Overview
- Role: Organises high-quality selection procedures to select staff for the EU institutions, bodies and agencies
- Director: Minna Vuorio
- Established in: 2002
- Number of staff: 120
- Location: Brussels (with one staff member in Luxembourg)
- Website: European Personnel Selection Office
What it does
EPSO organises open competitions and selection procedures to recruit candidates for EU institutions, bodies and agencies, such as the:
- European Parliament
- Council of the European Union
- European Commission
- European Court of Justice
- European Court of Auditors
- European External Action Service
- European Economic and Social Committee
- European Committee of the Regions
- European Data Protection Supervisor
- European Ombudsman.
EPSO processes some 46,000 applications a year for approximately 1,300 positions in the EU institutions. Testing is carried out in 24 languages - this is unique to the selection world. In addition, it manages a database of over 70,000 registered candidates for approximately 800 contractual positions a year under the Contract Agent Selection Tool (CAST).
EPSO works closely with Member States’ representatives responsible for the promotion of EU Careers at national level. EPSO also manages the EU Careers Student Ambassadors programme. Moreover, EPSO often shares best practice with international organisations such as the United Nations (UN), the North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Who benefits?
The main beneficiaries of EPSO’s work are the recruiting services of the EU institutions, bodies and agencies that EPSO works for, as well as prospective candidates for permanent and temporary positions in the EU civil service. They benefit from EPSO’s fair, transparent and efficient selection procedures, which enable the EU institutions, bodies and agencies to recruit the right person for the right job, at the right time.
It is more efficient and cost-effective to have a single office recruit staff than have each EU institution, body and agency organise its own selection procedures or competitions.
Further information
Selection procedures for permanent and temporary positions