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FAQs

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Single Candidate Portal (open competitions):  

Please refer to the FAQs on the EU Login help page: How to change/reset my EU Login password? - European Union 

 

EPSO Account (contract staff selection procedures):  

Go to this page and follow the instructions. 

You will receive an email with further instructions at the email address linked to your EPSO Account. You will have 24 hours to activate your new password. After that period, the link will expire and you will need to submit a new password reset request.

If you are still having difficulty in logging into your account, contact EPSO support immediately. 

If you are still experiencing difficulties accessing your account, please contact EPSO support immediately.

Please note that EPSO staff will never ask you for your password by email. You should always sign in via a secure connection indicated by a padlock icon.

Yes, diplomas obtained outside the European Union are accepted if they are accompanied by a recognition document issued by a competent national authority of any EU Member State. Diplomas obtained in the United Kingdom require a recognition document if issued after 1 January 2021.

The recognition document must include at least the following information:

  • Candidate’s full name
  • Name of the university
  • Title of the diploma obtained

Please note that the statement of equivalency (which can be downloaded from the NARIC Ireland database) is not valid for this purpose.

Each Notice of Competition/contract staff selection procedure has its own eligibility requirements, which may include different combinations of educational qualifications and professional experience.

To cover the broadest diploma spectrum in each competition, candidates are encouraged to request recognition for all relevant diplomas declared in their application. 

Recognition documents must be issued by a competent national authority in an EU Member State. Below is a non-exhaustive list of competent national authorities in EU Member States:

Austria - Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research

Belgium (NL) - NARIC - Vlaanderen

Belgium (FR) - NARIC - Service des Équivalences

Belgium (DE) - NARIC - centre of German speaking community

Bulgaria - National Centre for Information and Documentation (NACID)

Croatia - The Agency for Science and Higher Education

Cyprus - Cyprus Council of Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications (KYSATS)

Czech republic - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports

Denmark - Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (under Ministry of Higher Education and Science)

Estonia - Estonian ENIC/NARIC - Academic recognition | Haridus- ja Noorteamet

Finland - Finnish National Agency for Education

France - France Éducation international

Germany - Central Office for Foreign Education – ZAB

Greece - DOATAP - Hellenic National Academic recognition and Information centre

Hungary - Hungarian Equivalence and Information Centre (Hungarian abbrev.: MEIK)

Ireland - Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI)

Italy -    Titoli accademici esteri | Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca

Latvia - AIC - Academic Information Centre

Lithuania - SKVC - Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education

Luxembourg - MESR - Ministry of Research and Higher Education

Malta - Malta Qualifications Recognition Information Centre (MQRIC)

Netherlands - International Credential Evaluation (IDW)

Poland - POLISH NATIONAL AGENCY FOR ACADEMIC EXCHANGE

Portugal - Directorate General for Higher Education (DGES)

Romania - National Centre for Recognition and Equivalence of Diplomas (CNRED)

Slovakia - Centre for recognition of diplomas (CRD)

Slovenia - ENIC-NARIC Slovenia

Spain - Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities - General Secretariat for Universities

Sweden - Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR)

All competitions are run via online tests. EPSO started this transition during the pandemic, and the vast majority of candidates have welcomed the flexibility provided.

Online testing via EPSO’s external contractor allows candidates to sit the tests securely in a remote location using their own computer.

When taking an online test, candidates are continuously monitored using various monitoring tools, including video and audio recording.

Permanent staff – open competitions:

The privacy statement provides detailed information about the processing and the protection of your personal data in the context of open competitions and online testing.

By creating a Candidate account, candidates agree to abide by the rules regarding Candidate accounts (Single candidate Portal).

Contract staff selection procedures

The privacy statement and the privacy statement for online testing provide detailed information about the processing and the protection of your personal data in the context of contract staff selection procedures and online testing.

By creating a Candidate account, candidates agree to abide by the rules regarding EPSO accounts.

To apply for open competitions:

To apply for contract staff selection procedures:

  • Consult the contract staff page and select the profile that best matches your qualifications and experience.
  • Please read all important documents, especially the Call for Expressions of Interest.
  • Choose a profile and register for the available function group
  • You will then be asked to log into your EPSO Account. If you don’t have one, start by creating it.
  • Complete and submit your application form. By doing this, you are registering in the EPSO contract staff database.

When recruitment needs arise, the recruiting services of the EU institutions, bodies and agencies search the EPSO contract staff database and shortlist the candidates who best match the job requirements. 

Shortlisted candidates are invited to sit reasoning skills tests (verbal, numerical, and abstract) and may later be invited for an interview by the recruiting institution or body. All updates and invitations are communicated through your EPSO Account.

Open competitions for permanent staff:
Your test results are only valid for the specific competition in which you took the tests.

Contract staff selection procedures:
Under certain conditions, your test results may be taken into account in other contract staff selection procedures.

