Global Careers Events - Sheona Dorson-King & Rossella Salvia, in Europe
Every year the University of Leeds Careers centre, which has been positioned as one of the top 5 career services in the UK, organises a Global Careers series to accommodate a variety of students interested in working internationally. This year the series included talks about working in China, Asia-Pacific, India with the final week focusing on Europe. My colleague Arianna and I attend two of the Europe Week events: ‘Working at EU institutions’ and ‘Job Interviews at UNESCO’. In both talks, we received tips on how to receive a job offer from EU institutions as well as some first-hand experience and insights of working there.
One of the speakers Sheona Dorson-King, a University of Leeds Alumna is working in the Domain Leadership Coordination, HR Business Correspondent & Internal Communication in the Directorate-General for Communication. She has the privilege to report directly to the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen!
The reason why she chose to study at the University of Leeds was the revolutionary course of Modern Languages and Literature that was offered at the time, which not only focused on foreign literature, but also on the management, and had an excellent reputation. She studied French and German at the same linguistic level, with the opportunity to study one term in a French-speaking country (University of Lille), and another in Germany, she also did a year abroad as a teaching assistant in Vienna. When she came back to Leeds, her biggest dream was to go back to Vienna as soon as possible.
Another inspirational speaker was Rossella Salvia who is currently working as a Focal Point for the Young Professional Programme, with professional experience at UNESCO of over 25 years. She focused her presentation on the values of UNESCO, creating an understanding for the audience of what it entails to work in a public sector and what sort of people the organisation is looking for.
Both speakers provided amazing and very useful tips for the future of our careers.
1. Explore your options
For some students their career pathway is clearly guided by their studies, for others, it’s a little more difficult to decide what they want to do after graduating. To that, Sheona responded:
“My piece of advice is to take as much from everyone as you can, but in the end make up your own mind, decide by yourselves. Talk to as many people as possible to make a very reasoned decision at the end”
2. Stay on the look-out for job opportunities
In order to start working for the EU commission, it is necessary to pass a competition, which is a compulsory test that every applicant needs to take in order to work for EU institutions.
“Competitions are issued on a regular basis, therefore, it is very important to constantly look at the job portal, to not to miss opportunities.”
3. Simulate an environment that is similar to where the actual test will take place
“Practise, practise, practise! If the test takes place on a computer screen, you need to practice on the screen, not on a book, in order to find yourself more comfortable and confident during the test and to be prepared for any unexpected situations!”
4. Polish your CV
Before applying to any position, make sure you highlight the keywords outlined in the application and present your CV and cover letter in a way that is tuned to the job you are applying for.
5. Apply for the right reasons
If money is what you’re looking for, that is absolutely fine, however, you have to understand that public office jobs won’t provide you with high salaries. You have to be committed to the cause and genuinely interested in the job you’re applying to, to be a successful candidate.
Both speakers finished by saying that working in their sector is a life-long learning process, with continuous training courses, additional language learning classes, and more specialisation within their careers. I hope this was an insightful summary that will get you interested in researching more about the institutions and possibly lead to choosing within the public sector. Here are a few links for further interest.
Job opportunities portal of the European Union: https://epso.europa.eu/job-opportunities_en
Traineeship portal of the European Union: https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/traineeships
UNESCO careers: https://en.unesco.org/careers
Recordings of the events can be found here: http://careerweb.leeds.ac.uk/globalcareers