The European Personnel Selection Office (Epso), the body responsible for the recruitment of EU officials, is introducing computer-based testing to cope with the large number of candidates who want to join the organisation.
Based in Brussels, Epso organises open competitions to find candidates who can fill posts within all institutions of the EU, such as the European Parliament, European Council and the Court of Justice.
The posts are advertised on the Epso website, in the national press of the countries concerned and on some internet job-boards. Candidates, who can number 25,000 or more depending on the role, apply online via the office’s website.
All applicants are currently invited to sit paper-based pre-selection tests which assess, among other things, their verbal and numerical reasoning ability.
To streamline this process, Epso is introducing computer-based testing for the pre-selection of candidates, who will take the verbal and non-verbal reasoning tests on computer in supervised test centres across Europe.
Assessment firm PSL won the contract to provide multiple-choice verbal and non-verbal reasoning questions for the new tests.
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Erik Halskov, director of Epso, said: “We’re modernising our procedures and making the best use of technology to ensure we can deal efficiently with the high volume of applications we receive.”
The new tests will initially be used for the selection of temporary staff this autumn. The tests will then be phased in for graduate and non-graduate roles.
