If pre-selected by a recruiting service for the tests (see useful information here), you will receive the invitation to attend the CAST Permanent reasoning tests in your EPSO account around 10 days before the tests take place.

Neen, u hoeft niet langer vooraf een afspraak te maken om uw test af te leggen. Nu EPSO met een nieuwe externe contractant werkt, worden alle kandidaten uitgenodigd om tegelijkertijd, op dezelfde dag, deel te nemen aan de test.

De exacte datum en het precieze tijdstip van de tests worden op de pagina van het vergelijkend onderzoek gepubliceerd zodra deze beschikbaar zijn. Het is niet mogelijk de datum of het tijdstip van uw tests te wijzigen.

Nee, u moet zich per profiel en/of functiegroep apart inschrijven. 

Zie voor informatie over de profielen en functiegroepen: Arbeidscontractanten (CAST Permanent)

Kandidaten voor selectieprocedures voor arbeidscontractanten (CAST/P) kunnen geen bewijsstukken koppelen aan hun CAST/P-sollicitatie(s) in hun EPSO-account. De bewijsstukken worden aan de aanwervende diensten overgelegd in het stadium van de wervingstesten en/of vóór indiensttreding.

U moet de verklaringen (met betrekking tot uw kwalificaties, ervaring, talenkennis, enz.) in uw sollicitatieformulier kunnen aantonen aan de hand van bewijsstukken. De diensten met vacatures zullen u meedelen op welk moment u welke documenten (kopieën of originelen) moet overleggen.

EPSO kan geen informatie verstrekken over de regels inzake bewijsstukken die de verschillende aanwervende diensten hanteren. Het zou kunnen gaan om de volgende regels (niet-bindend voorbeeld):

1. U moet onder meer een geldige identiteitskaart of een geldig paspoort overleggen.
    
2. Als bewijs van uw onderwijskwalificaties en opleiding moet u de volgende documenten overleggen:
   
   a) een kopie van uw diploma’s en/of (opleidings)certificaten, ter staving van de onderwijskwalificaties;
   b) voor diploma’s/certificaten die in een land buiten de EU zijn afgegeven, een gelijkwaardigheidsverklaring die is afgegeven door een bevoegde autoriteit van een EU-lidstaat.
    
3. Voor alle beroepsactiviteiten moeten originelen of gewaarmerkte kopieën kunnen worden overgelegd van de volgende documenten:
   
   a) documenten van voormalige en/of huidige werkgever(s): arbeidsovereenkomst(en) met begin- en einddatum van het dienstverband en/of eerste en laatste loonstrookjes. Hierop moet zijn vermeld: aard, niveau, gedetailleerde beschrijving van de verrichte taken, officieel briefhoofd en stempel van de onderneming, en naam en handtekening van de bevoegde persoon;
   
   b) voor werkzaamheden die niet in loondienst werden verricht, bv. voor zelfstandigen/vrije beroepen: facturen of bestelbonnen of andere officiële bewijsstukken waarop de verrichte werkzaamheden zijn omschreven, met vermelding van de aard en de duur van de verrichte werkzaamheden of verleende diensten;
   
   c) voor freelancevertalers: stukken ter staving van de gewerkte perioden en het aantal vertaalde bladzijden;
   
   d) voor freelancetolken: stukken ter staving van het aantal gewerkte dagen evenals de talen waarnaar of waaruit is getolkt.

The Call for expression of interest (see Section 3) defines only the basic requirements for qualification and experience, that can also be found in the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants. The specific requirements will be defined by the recruiting services in accordance with their needs and vacancies. The recruiting services will assess the candidates’ eligibility based on information provided in the application form and supporting documents that they will ask the candidate to provide. This may be done at the stage of recruitment tests and/or before recruitment.

EPSO cannot provide information on the rules applicable in various recruiting services when assessing the qualifications and/or experience of candidates. The following should be considered only as non-binding illustration of requirements that may apply.

Educational qualifications

Degrees, diplomas and/or certificates, whether issued in EU or non-EU countries, must be recognised by a competent authority of an EU Member State.

