Notice of open competition — EPSO/AST-SC/02/14 — Internal security guards (SC 1)
Date: 2014-09-25
Institutions: European Personnel Selection Office
Subjects: EPSO, assistant, competition (EU), security services








CA2014334EN.01000101.xml










25.9.2014   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


CA 334/1





NOTICE OF OPEN COMPETITION
EPSO/AST-SC/02/14
INTERNAL SECURITY GUARDS (SC 1)
2014/C 334 A/01
 
The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is organising an open competition, based on qualifications and tests, to draw up a reserve list from which to fill vacant posts for officials at ‘AST-SC’ level as internal security guards (1) for the Council of the European Union.


Before applying, you should carefully read the General rules governing open competitions published in

Official Journal of the European Union

C 60 A of 1 March 2014 and on the EPSO website.




These rules are 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.


ADMISSION TO THE COMPETITION AND SELECTION BASED ON QUALIFICATIONS










VI.


OPEN COMPETITION










VII.


VERIFICATION OF THE INFORMATION GIVEN BY CANDIDATES










VIII.


RESERVE LIST




I.   GENERAL BACKGROUND













1.


Number of successful candidates sought







28











2.


How to apply






You must apply online, following the instructions on the EPSO website and particularly in the Online Application Manual.

Deadline (including validation): 28 October 2014 at 12.00 (midday), Brussels time.




II.   DUTIES

Working under the authority of the administrator or assistant in charge and following general instructions, the officials recruited will carry out management, executive and supervisory duties, such as:






—


performing identity checks and access control at the entrance to buildings and meeting rooms, as well as surveillance of buildings and installations of the institution;










—


intervening in situations that might compromise the security of persons and property and making security reports on all incidents;










—


assisting staff and delegations/visitors in the event of an emergency (fire, first aid, evacuation);










—


ensuring the protection of persons, property and classified information held by the institution;










—


ensuring protection and control in security zones during European Union meetings;










—


working as part of a team on a rotation basis in the Security Centre (CCTV and access control) 24 hours a day/7 days a week; monitoring the proper functioning of security equipment;










—


applying security guidelines;










—


helping to ensure good communication with services outside the security service (protocol, visits, etc.) as well as inside the service (internal, technical and risk management);










—


taking any initiatives necessary to ensure an uninterrupted, professional, courteous and creative service, in line with the institution’s expectations and under the authority of the immediate superior, and helping to handle any incidents;










—


dealing with and providing security support for investigations following incidents such as theft, loss, assault or any damage whatsoever.




Officials may be required to work day or night shifts, as well as at weekends and on public holidays.
Officials may also be required to carry and use weapons in the performance of their duties.
Anyone who applies accepts that they may have to undergo additional selection tests to prove their technical skills and also agrees to pass security checks and to go through the procedures of the host country to obtain a weapons licence. This is a prerequisite for enforcing security on Belgian territory and on the premises of the General Secretariat of the Council.
Application will be made for clearance for access to classified information as part of the recruitment procedure (see Annex I.III, OJ L 274, 15.10.2013: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32013D0488&from = FR).
III.   ELIGIBILITY


On the closing date for online applications, you must meet 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.










(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, diplomas and professional experience

Secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to higher education, followed by at least three years’ professional experience relevant to the nature of the duties.

OR

At least 10 years’ professional experience, at least 5 of which must be relevant to the nature of the duties.




2.2



Knowledge of languages
 (2)






Language 1




Main language (minimum level required: C1)

A thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union.





Language 2




Second language which must be different from language 1 (minimum level required: B2)

A satisfactory knowledge of English, French or German

Recruitment to the security service of the Council of the European Union requires a good understanding of both written and spoken French or English, as this is essential both for the purposes of the work and in dealing with outside parties.

In the light of the judgment handed down by the Court of Justice of the European Union (Grand Chamber) in Case C-566/10 P, Italy v Commission, the EU institutions set out below the reasons for limiting the choice of the second language in this competition to a small number of official EU languages.
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, English, French, and German are the most common second languages in the European Union and the most commonly studied as a second language. This confirms what is currently expected of candidates for European Union posts in terms of their level of education and professional skills, i.e. that they have a command of at least one of these languages. Consequently, in balancing the interests of the service and the abilities of candidates, and given the particular field of this competition, it is legitimate to organise tests in these three languages so as to ensure that all candidates are able to work in at least one of them, whatever their first official language. 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.
For the same reasons, it is reasonable to limit the language of communication between candidates and the institution, including the language in which application forms are to be drafted. Moreover, this ensures consistency when comparing candidates and examining their applications.
To ensure equal treatment for all candidates, everyone, including those whose first official language is one of the three, must take some tests in their second language, chosen from among these three languages.
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

These computer-based admission tests will be organised by EPSO only if the number of candidates exceeds a certain threshold. The threshold will be set by the Director of EPSO, as the appointing authority, after the deadline for applications. You will be informed of the threshold via your EPSO account.
If no admission tests are held, these reasoning tests will be held at the assessment stage (see Section VI.2).
The selection board decides on the difficulty of the tests set out in the table below and approves their content based on the proposals made by EPSO.













1.


Invitation






You will be invited to sit the tests if you have validated your application on time (see Section I.2).

NB:







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 reasoning skills:





Test (a)



Verbal reasoning


Marking: out of 20
Pass mark: 10





Test (b)



Numerical


Marking: out of 10





Test (c)



Abstract


Marking: out of 10




 


The aggregate pass mark for tests (b) and (c) is 10.










3.


Language of the tests






Language 1




V.   ADMISSION TO THE COMPETITION AND SELECTION BASED ON QUALIFICATIONS

1.   Procedure

Initially, the checks for compliance with the general and specific conditions and the selection based on qualifications are made using the information given in your online application.






