Recruitment - frequently asked questions

There is no age limit, however the current mandatory retirement age is 66.

No, in order to be eligible, you must be a citizen of one of the Member States of the European Union on the date of validation of your application form. A valid residence permit is not considered proof of citizenship.

Candidates must be citizens of at least one EU Member State. 

If you are a UK citizen and you have a second citizenship of an EU Member State you may still apply.

If you only have UK citizenship, you will not be able to validate your application after Brexit.

The vacancy notice describes the minimum requirements in terms of qualifications and professional experience. It also describes the nature of the duties you may be required to perform.

Anyone who meets at least these minimum requirements and whose qualifications/experience are relevant to the duties in question may apply.

Please note that if you have additional qualifications and/or professional experience, you can only be recruited at the grade/function group and for the profile indicated in the vacancy notice. For example, if you have a bachelor's degree you may still apply for an assistants' selection procedure. You should carefully read the nature of the duties, however, to ensure that you have the right experience and motivation to perform the duties required.

There is no point in applying if you do not meet all the general and all the specific eligibility conditions.

There is no point in applying if your application does not meet the required years of experience, it will be excluded already in the first phase of the selection process. Note that in assessing whether you have the years of experience required for the job, Cedefop takes into consideration solely the information entered into the electronic application form.

Relevant work experience may be required in some cases.

In order for your professional experience to be taken into consideration, it must be an actual work relationship defined by the following elements:

• real, genuine work,
• on a paid basis, and
• as an employee (any type of contract), or provider of a service.

Your professional experience will only be taken into consideration if its content is relevant to the duties described in the vacancy notice.

Your professional experience will be taken into account as follows:

• Paid work under any type of contract (employee, self-employed, civil servant, entrepreneur, free-lance consultant etc.)
• Voluntary work: voluntary work will only be taken into consideration if there is a form of compensation. Voluntary work must be comparable to full-time work, both in terms of number of hours worked and duration.
• Internship: internships will be taken into consideration if they are paid, full time, and took place after date you obtained your diploma.
• Obligatory military service: obligatory military service will be taken into consideration for a period not exceeding the legal duration of said service in the member state of which you are a national. Military service can take place before or after you have obtained the qualification giving access to the competition.
• Maternity leave / parental leave / leave for adoption: this leave will be taken into consideration if it is in the framework of a work contract. If the event (birth or adoption) happens when you are unemployed, the corresponding leave will not be taken into consideration.
• PhD: PhDs are assimilated to professional experience, even when unpaid and for a duration of three years maximum, provided that the PhD has been successfully completed.
• Part-time work: part-time work will be calculated on a pro-rata basis of the time worked. For instance, if you have worked half-time for six months, your experience will be calculated as three months.

Professional experience is taken into account only if acquired after the date on which the diploma giving access to the competition was obtained.

If it is your bachelor’s degree that is giving access to the selection procedure, only the work experience accumulated after the date you obtained your degree can be taken into account. Thus, experience gained while studying for your bachelor’s degree will not be taken into account.

If it is your secondary education diploma that gives access to the selection procedure, you can enter the work experience (part time/full time) gained during your bachelor studies in the section on Work experience of the online application form.

Minimum educational requirements vary according to the profiles sought. In general:

• all non-graduate positions (assistant-level/function groups II, III) require (at least) that you have completed secondary education,
• all graduate positions (administrator-level/function group IV) require (at least) that you have completed university education of three years minimum.

Full details on the educational qualification(s) required for a specific profile are available in the vacancy notice. Please see some examples of types of qualifications accepted.

The degree giving access to the selection procedure is clearly stated in the vacancy notice, under ‘eligibility criteria’.

It is very important that in your application you choose (from the dropdown list) the correct degree giving access to the selection process as the system will start counting your professional experience after the date you obtained this degree.

Yes. Degrees issued from any educational institution of a non-EU country may be submitted provided they are recognised in at least one of the EU countries. In such cases, you will have to ensure that you are in a position to prove the official recognition (e.g. Naric certification, https://www.enic-naric.net/) whenever requested to do so.

Degrees awarded by the UK until 31/12/2020 are accepted without further recognition. For diplomas awarded after this date (from 01/01/2021), a NARIC (https://www.enic-naric.net/) recognition is required.

Detailed information on the validity of the personal data can be found in Cedefop’s privacy statement for selections

If you are invited to the written test and interview phase, but you require adjustments to the selection tests as a result of a disability or medical condition, you need to inform us and provide us with a medical certificate. We will then work on the required adjustments.

It is your sole responsibility to ensure that the information provided in the online application form is complete, correct and that you submit the application before the deadline.

Cedefop cannot correct, modify or delete an application submitted by a candidate. If you realise that you have made a mistake or omission after you have already submitted your application, but before the deadline for applications, you may ask Cedefop’s HR service to ‘un-submit’ your application at the e-mail HR-recruitment@cedefop.europa.eu.

No changes can be made to your application after the vacancy deadline.

No. Any documents sent separately from the on-line application will be disregarded.

No documents proving your saying (diploma, CV, contracts, etc.) need to be uploaded. Supporting document are requested at a later stage, only for applicants who reach the interview phase.

You may input overlapping experience, exceeding one full-time equivalent (100%). Nevertheless, as Cedefop accepts only full-time equivalent work experiences, even when you have parallel jobs resulting in more than 100% on any given period, Cedefop will bring the overlapping times to 100%, where needed.

The vacancy notice lists the areas of professional knowledge and competencies that will be covered during the written test and interview phase.

Cedefop organises its own selection procedures You can apply as all other applicants.

Occasionally Cedefop may use the EPSO CAST Permanent lists for the selection of Contract Agents. If you are on a CAST Permanent lists and your profile matches the requirements of the service, Cedefop might contact you for the further steps of the selection process.

For information on EPSO permanent CAST lists and how to apply, please see EPSO website.

No. Cedefop does not accept any spontaneous applications.

If you are interested in Cedefop vacancies please visit the recruitment section of our website regularly. If you are interested in receiving e-mail notifications when new vacancies are published, you may register.

No. For reasons of equal treatment of all candidates, this is not possible, and no exceptions can be made.

Your application must be completed and submitted before the deadline stated in the vacancy notice. Even if you had started but had not completed and submitted your application before the deadline, you will not be able to do so after the deadline for application has passed.

It is therefore advisable to submit the application well ahead of the deadline in order to avoid possible problems during the final days before the closing date.

Invitations for the written test are sent to the shortlisted candidates in approximately 4 to 6 weeks after the deadline for applications. All other candidates receive information about their application after the selection procedure is completed. Depending on the number of applications, an entire selection process may vary from 3 to 5 months.