Notice of open competition — EPSO/AD/255/13 — Croatian-language (HR) translators
Date: 2013-06-20
Institutions: European Personnel Selection Office
Subjects: Croatia, EPSO, competition (EU), translation








CA2013174EN.01000101.xml










20.6.2013   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


CA 174/1






NOTICE OF OPEN COMPETITION


EPSO/AD/255/13 — CROATIAN-LANGUAGE (HR) TRANSLATORS

(2013/C 174 A/01)
The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is organising the following open competition, based on tests, to constitute a reserve from which to recruit translators (1) (AD 5).
The purpose of this competition 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 270 A of 7 September 2012 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 TESTS











V.



TRANSLATION TESTS











VI.



ASSESSMENT CENTRE











VII.



RESERVE LISTS











VIII.



HOW TO APPLY





I.   GENERAL BACKGROUND














1.



Number of successful candidates sought







Option 1




Option 2






46




32






Successful candidates on these lists will be recruited in both Brussels and Luxembourg.












2.



Remarks







This competition includes two options. You may apply for only one of these options.


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.


This competition is intended for candidates who have a perfect command (2), both written and spoken, of Croatian (mother tongue or equivalent knowledge), and a thorough knowledge of their first and second source languages. If you do not have such a command, we would strongly advise you not to apply.

You should note in particular that this competition is primarily intended to ensure that the European Civil Service is adequately staffed to meet the needs of Croatian accession. This is essential if the principle of administrative continuity recognised by the courts of the Union is to be observed and if the smooth working of the European Civil Service is to be maintained. Preparatory steps to this end therefore need to be taken now, regardless of the outcome of the ratification process for the Accession Treaty and the regulations implementing it. The validity of the reserve list thus depends on ratification of the Accession Treaty by all the Member States. It is important to be aware that if the Accession Treaty is not ratified or if the implementing regulations do not enter into force, the selection process may be cancelled at any time and that if the process has already been completed, candidates entered on the reserve list cannot invoke any rights by virtue of that fact.




II.   DUTIES
AD 5 is the starting grade for a career as administrator — linguistic or other — in the European institutions.
The principal role of linguistic administrators (translators) is to enable the institution or body for which they work to accomplish its mission by delivering high-quality translations within the deadlines set and by providing linguistic advice.
The duties of a linguistic administrator (translator) include translation from at least two foreign languages into their main language as well as revision of such translations and terminology research. The often complex subject areas covered are generally of a political, legal, economic/financial, scientific or technical nature, encompassing all the European Union's areas of activity. Performing these tasks requires the intensive use of specific IT and other office-technology tools.
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, a citizen 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
A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma.





2.2.



Professional experience
No professional experience is required.





2.3.




Knowledge of languages






OPTION 1



 





Language 1









—



main language

perfect command of Croatian









Language 2









—



first source language

a thorough knowledge of one of the following languages:






—


EN (English), FR (French) or DE (German)













Language 3









—



second source language (must be different from Language 2)

a thorough knowledge of one of the following languages:






—


EN (English), FR (French) or DE (German)













OPTION 2



 





Language 1









—



main language

perfect command of Croatian









Language 2









—



first source language

a thorough knowledge of one of the following languages:






—


EN (English), FR (French) or DE (German)













Language 3









—



second source language (must be different from English, French or German)

a thorough knowledge of one of the other official languages of the European Union






Following the judgment given by the Court of Justice of the European Union (Grand Chamber) in Case C-566/10 P, Italian Republic v Commission, the EU institutions must state the reasons for limiting the choice of the second language in this competition to a small number of official EU languages.




Candidates are therefore informed that the second language options in this competition have been defined in line with the interests of the service, which require new recruits to be immediately operational and capable of communicating effectively in their daily work. Otherwise the efficient functioning of the institutions could be severely impaired.




It has long been the practice to use mainly English, French and German for internal communication in the EU institutions, and these are also the languages most often needed when communicating with the outside world and dealing with cases. Moreover, where candidates for competitions are free to choose their second language, these three are by far the most common choices. This confirms what is currently expected of candidates for European Union posts in terms of their level of education and professional skills, namely that they should be proficient in at least one of these languages. Consequently, in balancing the interests and needs of the service and the abilities of candidates, and given the particular field of this competition, it is legitimate to organise tests in the three languages so as to ensure that all candidates are proficient in at least one of them for the purposes of work, whatever their first official EU language.




To ensure equal treatment for all candidates, everyone — including those whose first official language is one of the three — must take the test in their second language, chosen from among these three. Assessing specific competencies in this way allows the institutions to evaluate candidates' ability to be immediately operational in an environment that closely matches the reality they would face on the job. None of this affects the possibility of later language training to enable staff to work in a third language, as required under Article 45(2) of the Staff Regulations.






IV.   ADMISSION TESTS
The admission tests are organised by EPSO and you will take 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.














1.



Invitation






You will be invited to sit the tests if you have validated your application on time (see section VIII).

Important:







1.


