“Keep Your Goal In Mind”: Interview with former Council of Europe Employee
Source: Council of Europe
By Paula Nörr, 8 minutes.
For our Career Insight section, I had the opportunity to interview a young woman, who worked one year as a project assistant in the Economic Crime and Cooperation Division of the Council of Europe after she did a five-month-traineeship in the Counter-Terrorism Division. We talked about the course of her own career, the sometimes very exhausting job search procedure, and the ambition of young people to pursue a career in one of the European institutions. She prefers to remain anonymous but you will read about interesting personal experiences of a trainee and employee at the Council of Europe, such as tips and recommendations, that will help you to start your own career in one of the European institutions.
To start from the beginning and make your career path more comprehensible – what did you study in your Bachelor’s and Master’s degree? And why did you decide to do two Master’s degrees in the end?
In my Bachelor’s degree, I studied Liberal Arts and Sciences with a focus on Criminology. After that, I did a one-year Master’s degree in Criminology followed by an LL.M. in Public International Law. I always wanted to study Public International Law but my applications got rejected as I did not do a pure law Bachelor’s degree. Therefore, I did a Master’s degree in Criminology first and gave the application for Public International Law later another try. The second time I had more luck, and I got an offer to pursue an LL.M.
What did you do after you finished your studies? Did you directly apply for the traineeship at the Council of Europe?
I did my Bachelor’s, and first Master’s degree in Criminology right after another. Then I was advised to better gain some insight in the job world first and gather working experience. At the same time, I was lucky enough to get a job offer from an audit firm through connections. Although I never planned to work in the private sector, I was grateful for the experience, and I can only recommend graduates to not be too strict on their first job experience. It is useful to broaden your horizon and to try a job position that might not seem to “fit” into your aspired career path at first sight. After I’ve worked at the audit firm for one year, I did my second Master’s degree followed by the traineeship at the Council of Europe.
It is good to hear that a career path is not as straightforward as some students might imagine before they start working and should rather be flexible. Have you always pursued a career in a European institution? Why and if not, when did you become interested in it?
My personal interests and career goals lie specifically in the field of organized crime. Since these crimes are nowadays usually transnational issues, I always knew that I would like to work in an institution where several countries cooperate to curb criminality transnationally. Therefore, it was more important to me to work in a transnational organization than specifically in a European one.
Additionally, I very much appreciate working with people who share similar values and are also driven by the goal to make a positive impact and give something back to society. I enjoy working with people who are as passionate about their work and concerned about its consequences on society as me. My own experience lets me believe that chances are proportionately higher to end up with these kinds of people at the EU, the Council of Europe, or also at the UN than in the private sector.
How did you know about the traineeship or the open position at the Council of Europe? Can you recommend a particular vacancy board or is it more about networks and knowing people?
In the beginning, I primarily looked for jobs on big vacancy boards, but retrospectively I believe this made me apply for many jobs I was not convinced of or where my profile did not even fit in, which resulted in many rejections. Therefore, I started to create a list of possible employers, and I also put institutions like the EU or Europol on it. The difference was that I only noted down institutions that I could really see myself working for and then I regularly checked their open vacancies directly on their websites.
With regards to networking, it always helped me to talk to people about their previous job positions and organisations they have worked for or done internships at. This is also how I ended up at the Council of Europe: During a conference at the UN I once met a woman who had worked at the Council and her experiences inspired me so much that I basically added the Council to my list. During my online job search, I found the call for applications for the traineeship. The traineeship then enabled me to get to know many colleagues at the Council of Europe, and when my traineeship was almost over a colleague offered me a position in the Economic Crime and Cooperation Division.
It makes sense to me to approach the job search more systematically and of course, it is always inspiring to get in contact with people that are already more forward in their careers. What did the application procedure look like? And finally arriving at the Council of Europe, what was your first impression?
The application procedure for the traineeship was quite straightforward, which means I handed in my CV, transcripts, and a letter of motivation. For the job position at the Council, I sent these documents again and I also had an informal interview with my new boss in order to present myself and my motivations personally and to get to know the tasks I would be doing in the new division. Concerning my first impression, I felt very welcomed when I arrived at the Council of Europe. The Human Resources Division organised an introduction week, which gave the trainees the opportunity to get to know each other but also to get an introduction into the workings of the Council.
Source: Council of Europe
Let us now go more into detail: What were your tasks or responsibilities in the respective positions?
During my traineeship in the Counter-Terrorism Division, I did background research on current topics that the Council of Europe’s member states considered important to tackle, for example how to deal with returning foreign terrorist fighters. Despite of background research, my work included helping to draft recommendations that aimed to set out guidelines for member states to follow. Thus, the goal was to streamline European approaches to specific topics, such as in my case during the traineeship how to deal with returning terrorist fighters in Europe.
In my position as a project assistant my tasks were less substantial and more centred around the organization of, and cooperation between, member states. I worked on joint projects of the EU and the Council of Europe that aimed to assess states’ anti-money laundering and anti-corruption standards. This kind of work would normally have included travels to different countries, but they were all cancelled due to Covid. Instead, I was responsible to organize online assessments and draft the final reports analysing and summarizing the assessments. Of course, the Covid situation generally impacted my work experience because I began working at the Council when the pandemic started, which means I was mostly working from home and I, unfortunately, could not interact much with my colleagues in person.
What was the most interesting part of your time at the Council of Europe and was there something you did not enjoy? Or something future employees and trainees should be aware of?
For me, it was very interesting to cooperate with non-EU member states like Russia, because that gave me an idea of the complexity of diplomacy, and it showed me how interesting but also difficult it is to work together with various states. I would even say the diplomatic and more multinational dimension of the Council of Europe makes it more interesting as a workplace than the EU, but of course also more tenacious in its functioning.
It used to be the case that, unless one gets a job via an open competition like it is the case with EU institutions, young staff is contracted on a temporary basis, which implied that I was only allowed to work nine out of twelve months. This, in turn, leaves you with three unpaid months per year, which can be problematic. Sometimes you do not even get a contract for nine months but for shorter periods and then the contract is prolonged every few months. This way of contracting made it difficult for me to settle down in Strasbourg as I never knew whether my contract would be prolonged or not.
Are there any last tips or recommendations you would like to give students on the way that pursue a career in a European institution?
Firstly, learn French! It makes things way easier when you want to work in a European or international institution. Secondly, do not give up too early when some (or all) of your applications are rejected. Before I started at the Council of Europe, I applied for more than 40 jobs without getting a job offer. You will not find your dream job right from the beginning and sometimes you might have to accept a position that you do not like that much in order to gather some work experience to then be able to apply for your dream positions. If your goal is to work in an EU institution or the Council of Europe, I think the easiest way to get into one of these institutions is to do an internship or traineeship. That way you get to know colleagues and are the first to be considered for new open positions. Finally, always keep your goal in mind during this whole process of job search and working experiences. One day you will arrive there!
Thank you very much for sharing some of your insights as a trainee and employee of the Council of Europe. I believe that your experiences and tips are very helpful and encouraging for students, who are just about to start their career in the field of European institutions.