Jobs in EU institutions come through three main routes: open competitions run by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) for permanent officials, a contract staff register that is open all year, and vacancy notices for temporary staff. In most cases you must be a citizen of an EU Member State and know at least two official EU languages, so check both rules before anything else.
The EU institutions, in this post, are the bodies that employ EU staff: the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council and the other institutions, plus the agencies and offices across Europe and the EU delegations abroad. The EU’s jobs and traineeships page counts 79 institutions, bodies and agencies and over 60,000 staff from the 27 EU countries.
What does EPSO do?
EPSO runs the selection procedures for permanent and contract staff for the EU institutions, bodies and agencies, and tests candidates in 24 languages. Its competitions page sets out the split: permanent staff are selected through open competitions that create reserve lists, while contract staff can apply at any time and are recruited as needs arise.
EPSO handles most roles, not all. The European Parliament also takes applications through its APPLY4EP platform, and the Council accepts spontaneous applications for temporary posts. EPSO offers no preparatory courses and endorses no outside training.
Which contract types are there?
Each route has its own rules:
| Route | Typical work | How you are selected | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent official | Administrators (AD), assistants (AST), secretaries and clerks (AST/SC) | An EPSO open competition, then a reserve list | Permanent |
| Temporary agent | Expert, policy or managerial roles | A vacancy notice from the institution or agency | Fixed term; one type allows up to 6 years in the same institution |
| Contract agent | Four function groups, from manual work to advisory work | Register with EPSO at any time, be shortlisted, pass tests | From 3 months to an indefinite contract, depending on the type |
| Trainee | University or vocational graduates | The Blue Book or a body’s own scheme | Usually 3 to 5 months |
How does an EPSO competition work?
There are two kinds of competition for permanent posts. Graduate competitions are open to graduates of any field, need no work experience, and recruit administrators at grade AD5, the entry grade. Specialist competitions are open to graduates and non-graduates with relevant work experience, and recruit administrators at AD6 to AD9 or assistants at AST3 to AST9.
The permanent positions page sets out the steps:
- Choose the competition and read its key documents.
- Log in to the Single Candidate Portal with an EU Login account, then complete and validate the form before the deadline.
- Sit the tests, to which every applicant is invited.
- EPSO checks eligibility, such as nationality, education, languages and experience.
- Successful candidates go on a reserve list.
For the AD5 graduate competition the online tests are reasoning, EU knowledge, digital skills and a written essay on EU matters, which EPSO says is not a language test and not a test of factual knowledge.
A place on the reserve list makes you eligible, not employed. When posts open, the institutions read the list, interview shortlisted candidates, and make offers, and more than one may contact you. EPSO’s FAQ says that on average 50% of candidates are recruited within 7 months. Reserve lists are generally valid for one year, or three for specialist competitions, from the day you are told you are on the list, and EPSO may extend them.
How do contract agent and temporary agent posts work?
Contract staff come through the Contract Agent Selection Tool, or CAST, a database of candidates that EPSO manages. You can register at any time, with no deadline. When an institution needs someone, it searches the database, shortlists candidates and invites them to online reasoning tests: verbal, numerical and abstract.
The contract staff page sets these education levels:
- Group I, manual or basic support work: compulsory education.
- Groups II and III, clerical, secretarial, executive and technical work: post-secondary education, or secondary education giving access to it, plus at least three years of experience.
- Group IV, administrative, advisory or linguistic work: at least three years of completed university education.
EPSO says passed results stay valid for 10 years, while EU Careers says several years, and a candidate who fails waits four months to retest. You can also apply to a contract vacancy posted on EU Careers, which leads to the same selection.
The length depends on the contract type. Article 3a contracts, used mainly by agencies and delegations, usually start at 3 months to 5 years, may be renewed once for up to 5 years, and any later renewal is usually indefinite. Article 3b contracts, used mainly by the Commission and the Parliament, are capped at 6 years in the same institution.
Temporary staff answer vacancy notices on EU Careers, and the temporary staff page says most ask for a CV, often in Europass format, a motivation letter and copies of your diplomas.
