EPSO is currently undergoing a thorough transformation process for staff selection to better respond to the evolving needs of the EU institutions and the realities of today’s labour market. Strategic reflections are ongoing on a new concept for the AD generalist competition and on a revised competency framework. An important objective here is to achieve greater diversity in the candidate pool both as regards profiles and backgrounds. In the specialist competitions, we are already in a piloting phase to test some new selection methodologies.

The main aims are to shorten the duration of competitions, to make them more efficient for both candidates and assessors, and to better target the candidates with specialist profiles sought by the recruiting institutions, while adopting modern testing methods according to international best practice. EPSO aims at introducing computer assisted generation of field-based multiple choice questions test, to be introduced at an early stage of specialist competitions, while organising the reasoning tests on a pass-fail basis. Accelerated by the Covid-crisis, EPSO moved to remotely proctored Assessment Centre tests, and for some competitions, candidates can sit some computer-based tests either online or in test centres. Other pilots will deploy testing in all 24 official EU languages or a computer-assisted talent screening. Given that these pilots are in early stages, and their results need to be analysed, EPSO will provide more detailed information on these novelties in due course.

Objectivity and equality of treatment are at the core of all these processes.