By validating your application you declare that you meet the general and specific conditions listed in section III.










2.


You must reserve a date to sit the tests; this must be done by the deadline notified to you via your EPSO account.















2.



Nature and marking of tests






A series of tests comprising multiple-choice questions to assess your general aptitudes and competencies as regards:





Test (a)



Verbal reasoning


Marking: this test will be marked out of 20.





Test (b)



Numerical reasoning


Marking: this test will be marked out of 10.
Pass mark: 4





Test (c)



Abstract reasoning


Marking: this test will be marked out of 10.




 


 


Aggregate pass mark for tests (a) and (c): 15





Test (d)



Language test


Marking: this test will be marked out of 10.
Pass mark: 5





Test (e)



Language test


Marking: this test will be marked out of 10.
Pass mark: 5











3.



Language of the tests






Language 2: tests (a), (b) and (c)
Language 1: test (d)
Language 3: test (e)




V.   TRANSLATION TESTS (3)














1.



Invitation to the tests






Translation tests will be used to assess your specific competencies






—


if you have obtained the pass mark in all the admission tests,










—


if you have obtained one of the highest aggregate marks for tests (a), (c), (d) and (e) (4), and










—


if the checks made on the basis of the information given in your online application (5) show that you fulfil the general and specific conditions listed in section III.




Admission test (b) is eliminatory, but the marks for the test will not be added to the marks from the other tests to identify the candidates to invite to the translation tests.
The number of candidates invited to the translation tests will be approximately 3 times the number of successful candidates sought that is indicated in the competition notice and it will be published on EPSO's website (http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/eu-careers.info/).
The translation tests will be held in test centres in the Member States and Croatia.











2.



Nature and marking of tests












(a)


A translation test from Language 2 to Language 1 (with a dictionary)










(b)


A translation test from Language 3 to Language 1 (with a dictionary)




Each translation test will be marked out of 80.
Pass mark: 40
If you fail test (a), test (b) will not be marked.




VI.   ASSESSMENT CENTRE
















1.



Invitation






You will be invited to the assessment centre, normally a one-day session in Brussels, if you obtain the pass mark and one of the highest marks in the translation tests. The marks obtained in these tests will be added to your marks for the assessment centre.
The number of candidates invited to the assessment centre, per option, will be approximately 2 times the number of successful candidates sought that is indicated in the competition notice, and it will be published on EPSO's website (http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/eu-careers.info/).











2.



Assessment centre






The role of the assessment centre is to assess your general competencies (6) in your first source language (Language 2), i.e. English (EN), French (FR) or German (DE), by means of the following exercises:






(c)


a structured interview










(d)


a group exercise










(e)


an oral presentation









Each general competency will be tested as follows:





 



Structured interview




Group exercise




Oral presentation





Analysis and problem-solving


 



x




x





Communication



x



 



x





Delivering quality and results



x



 



x





Learning and development



x




x



 




Prioritising and organising


 



x




x





Resilience



x



 



x





Working with others



x




x



 




Leadership



x




x



 











3.



Marking






Marked out of 80 for all general competencies (10 per competency)
Pass mark: an aggregate of 40 for all eight general competencies











4.



Weighting






An aggregate mark, based on all of your marks for the translation tests (specific competencies) and the assessment centre exercises (general competencies), will be calculated as follows:

Specific competencies: tests (a) and (b): 65 % of the overall mark


General competencies: exercises (c), (d) and (e): 35 % of the overall mark





VII.   RESERVE LISTS













1.



Candidates placed on the reserve lists






The selection board will place your name on the reserve list:






—


if you obtain the specified pass marks and are one of the candidates with the highest aggregate marks in the translation tests and the other assessment centre tests (7),










—


and if your supporting documents show that you meet all the eligibility requirements.




Supporting documents will be verified in descending order of candidates' marks 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. If verification shows that the information given by any candidate in their online application form (8) is not borne out by appropriate supporting documents, they will be disqualified from the competition.











2.



Classification






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




VIII.   HOW TO APPLY













1.



Online application






You must apply online, following the instructions on the EPSO website and particularly in the online application manual.

Deadline (including validation): 23 July 2013 at 12:00 (midday), Brussels time.











2.



Submission of application files







If you are one of the candidates invited to the assessment centre (9), you will have to bring with you 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 must be deemed also to constitute a reference to a person of the female sex.

(2)  Please consult the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) — (http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/europass/home/hornav/Downloads/CEF/LanguageSelfAssessmentGrid.csp) — minimum level required for the translator profile: Language 1 = C2, Languages 2 and 3 = C1.

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

(4)  Where a number of candidates tie for the last available place, they will all be invited to sit the translation tests.

(5)  This information will be verified against the supporting documents before the reserve list is drawn up (see section VII.1 and section VIII.2).

(6)  These competencies are defined in point 1.2 of the Guide to open competitions.

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

(8)  Information concerning the general conditions is verified by EPSO while information concerning the specific conditions is verified by the selection board.

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