Back in December 2017, EPSO interviewed Pavel Zbornik, a EU civil servant and member of AEGEE
since 2009. Pavel holds a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and Management at the Czech
Technical University in Prague, and he’s currently a Business Analysis Assistant in DG Research and
Innovation, working in Unit J5, Common service for Horizon 2020 information and data, in Brussels.

What does your job involve? What are the best/ worst bits about your job?  What has been your
greatest achievement?
I support the elaboration of policy analysis on the basis of data and statistics and prepare related
report. It includes management of requests for statistical information (analysis, research, drafting
replies) from internal and external stakeholders and contribution to the improvement of the
reporting environment.
What are the best and worst parts of your job? 
The best would be probably being part of well-functioning international team and be able see
meaningful results of my work. On the opposite side it would probably be having quite often very tight
deadlines, the word urgent has lost meaning for me. It is difficult to describe any concrete achievements from the nature of my work, one could say that meeting my deadlines is an achievement.
What did you do before working for the EU? What year did you start working for the EU?
I was on the opposite side of the barricade, as board member of AEGEE-Europe for 2 years I was
responsible to write and manage grant proposals for EU and other funders. When my responsibilities
in AEGEE finished in 2014 I was selected to be Blue Book trainee in EACEA where I stayed
another two years as external IT Consultant to help with training users and testing internal grant
management tool. I would consider myself working for the EC more as a series of coincidences than deliberately
trying to get it, triggered by moving to Brussels to work for AEGEE-Europe. To use a cliché quote from
Forest Gump: “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get”.
What has been the most surprising thing about working for the EU?
As an engineer I never paid too much attention to importance of languages and my arrival to the
multilingual environment that the EC is, was sort of a reality check. Having meetings where language is
changed back and forth requires certain adaptation.

EPSO’s grassroot project to publicise careers at the European Institutions is the EU Careers Student Ambassadors Programme. Launched in 2010, it allows enthusiastic students from the EU’s most prestigious universities all over the Member States to become EPSO’s Ambassadors on their campuses.

To become ambassadors, the most motivated students from all over the EU go through a training session that takes place mainly in Brussels, but also in other European cities. During this training, students learn all they need to know to successfully carry out their job for the following season.

The project has consistently grown since its launch in 2010, when there were only 23 Ambassadors in 23 universities. Today, for the 2017/2018 season, EPSO’s fleet consists of 120 Ambassadors from 111 universities! The constant growth of students has continuously increased the number of people reached throughout the EU.

Becoming an EU Career Ambassador means being EPSO’s point of reference in every member state. In order to successfully reach out to students, Ambassadors perform various activities to promote Careers, such as organising presentations, conferences and one-on-one chats with students, managing the local EU Careers social media pages, and responding to all the queries related to the EU or to a career in it. In 2016, Ambassadors organised 817 events in 28 countries, reaching out to more than 85,000 students!

The whole experience is professionally enriching for the students and looks especially good for employers, as it greatly improves several transferable skills such as communication, inter-personal and public speaking skills, not to mention the rich network that participants will develop by the end of the academic year. In a nutshell, being an EU Student Ambassador is a great experience!

If you would like to find out more about the programme, just visit the website.

Looking for accommodation in a new city is not easy. Well, it wasn’t, until now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-FfDqC2tog

Are you moving abroad to work or to study?

What if we told you, you can get your housing sorted before even arriving in your new city?

With Spotahome you can.

Spotahome makes finding a new home fast and easy. It’s a 100% online platform where you can book your new place from anywhere.

With Spotahome in just a few clicks you can:

– watch virtual video tours of the property

– browse photos

– review detailed floor plans

– and read honest descriptions of the property and neighbourhood.

Their team personally checks each property they offer so that you can make your bookings in complete confidence.

They even guarantee that the conditions of the property will be as described in the listing.

Spotahome helps you save time. No more calling to schedule appointments or running around the city to visit properties that may not be worth your time. It all happens online: you look, you choose, you book!

They secure your payment too. You only pay once the landlord has confirmed your booking and they pay the landlord only after you have moved in.

Get around language barriers. You don’t speak the local language of the new city you are moving to? No worries!! With Spotahome, all their listings are in English. They even take care of the negotiation with the landlord for you.

With Spotahome you can have 100% confidence in your booking. They guarantee against last minute bookings by the landlord and take care of hotel expenses and relocations.

Spotahome makes finding your new home secure, transparent, fast and easy.

They do all the hard work for you, so all you need to do is enjoy your new city when you arrive.