centre tests. The admission tests are organised by EPSO and you will do them on a computer. The selection board decides on the difficulty of the tests and approves their subject matter on the basis of proposals made by EPSO.

(6)  Details of these competencies can be found in point 1.2 of the guide to open competitions.

(7)  The content of these exercises is approved by the selection board.

(8)  Where a number of candidates tie for the last available place, they will all be placed on the reserve list.

(9)  You will be notified in good time via your EPSO account of the date when you have to attend the assessment centre.