Aim for Your Dreams - Interview with Council of the EU Trainee

By Sofia Bertolaja, 8 minutes

Recently, blue&yellow journalist Sofia had the opportunity to interview one of the founders of ECA Maastricht, who is currently doing a traineeship at the Council of the European Union in Brussels. Jakub Rurarz is 23 years old and comes from Warsaw, Poland. He studied European Law (Bachelor’s and Master’s) in Maastricht. By working at the European Institutions, he hopes to make an impact on millions of people. In this article, you will read about his personal experiences as a trainee at the Council of the European Union and receive some tips that can help you start your career in the EU.

What are you doing at the moment? What does your traineeship involve? 

Since February, I am a Trainee at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. I work in the legal service, in Directorate JUR.4, which deals with inter-institutional relations, litigation, transparency and staff regulations. Among others, I work with access to documents requests, by preparing replies and dealing with Ombudsman inquiries, and I prepare written submissions for the Court of Justice in cases where the Council is the defendant or an intervener, all of that under the eye of the Council’s legal advisors.  I am also helping my colleagues with proposal codifications. Codifying means adopting the initial legal act and all the amendments that were added to it throughout the years as a new legal act. If there are a lot of amendments to an act, it becomes complicated to follow and understand, so the Commission can propose to codify it and have a revised version adopted with all the amendments previously passed included. A further version of codifications is recast, which are codifications with further substantive changes adopted at the same time. I work on both from the legal side, assessing what amendments are or are not substantive, checking on the Commission’s work and making sure they are not “sneaking in”  substantial changes. This is a very exciting job given that the Commission has the power of initiative, meaning that it is the only institution that can propose changes to legislation. Therefore, it is essential it does so in a correct way. 

What motivated you to do a traineeship at the Council of the EU?

Thanks to the ECA, I knew that doing a traineeship in one of the European institutions is a valuable experience because you get to see how the institutions work on the inside, how EU law is made, how it is implemented, and how politicians work with civil servants. Gaining first experiences in the institutions is highly appreciated and sought after by employers anywhere in the public sector, in the private sector, and in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). I would advise everyone to try to get a traineeship either at the Council or at the European Parliament because you get to experience the entire institutional architecture of the Union. For example, you will see legislation being made, go to committees in the Parliament and working parties in the Council, and meet decision-makers. This type of traineeship is fantastic for gaining essential experiences for your future career, and it will allow for new career opportunities. I am grateful that I got the offer from the Council. 

How did you apply?

Every institution has its own system for selecting trainees, and those systems work very differently from one Institution to the other. For the Council, you will have to apply through their website. Annually, there are two application rounds.  The Trainees start in February or in September, and you apply several months in advance before the five months traineeship. The application needs to provide information about your education, work experience, and languages. Then, you need to provide a statement of your motivation. You may choose the directorate-general for which you would like to work. Afterwards and with some luck, you will be shortlisted for a specific directorate (or unit) based on what you indicated in your application.  Finally, someone from that directorate will invite you for an interview. The interview is going to be around half an hour and will concern primarily your motivation, with some substance questions as well. They asked me why I wanted to do the Traineeship, what I hoped to learn from it, and how I would be a good addition to their team. On EU law, they asked several questions about the Ordinary Legislative Procedure, the delegated and implementing acts, and the role of the Council in the institutional architecture. After that, I received a response very quickly.  

What are the main challenges of receiving a traineeship offer? 

I think the biggest challenge is to get on the shortlist. If you are a good candidate, you have good chances that you will do a good impression during the interviews, and that is something you can prepare for and practice with your friends, and with ECA workshops. However, the problem is that even if you are a qualified candidate, if your online application does not highlight your skills you might not be short-listed. So the main difficulty is to really prepare your application well, focus on keywords, highlight your top skills, and show your motivation and how you are a good match for your chosen Directorate-General. 

Another difficulty might be that it is very difficult to get a Traineeship in the Institutions without a master’s degree because they receive thousands of applications and prioritise candidates with a higher level of education. What helps are language skills and work experience.

What do you like the most about your current traineeship?

I can see all the different areas of the Council’s activity.  I get to see litigation, legislative procedures, transparency, administrative work, and staff cases because I work with different legal advisors that handle these affairs on a regular basis. As a Trainee, I feel very supported and taken seriously by my colleagues and by senior lawyers. They give me concrete tasks, and I can draft and work on important documents, such as amendments to the legislation. They also guide me and explain how things work and provide me with feedback. Finally, the Traineeship Office of the Council also organises many events, such as visits to other Institutions in Luxembourg and Strasbourg. We had talks with invited guests and had a career fair organised together with the Commission. The Council of the EU is doing a lot to make my experience memorable and positive. 

What are the most challenging aspects of your traineeship?

I would say that a challenge is that I am working on many things that I couldn’t have learned at university. When I arrived, I had no idea how to write a defence in a case at the Court of Justice, and I had to learn it from scratch. I did not know how to prepare a reply to the European Ombudsman. I did not know how transparency rules work in practice. I had to ask my colleagues how to get it done. So I would advise you not to be shy about it, you always need to ask, and people are happy to help you. For me, another difficulty was working in French. The Council, and the Legal Service, in particular, is an environment where French is used a lot - during meetings, for documents, and especially for Court cases. I speak French, but I did not know legal expressions in French, because I did my law studies in English, so adapting to writing full legal documents in French was a big challenge. 

What is the most rewarding aspect of it?

One thing that is great when you start working is that you work from 9 am to 6 pm and weekends are off, which means after work hours, you don’t even have to think about work. At university, I would be working and studying quite a lot in the evenings and during weekends, and worry about getting ready for exams, finishing my thesis, and so on. When you work, it's much easier to keep a work-life balance. It's very good for your mental health and for keeping good relationships with people, so that is very rewarding.

What do you wish to have known in advance on how to get accepted to this traineeship?

I wish I had known how it works inside the institution and what things can make a difference in your online application. For example, I knew that speaking French can increase your chances. But, I did not know that you can get extra points for your GPA, the subject of your thesis, the grade you got from your thesis, or specific courses you took. So while you are picking your courses or the topic of your thesis at university, it is good to know that you can get points or be considered by someone who makes the decision about your traineeship.

Thank you very much for your words and time. Do you have anything more to add? 

I might have a comment for those that will already start a traineeship soon. From July 1st I will be appointed as a legal adviser in the Council. There are opportunities to stay in the institutions after your traineeship, but you must ensure that they know you want to stay. If that is your intention, try to give your hierarchy a good impression, do your tasks on time, provide quality work, come to the meetings on time, dress correctly and make your voice heard.   There might be opportunities for you to get a job if your colleagues see you’re a valuable team member and if an open position appears.  It is much easier to stay if you are already a trainee because someone might recommend you, or help you get shortlisted.  I took part in the internal selection process with a couple of candidates, so it was a much smaller selection process than the public ones, where you have dozens of candidates for a spot. Maastricht is getting a high reputation in Brussels and European affairs. Overall, aim for your dreams!