Notice of vacancy CONS/AD/118
Date: 2015-10-23
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Coreper, European Council, administrator, competition (EU), consultancy, institutional cooperation, secretariat of an Institution








CA2015351EN.01000101.xml










23.10.2015   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


CA 351/1





Notice of vacancy CONS/AD/118
(2015/C 351 A/01)

GENERAL INFORMATION







Department


Department for General and Institutional Policy, Directorate 1 for General Policy (DGP)




Place of work


Brussels




Title of post



Director





Function group and grade


AD 14




Security clearance required


SECRET UE





DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS




6 November 2015






WHO WE ARE

The General Secretariat of the Council (GSC) assists the Council of the EU and the European Council. Its Department for General and Institutional Policy (GIP), which is directly attached to the Secretary-General and under the authority of a Deputy Director-General, provides the secretariat to the European Council (EC), the General Affairs Council (GAC) and the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper I and II) in addition to being responsible for interinstitutional relations and the ordinary legislative procedure (co-decision). GIP consists of two directorates: the Directorate for General Policy (DGP) and the Directorate for Interinstitutional relations (DRI). DGP, for which we are recruiting a Director, is in particular responsible for providing the secretariat to the EC, the GAC and Coreper and for coordinating the training of future presidencies. In general, it plays a key role in supporting the EC, the GAC and Coreper while handling politically sensitive files.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for a manager who will lead and motivate a team of close to 30 staff members in a legally and politically complex environment. Under the authority of the Deputy Director-General, the Director of DGP is in direct contact with and advises the cabinet of the President of the European Council (PEC), inter alia by coordinating briefs for the PEC, the SG and the chairs of Coreper I and II on both content and procedures. He/she has daily interaction with other GSC directors assisting Coreper in their specific domains. Candidates for the post are therefore required to have extensive knowledge of EU policies and institutional issues, and possibly experience in working with or in the rotating presidency. The successful candidate will be expected to represent the GSC horizontally in Coreper and to animate the network of directors in the GSC going to Coreper. He/she will also have to further develop the training programme for future presidencies which the GSC has established over the past few years. The job requires solid organisational and planning skills, an excellent sense of political and institutional issues and excellent interpersonal skills.
Given that the GSC encourages a culture of mobility of its managers, who should have a broad experience, candidates should therefore be willing and able to work in different areas of activity during their career at the GSC.

OVERALL PURPOSE OF THE JOB







—


Under the authority of the Deputy Director-General, manage his/her Directorate and advise in the areas within its remit










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Provide high-level policy and procedural advice, orally and in writing, to the European Council, the Council, Coreper and their Presidencies and to the Secretary-General on all aspects of dossiers falling within the Directorate’s remit










—


Assist the presidency in negotiations and ensure effective communication and cooperation with agencies and other bodies and institutions in this area





TASKS







—


Under the authority of the Deputy Director-General, manage his/her Directorate, organise its activities and support and motivate staff in their work










—


Define the objectives to be met and contribute to meeting them by establishing the Directorate’s work programme and ensuring the appropriate monitoring of its implementation










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Represent his/her service at Director level both within the GSC and externally, in particular in its relations with the rotating Presidency, and with the other institutions










—


Ensure the quality of the services and products delivered by the Directorate










—


Ensure professional management of the Directorate’s resources










—


Ensure effective communication and cooperation both within the Directorate and with other GSC services










—


Advise the European Council, the Council, Coreper and their Presidencies and the Secretary-General on all aspects of dossiers in order to contribute to finding solutions










—


Ensure that the rules and procedures to be applied in the relevant fields of the Directorate are respected










—


Maintain contacts with external interlocutors and represent the GSC in external fora





JOB ENVIRONMENT







—


Presence required outside normal working hours, depending on the requirements of the service, and in the context of European Council meetings and Council sessions concerning issues falling within the Directorate’s remit










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Missions abroad, typically within the EU and approximately 6-8 times per year










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Missions to Luxembourg










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Workplace: Justus Lipsius





SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES


Professional competencies







—


Given that French and English are used extensively for internal communication within the GSC, a good knowledge of French and English and the ability to communicate in both languages is required. Knowledge of other official languages of the EU would be an asset (1).










—


Very good knowledge of the structure and functioning of the Council and the relations with the other institutions










—


A very good sense of the political environment










—


An extensive knowledge of EU policies and institutional issues










—


Ability to handle information with discretion










—


Ability to identify and propose solutions to problems





Performing tasks and achieving results







—


Strong capacity for planning and organising work (key competency)










—


Consistently deliver work on time (key competency)










—


Standard IT products





Personal qualities







—


A strong sense of responsibility (key competency)










—


Ability to anticipate and identify potential problems and to solve them










—


Ability to work in different areas of activity during one’s career in the GSC





Interpersonal skills







—


Ability to maintain good working relationships with a range of interlocutors





Management Competencies







—


Management of work and resources, organisational awareness, decision-making, leadership & staff development





WHO CAN APPLY

Applicants must fulfil the following conditions for admission at the time of applying:






(a)



General conditions







—


be nationals of one of the Member States of the European Union,










—


enjoy their full rights as citizens,










—


have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the laws concerning military service.