(a)


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.










(b)


The selection board will then screen the candidates eligible for the competition on the basis of their qualifications to identify those whose profile (particularly their diplomas and professional experience) best matches the duties and selection criteria set out in this competition notice. This selection is carried out solely on the basis of the information provided in the ‘Talent Screener’ tab and takes place in two stages:






—


each selection criterion (see 2 below) is weighted between 1 and 3, according to how important the board considers it to be;










—


the selection board then examines candidates’ responses and awards 0 to 4 points for each one, according to the candidate’s qualifications. The points are then multiplied by the weighting for each question and added together to give an overall score.


If prior admission tests are organised (see Section IV), compliance with the general and specific conditions will be checked in descending order of the marks obtained, until the number of candidates set by the appointing authority

 (3)

is reached who:








—




have passed the admission tests with the highest marks, and












—




fulfil the conditions for admission to the competition.








Where a number of candidates tie for the last available place, they will all be included in the selection phase based on qualifications [see (a) and (b) above]. Online applications of candidates below the threshold will not be examined.










The selection board will then draw up a list of candidates in the order of the overall scores awarded. The number of candidates invited to the assessment tests (4) will not exceed three times the number of successful candidates sought (see Section I). The number to be invited will be published on EPSO's website (http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/eu-careers.info/).
2.   Selection criteria


For the selection based on qualifications, the following criteria will be taken into account by the selection board:







1.


Their professional experience in law enforcement, whether at national or international level, in the private or public sector.










2.


Professional experience in a Security Centre, in particular, with monitoring the smooth running of technical equipment.










3.


Professional experience of using firearms in the performance of their duties.










4.


Professional training related to self-defence techniques.










5.


First aid certificate.










6.


Professional experience of coordination between services outside security (protocol, visits, etc.) and services inside security.










7.


Professional experience of dealing with incidents.










8.


Professional experience of flexible working hours (24 hours a day/7 days a week).










9.


Professional experience of working in multicultural teams in the field of security.










10.


Professional experience of using IT office tools.




VI.   OPEN COMPETITION













1.


Invitation






If you are one of the candidates:






—


who, according to the information given in their online application, meet the general and specific conditions listed in Section III,

and











—


who obtained one of the highest scores in the selection based on qualifications,




you will be invited to attend the assessment tests (5), which will normally be held in Brussels (6)
over the course of one or two days.

If you are invited to the assessment tests, you must bring your full application file (signed online application form and supporting documents) with you (7).

Details: see point 2.1.7 of the General rules governing open competitions.










2.


Assessment tests






You will sit three types of assessment tests, the content of which is validated by the selection board:






—




Your reasoning abilities
 (if not already assessed in admission tests) will be assessed by means of:






(a)


a verbal reasoning test










(b)


a numerical reasoning test










(c)


an abstract reasoning test.














—




Your specific competencies
 which will be assessed by means of:






(d)


a structured interview on your competencies in the field, based on the information provided in the ‘Talent Screener’ tab of your application















—




Your general competencies

 (8) will be assessed by means of:






(e)


a structured interview










(f)


a situational judgement test.













These general competencies will be tested as shown in the following table:








 


Structured interview


Situational judgement




Analysis and problem-solving



x




x





Communicating



x



 




Delivering quality and results



x




x





Learning and development



x



 




Prioritising and organising



x




x





Resilience



x




x





Working with others



x




x




















3.


Languages for the assessment tests






Language 1 for (a), (b) and (c)
Language 2 for (d), (e) and (f)










4.


Marking and weighting







Reasoning ability







(a)


Verbal: marked out of 20
Pass mark: 10










(b)


Numerical: marked out of 10










(c)


Abstract: marked out of 10
Aggregate pass mark for tests (b) and (c): 10




Tests (a), (b), and (c) are eliminatory, but the marks are not added to the marks for the other assessment tests.

Specific competencies

Test (d): marked out of 100
Pass mark: 50

Weighting: 50 % of the overall mark


General competencies (tests (e) and (f))

Marked out of 10 for each general competency.
Pass mark:
3 for each competency, and

an aggregate of 35 out of 70 for all 7 general competencies

Weighting: 50 % of the overall mark





VII.   VERIFICATION OF THE INFORMATION GIVEN BY CANDIDATES

Following the assessment tests, and in the light of the results, the information given by candidates in their online applications will be verified against the supporting documents they have provided; this will be done by EPSO for the general conditions, and by the selection board for the specific conditions. 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.
The applications of candidates who have passed assessment tests (d), (e) and (f) with the highest aggregate marks will be verified in descending order of merit. Those candidates must also have passed reasoning tests (a), (b), and (c). Verification will continue until the number of candidates who are actually eligible reaches the number that can be placed on the reserve lists. The files of candidates below this cut-off point will not be examined.
VIII.   RESERVE LIST













1.


Candidates placed on the reserve lists






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






—


if you passed tests (a) to (f) and obtained one of the highest aggregate marks in assessment tests (d), (e), and (f) (9) (see number of successful candidates sought, Section I.1)










—



and if your supporting documents show that you meet all the eligibility requirements (see Section III).














2.


Classification






The list will be drawn up in alphabetical order.






(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)  See the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) — (http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/europass/home/hornav/Downloads/CEF/LanguageSelfAssessmentGrid.csp).

(3)  This number is the threshold referred to in the first paragraph of Section IV.

(4)  Candidates who are not invited to the assessment tests will be sent the results of their test and the weighting applied by the selection board to each question.

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

(6)  Organisational constraints may make it necessary to hold the reasoning tests in centres in the Member States, separately from the other assessment tests.

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

(8)  More information on these competencies can be found in point 1.2 of the General rules governing competitions.

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