Who can apply: nationality and languages?
EPSO’s eligibility page says that in most cases candidates must be citizens of an EU Member State with full rights as citizens, have met any military service obligations under national law, and meet the character requirements for the duties. For anyone outside the EU, this is the first rule to check.
Candidates also need at least two official EU languages at the level the procedure sets, and linguistic profiles usually need three. For open competitions you can usually pick any two of the 24 official languages, and you cannot change them after the deadline.
For contract staff, two official pages differ. The FAQ asks for C1 in one official language and B2 in English, French or German. The procedure page asks for C1 in one and B2 in a second official EU language. The call you apply to has the final word.
How does the Blue Book traineeship work?
The Commission’s Blue Book is a paid five-month traineeship with two sessions a year, three types of traineeship and about 1,000 places per session. The types are administrative traineeships for university graduates and for vocational graduates, and a translation traineeship.
For the university graduate type, the eligibility page sets these rules:
- You are a national of an EU Member State, or of a candidate country with a pre-accession strategy, for a limited number of places in named departments only.
- You have a completed three-year degree, and you hold the diploma when you apply. Degrees from outside the EU count if they match a completed three-year cycle.
- EU nationals need English, French or German at C1 or C2, and a second EU language at B2 or above. Non-EU nationals need English, French or German at C1 or C2.
- You have not worked in any EU institution, body or agency for more than 6 weeks.
- You are 18 or older when the traineeship starts.
When are applications open and how are they assessed?
Applications for the March 2027 session ran from 22 July to 4 September 2026, and those for the October 2027 session run from 15 February to 12 March 2027. If you apply for more than one type in the same session, all your applications are rejected, and all supporting documents go in a single PDF.
Applications are assessed on education, languages, any work experience, any international profile and any rare field of study, with national guiding rates applied. Candidates who pass the eligibility checks enter the Virtual Blue Book, from which Commission services, agencies and bodies choose trainees. Entry does not guarantee a place.
The monthly grant is adjusted for the place of work. The Commission’s FAQ lists indicative basic grants for the March 2027 session of €1,572 in Belgium and Luxembourg and €1,814 in France. Subject to budget, trainees may also get a travel allowance of €309 and either a meal and transport allowance of 5% of the grant or an accommodation allowance of 20%, depending on the place.
Most other EU bodies and agencies run their own traineeships, usually of 3 to 5 months, and post the calls on their websites.
Where do EU agencies post their vacancies?
The EU Careers jobs list carries agency vacancies next to those of the institutions, with filters for the employer and the contract type, and EU Careers keeps a directory linking each of the 79 bodies to its own careers page. Some agencies also take applications on their own portal: the European Food Safety Authority uses its own careers site and says its selection is mainly in English, though other EU languages may be tested.
Questions people ask
Can non-EU citizens work in the EU institutions?
In most cases, no. Competitions and contract posts usually ask for citizenship of an EU Member State. The Blue Book takes a limited number of nationals of candidate countries in named departments.
How long is an EPSO reserve list valid?
Generally one year, or three for specialist competitions, from the day you are told. EPSO may extend it.
Do I need French to work for the EU?
Not as such. You need two official EU languages, and some routes ask for English, French or German as one of them. Read the call.
Is the Blue Book traineeship paid?
Yes. Trainees get a monthly grant adjusted for the place of work, plus some allowances subject to budget.
What we know and what we do not
The facts above come from EU Careers, EPSO’s selection site, the Commission’s traineeship site and the European Food Safety Authority’s careers page. We could not read the Staff Regulations on EUR-Lex, which answered with a bot challenge, so the contract rules come from the EU Careers summaries. One EPSO help page refused our request, and the two contract staff language rules above do not match.
Zorlya does not read EU Careers or EPSO’s sites, so these vacancies are not in your Zorlya feed. When a role is in your feed, Zorlya scores it against your resume, names its source and links to the original posting, where you apply. How it works shows the steps. For the call itself, one resume for many countries covers the CV and how to read a job posting covers the requirements. For bodies outside the EU, see international organization jobs.