(b)



Specific conditions







—


have completed a full university education attested by a diploma (2),










—


have at least 15 years’ professional experience out of which at least five years’ professional experience spent being in charge of an administrative entity, and have effectively exercised management and organisational responsibilities.




A professional experience working with Council rotating presidencies is an advantage for the post.





REMARKS







—


The General Secretariat of the Council is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from male and female candidates from the broadest possible geographical basis amongst the EU Member States. The GSC offers measures to reconcile professional and private life and can provide adjustments at the workplace for persons with disabilities (for more information see Annex I). Given the low representation of women at the higher management levels, it would particularly welcome applications from female candidates for this position.










—


This post requires security clearance allowing access to classified documents (SECRET EU level). Those applying for the post will be understood to be prepared to undergo security screening under Council Decision 2013/488/EU (3).
Appointment to the post shall only take effect on condition that the selected candidate has obtained a valid security clearance certificate. A candidate without security clearance will be offered a temporary contract until the result of the security clearance procedure is obtained.










—


The advisory selection board will be supported by an assessment centre. The reports established by the assessment centre will remain valid for two years.










—


The advisory selection board will initially examine the qualifications, experience and motivation of the applicants and draw up a list of candidates, to be invited to attend a first interview. Following that interview, the advisory selection board will pre-select candidates, to go through an assessment centre run by external recruitment consultants, and a second interview with the advisory selection board.
The provisional planning of the selection is as follows:






—


It is expected that candidates selected for the interviews will be informed at mid-November 2015










—


The first interviews are foreseen for the end of November 2015










—


The assessment centre is foreseen for the beginning of December 2015










—


The second round of interviews is expected to take place at mid-December 2015.














—


Post published in accordance with Article 29 § 2 of the Staff Regulations (senior management post).





HOW TO APPLY

The closing date for applications is 6 November 2015

Applications should be sent by email to: Selection.of.Officials-Applications.Management.Posts@consilium.europa.eu no later than the closing date.
In order to be valid, applications must include:






(a)


the application form (Annex IV) duly completed and dated; the electronic application form can be found on the Council’s website under the following link: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/general-secretariat/jobs/job-opportunities/










(b)


a letter of motivation accompanied by a detailed curriculum vitae, in English or French, preferably in the Europass format (http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu), covering the applicant's entire career, listing, inter alia, the applicant’s qualifications, language knowledge, experience, and current duties; and










(c)


photocopies of diplomas certifying education and photocopies of documents and certificates relating to professional experience. Supporting documents must come from a third party and it is not sufficient simply to send the CV mentioned in (b).




All supporting documents attached to the application must be in word text, pdf or jpg format, named (in EN or FR) and numbered in sequence (Annex 1, 2, etc.). A list of all annexes must also be attached. Applications that arrive via cloud-based data storage solution or file-share platforms will not be considered.
The candidate selected for the post will be asked to provide the originals of the aforementioned documents.

REEXAMINATION OF APPLICATIONS

The procedures relating to requests for review, appeals and referral to the European Ombudsman are set out in Annex II to this vacancy notice.

DATA PROTECTION

The rules governing the processing of personal data in connection with this selection procedure are set out in Annex III to this vacancy notice.


(1)  The languages of the EU are: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Irish, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish.

(2)  Article 5(3) of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union (the Staff Regulations) require applicants to have at least:






(i)


a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma when the normal period of university education is four years or more; or










(ii)


a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma and appropriate professional experience of at least one year when the normal period of university education is at least three years.





(3)  OJ L 274, 15.10.2013, p. 1.


ANNEX I

Equal Opportunities in the General Secretariat of the Council

As an employer, the GSC is responsible for ensuring equality of opportunity between men and women and for prohibiting discrimination on any grounds.
The main aims of its Equal Opportunities policy are to:






—


ensure that its human resources and personnel management policies respect the principles of equality and non-discrimination,










—


achieve a balanced representation of men and women, especially in management posts,










—


improve the situation of persons with disabilities, in terms of accessibility of its buildings and a work environment that is inclusive and adapted to their needs:

Adjustments for people with disabilities (‘reasonable accommodation’) may involve the rearrangement of duties or responsibilities, provision of technical aids and other adjustments to the working environment. Such measures will be taken unless they would impose an undue burden on the resources of the institution,











—


protect its staff from harassment at work,










—


take into account the needs of staff to strike a balance between their work and family commitments by offering a good package of family-friendly measures, including flexitime, telework and job-sharing.





Work-life balance measures

A flexitime system operates throughout the GSC in accordance with a 40-hour working week, flexileave being possible for non-managerial staff. In many job environments, an individual timetable, falling within the framework hours of 7.00 to 20.00, can be agreed.