Professional experience

1.  To be taken into account, professional experience must normally meet the following general conditions:
   
   a) It must be acquired after obtaining the required minimum educational qualification indicated in the notice of competition;
   b) It must constitute genuine and effective work;
   c) It has to be remunerated;
   d) It must involve a professional relationship, i.e. being part of an organisational structure or supplying a service;
   e) It must comply with the relevance criteria defined in the notice of competition.
2. Professional experience listed below may also be considered in the light of specific rules, for example:
   
   a) In case of voluntary work, ‘remuneration’ is to be understood as any financial contribution received, including cost reimbursement and insurance coverage. Furthermore, voluntary work must involve weekly hours and duration similar to a regular job.
   
   b) In case of traineeships, ‘remuneration’ is to be understood as any financial contribution received, including cost reimbursement and insurance coverage. A compulsory traineeship which is part of a studies programme, may be taken into account provided that (i) the traineeship is undertaken after achieving the minimum educational qualification indicated in the notice of competition, and that (ii) the traineeship is remunerated.
   
   c) A compulsory traineeship which is part of a programme leading to, or which is a pre-condition for, registration with a professional association in order to obtain a right to practise a profession (for example, admission to the lawyers’ bar association) may be taken into account irrespective of whether the work was remunerated. However, where the work was not remunerated, the traineeship period may only be considered provided that the programme was successfully completed and the right to practise obtained. In all cases, only the minimum compulsory duration will be taken into account.
   
   d) Compulsory military service that occurred before or after obtaining the required minimum educational qualification indicated in the notice of competition will be taken into account, including if it does not meet the relevance criteria defined in the notice of competition, but only for a period not exceeding the obligatory duration in the relevant Member State.
   
   e) Maternity, paternity, adoption, or parental leave may be taken into account if covered by an employment contract.
   
   f) In the case of doctorate studies, the period taken into account shall not exceed three years, provided the doctorate was obtained, and irrespective of whether the work was remunerated.
   
   g) The period taken into account in cases of part-time work shall be calculated pro rata, e.g. half-time work for six months will count as three months.

In de aankondiging van het vergelijkend onderzoek of de oproep tot het indienen van blijken van belangstelling voor uw selectieprocedure staat hoeveel vragen en hoeveel tijd u krijgt en wat de minimumscore moet zijn.

Alle EPSO-tests vinden online plaats. Ga na of u voldoet aan de Technische en IT-vereisten voor onlinetests met de nieuwe externe contractant van EPSO. Er is ook specifieke informatie over het gebruik van bedrijfscomputers voor onlinetests. Via uw EPSO-account krijgt u, bij de uitnodiging voor de tests, tevens gedetailleerde instructies voor de onlinetests. Ook de externe contractant stuurt u extra informatie toe via e-mail.

Contract staff positions are available for a wide range of jobs, requiring different levels of qualifications. They are divided into four function groups:

• I. manual and administrative support-service tasks
• II. clerical or secretarial tasks, office management and other equivalent tasks
• III. executive tasks, drafting, accountancy and other equivalent technical tasks
• IV. administrative, advisory, linguistic and equivalent technical tasks.

The specific duties will depend on the profile you are interested in. See Annex I to the Call for Expressions of Interest for detailed examples of duties per profile.

Contract staff are employed for a limited period, with an initial contract of 6-12 months.

In some EU bodies, it may be possible for the contract to be renewed for an indefinite duration.

Alle inschrijvingen voor EPSO/CAST/P/1-4/2015 (CAST voor uitvoerende agentschappen) die gevalideerd werden vóór 25.11.2016 (12.00 uur Belgische tijd), zijn automatisch overgenomen in de CAST Permanent-selectieprocedure (EPSO/CAST/P/1-4/2017).

Bent u al geslaagd voor de door EPSO georganiseerde selectietests voor EPSO/CAST/P/1-4/2015, dan zijn uw resultaten nog steeds geldig.

With the exception of the CAST Permanent for contract agents (see more information about this selection procedure), once validated, you can no longer modify the content of your application, as EPSO will immediately process the data.

For CAST Permanent:

You can modify the content of your application(s) for the CAST Permanent selection procedure and upload or update your CV within your EPSO Account at any time.

Don’t forget to update your application(s) at least every six months if you wish to remain visible to the recruiting services. This applies regardless of whether you passed or failed the tests.

Als u solliciteert, wordt u niet automatisch uitgenodigd voor de tests. Alleen kandidaten die bij een vacature op de shortlist worden gezet, worden opgeroepen.

Het selectieproces bestaat uit de volgende fasen:

1. Kandidaten vullen het sollicitatieformulier in, valideren hun sollicitatie en werken deze ieder halfjaar bij om aan te geven dat zij nog steeds belangstelling hebben en om zichtbaar te blijven in de databank.
2. Is er bij een dienst een nieuwe vacature, dan stelt die dienst met behulp van de database van gevalideerde en zichtbare sollicitaties een shortlist op van kandidaten waarvan het profiel aansluit bij de behoeften van de dienst.
3. Deze voorgeselecteerde kandidaten (de kandidaten op de shortlist) worden ongeveer tien dagen vóór de testdatum uitgenodigd voor de door EPSO georganiseerde selectietests. Dat zijn meerkeuzevragen. Lees meer over de Technische en IT-vereisten voor onlinetests.
4. De geslaagde kandidaten worden door de betrokken dienst uitgenodigd voor verdere tests. Die bestaan uit een sollicitatiegesprek en eventueel andere beoordelingstests.
5. Aan kandidaten die ook voor deze tests slagen, kan de dienst een werkaanbod doen.