Permanent staff – open competitions:

You must provide supporting documents to confirm the information declared in your application (identity, education, and professional experience), as follows:

1. Identity: You must provide a copy of your valid identity card or passport.

2. Education and qualifications: 

  • Upload your secondary diploma (for AST-SC / AST competitions) or post-secondary diploma (for AST and AD competitions), along with the list of courses you followed.
  • Make sure to include the diploma that gives you access to the competition, as required in the Notice of Competition, point 3.3. “Specific conditions — qualifications and work experience” and that your name, stamps, signatures and serial numbers (if applicable) are visible.   
  • Add proof of any relevant traineeships and trainings, provided they contribute to meeting the eligibility requirements (please refer to the Notice of competition).

    Degrees, diplomas and/or certificates, whether issued in Member States or non-EU countries, must be recognised by a competent authority of a Member State. 
    See also: Do you accept my qualification/diploma issued in non-EU countries?

3. Professional experience:

You must provide documents proving the nature of your duties and the duration of your experience. Periods of professional experience that are not supported by a job description will not be considered by the Selection Board. Please note that no professional experience is required for the Graduate administrators competition (AD5).

Below are examples of the types of documents candidates should provide:

3.1: For salaried work: 

  • Documents from current and former employer(s) stating the nature and level of duties performed, such as letters from a hierarchical superior, appraisal reports describing your tasks, job descriptions provided by your employer, or contracts including detailed descriptions of the duties performed.
  • Employment contract(s) with beginning and end dates, or first and last pay slips.

All documents must be dated, include your name, and bear the official company header, stamp, as well as the name and signature of the person in charge.

3.2: For self-employed/ liberal professions: 

  • Invoices, contracts, order forms  
  • E-mail correspondence
  • Minutes of meetings
  • Tax documents
  • Proof of membership in a professional association

Important information

  • Supporting documents can be submitted in any of the 24 official EU languages and must justify the information provided in your application form. Each entry in your CV (education, professional experience) must be supported by relevant documents; otherwise, it will not be considered. 
  • It is the candidates' responsibility to provide the Selection board with all the information and documents needed to verify that they fulfil the conditions laid down in the notice of competition.
  • If you fail to provide sufficient documentary evidence by the deadline indicated in the Notice of Competition, you may be considered non-eligible and excluded from the competition. 
  • In general, no supporting documents are required to prove language knowledge (please check the Notice of Competition for exceptions). 
  • Candidates may be contacted by e-mail to provide additional information or documents relating to a particular diploma or professional experience, if needed.

Make sure to provide all the documents you have at your disposal and that you are entitled to share. Your documents will be handled in line with our privacy statement.

For more information, please check the Notice of Competition, in particular the section “Supporting documents” and the FAQ section on Eligibility.

Contract staff selection procedures

Candidates for contract staff selection procedures cannot upload supporting documents to their application/s in their EPSO account. 

Supporting documents will be requested at the stage of recruitment tests and/or before recruitment by the recruiting services.

Candidates must be able to provide documents supporting the information declared in their application form (qualifications, professional experience, etc.). Recruiting services will inform candidates which documents must be provided (copies or originals) and by when.

EPSO cannot provide information on the specific rules applied by individual recruiting services. The information below is provided for illustrative purposes only.

1. Identity: You must provide a copy of your valid identity card or passport.

2. Education and qualifications - You must provide:

  • Copies of diplomas and/or training certificates proving educational qualifications 
  • For diplomas or certificates issued outside the EU: a statement of equivalence issued by a competent authority of an EU Member State

3. Professional experience

All periods of professional activity must be supported by original documents or certified copies of the following documents:

3.1: For salaried work: 

 - Documents from current and former employer(s) stating the nature and level of duties performed, such as letters from a hierarchical superior, appraisal reports describing your tasks, job descriptions provided by your employer, or contracts including detailed descriptions of the duties performed. 

                 - Employment contract(s) with beginning and end dates, or first and last pay slips.

All documents must be dated, include your name, and bear the official company header, stamp, as well as the name and signature of the person in charge.

3.2: For self-employed/ liberal professions: 

  • Invoices, contracts, order forms  
  • E-mail correspondence
  • Minutes of meetings
  • Tax documents
  • Proof of membership in a professional association

3.3: For freelance translators: Documents attesting the time periods worked and the number of pages translated

3.4: For freelance interpreters: Documents attesting the number of days worked, and the languages interpreted from and into.

The online tests require a third-party external contractor to take control of your computer while you take the test. Among other things, this prevents candidates from browsing the internet or running applications outside the scope of the tests.

In order to enable online selection tests to run on a corporate computer — including those made available to staff of EPSO’s institutional clients (e.g. the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and others) — multiple security controls would have to be disabled, relaxed, or changed by an authorised administrator.

Corporate stakeholders must ensure that risks to their digital environment are minimised, which is why candidates usually cannot use their corporate PC for remotely proctored tests.

Candidates can fill in their application form in any of the 24 official EU languages.

As a general rule, candidates must have obtained the minimum entry qualifications specified in the Notice of Competition or Call for Expression of Interest by the application deadline. Qualifications awarded after this date are not taken into account.

However, by way of exception, for competition EPSO/AD/427/26 (Graduate Administrators – AD5), candidates must have a level of education corresponding to completed university studies of at least three years, attested by a diploma, the award of which must have been decided no later than 30 September 2026, regardless of the application deadline. Please see Annex III of the Notice of Competition for examples of minimum qualifications.