Part-time work can be granted, for example to care for a dependent child up to the age of 12, or 14 when the official is a single parent.

Statutory maternity leave is 20 weeks and on return to work up to two hours per day can be granted for breastfeeding. Fathers have the right to paid paternity leave of 10 days. Parental leave of up to six months per child, or up to 12 months for single parents, can be granted with a flat-rate allowance. In the case of serious illness or disability of a child, maternity, paternity and parental leaves are longer. Family leave with a flat-rate allowance is also possible in the case of family members with a serious illness or disability. Special leave is granted in such cases as marriage, birth or adoption of a child, and death or serious illness of a family member. In exceptional circumstances, unpaid leave on personal grounds (CCP) can be accorded.
Depending on tasks and job environment, teleworking may be possible under the standard teleworking scheme (60 % at home and 40 % at the office) or under the occasional teleworking scheme (up to 20 days per year).
The following childcare facilities are available for staff with children, according to priority criteria: GSC crèche for children from 0-4 years, after-school care and holiday-time facilities organised by the European Commission and after-school activities at the European schools.

For further information, send an email to: egalite-des-chances@consilium.europa.eu




ANNEX II
REQUEST FOR REVIEW — APPEALS PROCEDURES COMPLAINTS TO THE EUROPEAN OMBUDSMAN
If, at any stage of the selection procedure, you consider that a decision adversely affects you, you may use the following means:






—



Request for review of the decisions taken by the advisory selection board

Within 10 days of the date of the letter notifying you of a decision taken by the advisory selection board, you may submit a written request for a review of such a decision, setting out the reasons for your request, to:





Council of the European Union




Office for Selection of Officials




Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175




1048 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË




Email: Selection.of.officials@consilium.europa.eu














—



Appeal procedure







—


You may lodge a complaint against a decision of the Appointing Authority, under Article 90(2) of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union, within three months of the notification of the decision, to:





Council of the European Union




Advisers Unit, DGA 1




Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175




1048 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË














—


You may submit a judicial appeal under Article 91 of the Staff Regulations to:





European Union Civil Service Tribunal




Rue du Fort Niedergrünewald




2925 Luxembourg




LUXEMBOURG


















—



Complaints to the European Ombudsman

Like any other citizen of the Union, you may lodge a complaint with:





The European Ombudsman




1, avenue du Président Robert Schuman — BP 403




67001 Strasbourg Cedex




FRANCE




under Article 228(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and in accordance with the conditions laid down in the Decision 94/262/ECSC, EC, Euratom of the European Parliament of 9 March 1994 on the regulations and general conditions governing the performance of the Ombudsman’s duties (1).
You should note that complaints lodged with the European Ombudsman have no suspensive effect on the period of time laid down in Article 90(2) and Article 91 of the Staff Regulations for the lodging of complaints or appeals with the European Union Civil Service Tribunal under Article 270 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.






(1)  OJ L 113, 4.5.1994, p. 15.



ANNEX III
DATA PROTECTION
As the institution responsible for organising the selection procedure, the General Secretariat of the Council ensures that applicants’ personal data are processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the institutions and bodies of the European Union and on the free movement of such data (1).
The legal basis for the selection procedure is the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union and the Decision 2013/488/EU on the security rules for protecting EU classified information. The selection procedure is conducted under the responsibility of the Human Resources Directorate (DG A 1A), Staffing and Mobility Unit, and the controller is the head of that unit. The information provided by the applicants will be accessible to members of the office for the selection of officials and their superiors, to members of the Advisory Selection Committee, and, if necessary, to the legal advisers’ unit. Administrative information identifying the candidate and/or the practical organisation of the procedure may be forwarded to an assessment centre.
The purpose of the processing operation is to collect data identifying all the applicants for a post with the Secretariat General of the Council and to select one of those applicants.
The data in question are:






—


personal data which make it possible to identify the applicants (surname, first name, date of birth, sex, nationality),










—


information supplied by the applicants to facilitate the practical organisation of the procedure (postal address, email address, telephone number),










—


information supplied by the applicants to make it possible to assess whether they meet the admission conditions laid down in the notice of vacancy (nationality; languages; applicants’ qualifications and the year they were awarded, type of diploma/degree, name of awarding institution, professional experience),










—


where applicable, information on the type and duration of applicants’ security clearance,










—


the results of the selection tests taken by the applicants, including the evaluations drawn up by the assessment centre’s advisers on behalf of the selection board.




The processing begins on the date of receipt of the application. Applications are filed and stored in archives for two years.
All applicants may exercise their right of access to and right to rectify personal data. Substantiated requests should be emailed to the office for selection of officials at: Selection.of.officials@consilium.europa.eu
Applicants may have recourse at any time to the European Data Protection Supervisor (edps@edps.europa.eu).


(1)  OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.



ANNEX IV