Ontstaat er een vacature bij een afdeling, dan kijkt zij in de database van geregistreerde kandidaten en stelt zij een shortlist op van een aantal kandidaten die het best aan de functie-eisen voldoen. Zorg dat u uw profiel om de zes maanden of vaker bijwerkt. U maakt dan meer kans om in de database te worden opgemerkt.

Alleen kandidaten die op de shortlist staan, worden via hun EPSO-account uitgenodigd voor een door EPSO georganiseerde selectietest.

Controleer uw EPSO-account dus minstens om de drie kalenderdagen. Staat uw naam op de shortlist, dan krijgt u een uitnodiging waarin uw testdatum is vermeld.

De indicatieve data van de testperiodes staan op de profielpagina’s op onze website. 

Het is niet mogelijk de datum of het tijdstip van uw tests te wijzigen. Alle kandidaten worden tegelijkertijd getest. 

Als u door een aanwervende dienst wordt gepreselecteerd, wordt u uitgenodigd voor een aantal meerkeuzetests om uw redeneervermogen te toetsen. U legt deze tests af in uw taal 1. Lees meer over de Technische en IT-vereisten voor onlinetests.

Als u voor de door EPSO georganiseerde tests slaagt, kan de aanwervende dienst u verzoeken aanvullende tests af te leggen die verband houden met de functie, zoals een redactietest, een rijvaardigheidstest, een taalkennistest enz. Alle informatie daarover krijgt u van de betrokken dienst zelf.

Kijk ook eens naar onze oefentests (“arbeidscontractanten”) als u meer hierover wilt weten.

U ontvangt de resultaten van uw selectietests via uw EPSO-account, ongeveer twee weken na afloop van de periode waarin de tests hebben plaatsgevonden.

De resultaten worden voor publicatie gecontroleerd, goedgekeurd en gevalideerd. Als de resultaten eenmaal zijn bekendgemaakt, kunt geen klacht meer indienen over eventuele fouten in de vragen.

Het hele jaar door zijn er periodes waarin de tests kunnen worden afgelegd. Op de specifieke pagina voor elk profiel vindt u een overzicht van de datums.

CAST Permanent selection procedure attracts a high number of applications. However, the recruiting services only pre-select and shortlist a certain number of candidates whose profiles fit their needs.

No. The recruiting services can only see if a candidate has passed or failed the tests.

Your score will only be visible to you, via your EPSO Account.

If you pass the selection tests organised by EPSO (the reasoning tests) you will be invited for an interview and/or further tests by the recruiting service.

The validity of the reasoning tests results (from the date when the results have been published in your EPSO Account) is 10 years.

The results are always valid for the function group for which you were tested and for any lower function group.

If you fail the reasoning test, you cannot be invited to take another reasoning test for the same or higher function group for the next 4 months. However, you can still be invited to take reasoning tests for lower function groups.

The 4-month period is counted from the day on which the test was taken.

Please note that the recruiting services are not obliged to invite you for re-testing, after the 4-month period is over.

Note: the above 4-months period applies to candidates who took their tests from January 2025 on. Candidates who took their tests before cannot be re-invited for 6 months as in the previous version call for expression of interest.

The recruiting services may invite several candidates for recruitment tests for each vacant position. It is up to the recruiting services to provide feedback on the outcome of those tests to the candidates concerned.

However, should you not be successful on that occasion, your EPSO tests results will remain valid for 10 years (*), counting from the date when they are published in your EPSO Account.

Therefore, you may be invited to other interviews and/or recruitment tests by the same or another recruiter.

Don’t forget to update your application(s) at least every six months if you wish to remain visible to the recruiting services.

(*) This only applies to CAST/P procedures. Note that your tests results in the CAST/P selection procedure are not valid for other selection procedures.

If pre-selected and successful in the tests, the recruiting services interested in your profile will contact you (via the e-mail address in your EPSO Account) and invite you for a competency test comprising interviews and/or other tests organised by the recruiting services.

EPSO does not provide information to candidates on which recruiting service is interested in them at any stage of the selection procedure.

You can find more information about the employment conditions in the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants and in the Staff Regulations, as well as the latest information on salaries for officials and contract staff (annual update).

Only candidates pre-selected (shortlisted) by the recruiting services will be invited to sit the selection tests organised by EPSO.

