A first step in EU careers
The European Parliament offers different types of traineeships in its Secretariat in order to contribute to EU citizens’ European education and vocational training and to provide an insight into the work made by the institution. As it is understandable given that they are named after one of the main architects of the European integration project, Schuman Traineeships’ call constitutes an incredible opportunity to get acquainted with the Union and supplement (while putting into practice) the knowledge acquired during the academic studies.
The traineeships are paid and have a duration of five months. Applications open twice a year and university graduates coming from all the different Member States (or accession/candidate countries too) can apply either in November, for traineeships starting in March and ending in July or in June, for the period October-February (as the call which is currently open). The application window lasts one month so hurry up if you want to give it a try!
Remember that the addressee of the call must be at least 18 years old but there is not maximum age limit. In order to participate a degree or university level diploma awarded at least three months before the starting of the traineeship (and after the completion of a period of at least three years of study) is needed. Candidates must not have benefited for more than two months in a row from any in-service traineeship experience within an EU institution and must not have had in the past, nor have at present, any kind of employment contract within an EU body or agency either. Also, they must not have visited the Secretariat in the six months prior to the beginning of the internship period. Integrity, a proper conduct and courtesy are requested other than the utmost discretion throughout the traineeships.
Here you can find more detailed information regarding the rules, the selection procedure or grants, allowances and insurance.
There are 428 currently available traineeship opportunities in a variety of fields ranging from Employment, Economics and Finance to Law, International Relations, EU Internal Policies, IT and Administration. It is possible to apply for maximum 3 traineeships per campaign. Candidates have, thus, the possibility to directly contribute and take part in the tasks carried out by the various Directorate Generals of the Union as well as by the Staff Committee and even the President’s Office (wow!). The place of assignment are several different European cities even though the bulk of the positions available is in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg.
All candidates are always notified of the outcome of the application and if an application is not successful at any stage of the process, it is possible to re-apply for a subsequent period (starting again the whole procedure). In the past, every year almost 21.000 people applied for a traineeship at the European Parliament!
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