EU Careers event, February 2015

We held a ‘Careers in the EU’ event at the Centre on 5 February. The objective was to help young people find out about the procedures for getting a job or traineeship with the EU institutions, and to hear from people who are working or have worked for the EU.

The event was organised jointly by the Cardiff EDC and Charles Whitmore, EU Careers Ambassador to Cardiff University. The appeal of the subject was indicated by the event being greatly oversubscribed. Fortunately, Charles Whitmore was able to organise a shorter second meeting on the following day for those unable to get into our event.

There were four speakers:

• Charles Whitmore introduced the procedures for securing a job or traineeship at the EU institutions.
• David Hughes, Head of the European Commission’s Representation in Wales, talked about his experiences of securing a job at the European Commission through the UK Fast Stream procedure and the range of interesting jobs he has had in the European Commission over twenty years.
• Ben Ritchie, Membership Manager of the Probation Institute (and a former student of Cardiff University) described his positive experience of an EU Traineeship in the European Commission and gave lots of useful and practical tips.
• Finally, we were pleased to welcome Delyth Evans from the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO).

Many questions were asked and a good number in the audience suggested that they would seriously consider the EU Institutions for a job or traineeship.