If shortlisted, you will receive in your EPSO account an invitation to test. This invitation is usually published at least 2 weeks before the test date in your EPSO account. Please check your EPSO account at least every three calendar days. You must sit your test within the given timeframes.

The tests are computer-based multiple-choice tests. See more information on the IT and technical requirements for online testing

The type of contract will depend on many elements including on the recruiting service.

For more information about the contractual arrangements, please refer to Chapter 5. Recruitment of the Call for expression of interest.

Yes, you can be pre-selected (shortlisted) for more than one profile and/or function group.

If pre-selected more than once (by more than one recruiter) for the same profile in the same function group, you will only take the tests once.

If pre-selected for different profiles/function groups, you will be invited to sit the tests for these profiles/function groups in the order in which the requests were sent to EPSO by the recruiting services.

Neither the recruiter nor the candidates or EPSO can influence the order of test requests being processed.

Wilt u niet meer meedoen aan de tests waarvoor u bent uitgenodigd, dan legt u de test gewoon niet af.

Als u besluit de tests niet af te leggen, betekent dit niet dat uw dossier geblokkeerd wordt.

U kunt dus op een later tijdstip opnieuw worden uitgenodigd door een andere aanwervende dienst.

If you are no longer interested in being tested and/or recruited for a specific profile/function group, you can simply stop confirming your interest via your EPSO account. Six months after the last confirmation of interest or update to your application for that profile/function group, the application will become invisible to recruiters.

You will be able to reactivate your application at any time in the future.

Should you have a serious doubt about the content of a test question please contact EPSO's Candidate Contact Service within one (1) calendar day (that is, by the end of the day which follows the day of the tests) clearly stating the circumstances and your candidate number (see the procedure in the Call for Expression of Interest).

If an identified item does not comply with the EPSO's quality criteria, the following corrective measures will be applied:
- The item will be corrected or taken out of the database;
- Corrective measures may be taken in instances where EPSO finds that a candidate was negatively impacted. In such cases, EPSO will grant to that candidate an additional point for each annulled question, up to a maximum of one point per question in total.

Candidates whose test results cannot be impacted by the outcome of their complaint - either because they achieved the pass scores or because they would not reach the pass score(s) even if their complaint were upheld - will not have corrective measures applied.

Complaints submitted after the deadline or complaints which do not clearly describe the contested question(s) and/or alleged error(s) will not be considered. Complaints merely pointing out alleged issues of translation, without specifying the problem, will not be considered.

EPSO tests will only assess your knowledge of language 1 (L1), which can be any of the 24 official EU languages. It will be tested through the verbal, numerical, and abstract reasoning tests in a form of multiple-choice questions. Your knowledge of L1 needs to be at least at level C1 (proficient user).

Your knowledge of language 2 (L2) (to be chosen from amongst English, French and German, but different from L1) will be tested by the recruiting services. Your knowledge of L2 needs to be at least at level B2 (independent user).

Further information on the above tests is published on our sample tests’ page.

Recruiting services may organise additional language tests.

No. Creating more than one application for the same profile, including with different target languages is not permitted.

You can declare all your languages under ‘Linguistic skills’ in the application form if you have a working knowledge of more than two official languages. This will allow the recruiting services to find your application according to their specific language needs.

You can request special adjustments of selection tests for the CAST Permanent procedure in your application form by ticking the box ‘special requirements’. You will also need to fill in a detailed information form on your special needs and send us relevant supporting documents.

Should you be granted reasonable accommodations for the tests organised by EPSO, you will be informed on the details before your test date. In some cases, defining and putting in place the necessary adjustments may take some time, and therefore you might be invited to take the tests during the next testing period. Should this be the case we will inform you as soon as possible.

EPSO will make sure that all pre-selected (shortlisted) candidates are invited and tested in the best possible conditions.

Please note that other (recruitment) tests are organised directly by the recruiting services. Should you need special adjustments at the stage of the recruitment tests, please inform the recruiter as soon as you have received an invitation for the recruitment tests. Please note that EPSO will not share any information regarding your condition or special needs with the recruiters.

You can find more information about the employment conditions in the "Conditions of Employment of Other Servants" section in the Staff Regulations, as well as the latest information on salaries for officials and contract staff (annual update applicable from 14.12.2022).

Further information about the rules applicable to contract agents in the European Commission is available in the Commission decision C(2017)6760
For further information about the employment conditions in other EU institutions and bodies, we invite you to get in touch directly with their Human Resources services.

Candidates to contract agent selection procedures (CAST/P) cannot link supporting documents to their CAST/P application(s). Candidates will be notified by the recruiting services as to when they must provide documents supporting the declarations made in their application form. The recruiting services will determine which documents are acceptable.