Each selection procedure has its own Selection Board to select the best candidates on the basis of qualifications and competencies defined in the competition notice. Selection Boards are made up of officials from the EU Institutions, and EPSO makes every effort to ensure balance in terms of gender, linguistic capacity, staff vs administration representation and institution size. A Chairperson assisted by one or several Vice-Chairs leads the work of the Board. All tasks related to the assessment of candidates during the selection procedure are covered by the secrecy of the Board proceedings and reflected in the final Competency Passport provided to the candidate for the sake of transparency.

EPSO places great importance on equality and makes every effort to respect equal opportunities, treatment and access for all its applicants, as follows:

• The overarching principle that guides the work of the Selection Board is the principle of impartiality. For example, no direct hierarchical link or no direct family relationship may exist between a Selection Board member and the candidate s/he assesses. Nevertheless, the existence of a past or even current professional relationship of a more distant nature by itself does not automatically exclude the possibility of assessment.
• Both Selection Board members and candidates are required to declare any possible conflict of interest to EPSO so this can be taken into account and potential adjustments made accordingly.
• The Selection Board follows the pre-established eligibility, selection and assessment criteria set out in the Notice of Competition. These criteria are carefully and consistently documented, adopted and applied.
• Extensive training, coaching and supervision of Board Members as well as regular review meetings ensure a harmonised assessment approach

EPSO carries out systematic quality controls and statistical analyses to monitor and eliminate any possible bias in the assessment of the candidates.

Indeed, competitions for AD generalists can attract tens of thousands of candidates as according to the Staff Regulations (the official document describing the rules, principles and working conditions of the European civil service), one only needs a graduate degree to apply. For candidates with a certain level of professional experience, EPSO organises many specialist competitions with specific selection criteria which take into account professional experience.

These tailored selection procedures for specialists (lawyers, economists, researchers, etc.) have very specific requirements when it comes to professional experience, education, etc., so it is really only eligible candidates who are able to apply.

EPSO primarily organises open selection procedures for all EU citizens. No distinction is made between internal and external candidates and the tests, including computer-based tests and written tests, are marked anonymously.

All candidates undergo equivalent tests and the same eligibility criteria apply to all.

The Staff Regulations (the official document describing the rules, principles and working conditions of the European civil service) define a very clear legal framework for organising competitions. Open competitions are for all EU citizens while internal competitions are organised exclusively for candidates already working in the Institutions. No additional credit may be given to internal candidates in open competitions, as this would clearly constitute unequal treatment.

The main objective of EPSO's reasoning tests is to measure key reasoning abilities for all future EU officials, not simply to cut down candidate numbers. Based on well-established scientific studies, these tests have the highest predictive value of future job performance (compared to purely knowledge-based tests). Even though candidates within the same competition do not receive the same questions, the level of difficulty of the individual tests delivered to each candidate is identical, thereby ensuring equal treatment. The validity and reliability of multiple-choice computer-based tests has been confirmed by European Court of Justice case-law, and the Court also confirmed that these tests comply with the principle of fair and equal treatment. At the same time computer-based tests allow EPSO to test huge numbers of candidates in a very short time in an efficient and user-friendly manner.

The verbal reasoning test is not a language test, so a low score does not imply a lack of proficiency in that language; it simply measures reasoning skills. Reasoning tests play a critically important role in assessment because the daily work of EU officials relies heavily on their ability to reason and understand complex information. The difficulty levels of multiple-choice computer-based tests are decided by the selection board of each competition, and thus can vary from competition to competition, so one should not compare one's score in different selection procedures.

Tests and test items are translated by professional translators in the EU Institutions with rigorous quality control before being released.

Quality controls on multiple-choice computer-based tests items (language by language, question by question etc.) are carried out regularly to identify any possible issues and correct them. Test items contested by candidates are subject to review by the Selection Board and if confirmed to be flawed, they are neutralised for all candidates who have received them and removed from the pool of test items for future candidates. Indeed, the number of multiple-choice questions which have been neutralised until now is extremely low and varies between less than 0.09% and 0.33% in relation to the total number of multiple-choice items deployed in the pool.

Sample tests for most EPSO tests and in different languages can be found at Sample tests.

This is quite normal. It is important to note that the difficulty levels of multiple-choice computer-based tests are decided by the selection board of each competition, and thus can vary from one competition to another, so one should not compare one's score in different competitions. While some questions may look similar or may even reappear, with over 80,000 questions in its database, EPSO holds one of the largest item banks of its kind in the world according to experts in the field.

EPSO's tests are developed and monitored carefully by its team of in-house occupational psychologists together with carefully selected Selection Board Members from across the EU Institutions. EPSO consistently monitors the latest innovations in test development based on scientific research and has in recent years introduced online testing in its selection procedures.

Toate testele EPSO și felul în care sunt punctate sunt analizate atent pentru a garanta că sunt echitabile și că nu au un impact negativ asupra diferitelor categorii de candidați. EPSO a demarat procedura de certificare pentru noul Standard ISO pentru procedurile de evaluare și este deja în conformitate cu dispozițiile Convenției Națiunilor Unite privind drepturile persoanelor cu handicap.

Un aspect fundamental al echității îl constituie asigurarea echilibrului între candidații de sex feminin și cei de sex masculin, pe care EPSO se străduiește să îi atragă și să îi selecteze în egală măsură. În practică, concursurile pentru anumite profiluri atrag proporții foarte diferite de candidați de sex feminin și respectiv masculin. Cu toate acestea, în general candidaturile sunt echilibrate – laureații ultimului concurs AD pentru generaliști au fost 50% bărbați și 50 % femei.

Instrucțiunile pentru susținerea testelor pe calculator vă vor fi furnizate mai întâi prin intermediul contului dumneavoastră EPSO și ulterior, printr-un e-mail din partea contractantului extern.