General information

Title of post	Inquiries Officer
Function group and grade	AD5
Purpose of the call for expression of interest	Draw up a reserve list of candidates to fill posts with temporary agents Immediate recruitment of two successful candidates
Legal basis for recruitment	Articles 2(a) (b) and 8 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the EU (CEOS)
Duration of contract	Initial contract up to four years with possibility of extension
Place of work	Brussels
Deadline for applications	12 September 2022

Who we are

The European Ombudsman’s mission is to support European citizenship. We do this by dealing with complaints and by working with the institutions of the EU to help create a more accountable, transparent, ethical and effective administration. The European Ombudsman promotes good administration and strives to identify bad administrative practices with a view to redress them.

The European Ombudsman investigates citizens’ complaints that range from poor communication and service, lack of transparency in decision-making and refusal of access to documents to violations of fundamental rights and contractual matters. The Office also conducts own-initiative inquiries into systemic issues with an impact on the quality of EU administration.

The Office’s guiding principles are independence, integrity, fairness, accountability, transparency, dialogue and service.

The European Ombudsman is a small, dynamic office with an establishment plan of roughly 75 posts and an annual budget of approximately EUR 12 million. Its offices are located in Brussels and Strasbourg. It offers a dynamic and respectful workplace including a good balance between private and professional life and a pleasant working atmosphere. The Office’s organisational structure enhances participation, facilitates skills’ development and our modern working tools allow for efficiency and flexibility. We attained gender balance for managers and administrators and went beyond targets.

What we are looking for

We seek highly qualified and motivated professionals with a strong sense of integrity who are eager to contribute to the Ombudsman’s mission.

The ideal candidate is interested in and familiar with the following areas:

• institutional, governance, and policy issues,
• transparency and public access to documents,
• ethical principles, conflicts of interests and regulatory issues,
• human rights and fundamental freedoms,
• contracts and public tenders,
• recruitment and staff issues, including whistleblowing.

We value dynamic, versatile colleagues with a wide range of interests, who are curious, are fast and eager learners, take initiatives, are at ease to assume responsibilities. They can work under reasonable time pressure, prioritise and meet deadlines. They are resilient. Collaborative work and service-orientation are essential.

Working as an Inquiries Officer

Inquiries officers assist the Ombudsman to carry out inquiries based on complaints either from citizens or at the Ombudsman’s own-initiative.

When conducting inquiries, the officers:

• Analyse complaints and draft Ombudsman decisions and other inquiry related documents under the supervision of the Director of Inquires or the Head of Case-handling Unit;
• Participate in meetings with and inspections of other EU institutions, agencies and bodies.

In addition to conducting inquiries, they may also be asked to:

• Help to actively identify issues relevant to EU public administration and suitable for investigation at the Ombudsman's own-initiative;  
• Contribute to drafting Ombudsman reports and policy papers;
• Conduct research on issues falling within the Ombudsman’s mandate;
• Contribute to the outreach activities of the European Ombudsman by speaking at public events and representing the Office in meetings;
• Represent the Office in inter-institutional committees;
• Carry out other tasks depending on the needs of the office as well as your experience and skills.

The Inquires Officers will work in the Directorate of Inquiries.

Place of employment

The place of employment will be Brussels. This post will involve missions to the Strasbourg office of the European Ombudsman and to the other working places of the EU Institutions. It may also involve missions to other countries in or outside the European Union.

Who can apply

Applicants must meet the following requirements at the time of applying:

(a) General conditions

• be nationals of one of the Member States of the European Union;
• enjoy their full rights as citizens;
• have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the laws concerning military service.

(b) Specific conditions

Qualifications:

• a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma.

Relevant study domains include but are not limited to law, politics, European studies, public administration, economics and audit.

Knowledge of languages:

• a thorough knowledge of one of the European Union’s official languages^[1] and very good knowledge of at least one other is required.

Knowledge and skills required

• Excellent understanding of the mission and work of the Ombudsman and its role within the EU institutional setting.
• Very good knowledge of the European Union institutional framework.
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills.
• Very good communication skills including inter-personal communication.
• Strong commitment to maintaining a positive work environment and good working relationships within the office and with external interlocutors;
• Commitment to a culture of service towards citizens and institutions and strong professional integrity;
• Strong planning and organisation skills;
• Ability to work under pressure and handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• As internal drafting and complaint-related communication is carried out in English, a thorough knowledge of English and in particular excellent drafting skills.

Advantageous

• Very good knowledge of EU law, including public administrative law.
• Working knowledge of additional official languages (besides L1 and English) of the European Union.

Legal Basis

The successful candidate(s) will be recruited as temporary agents in accordance with Articles 2(a) (b) and 8 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the EU (CEOS).

Equal Opportunities

The European Ombudsman is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from qualified people and seeks to actively promote diversity in the workplace. Reasonable accommodation will be provided to applicants with disabilities.

Independence and declaration of interests

Before taking up their duties, candidates are required to declare that they will act independently in the public interest and have no interests, which might be considered prejudicial to their independence.

Data protection

Personal data which candidates provide for the purposes of this se lection procedure will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC.^[2]

Selection procedure

A Selection Committee will initially evaluate and compare the qualifications, experience and motivation of the eligible applicants, on the basis of their applications.[3] Based on this comparative assessment, the Selection Committee will invite the candidates attaining the pass mark of 70% to complete a case study. Only candidates with the best marks in the case study will be invited to an interview with the Selection Committee. Among the interviewed candidates, the Selection Committee may decide to invite the top ranked candidates to attend a second interview with the Committee.

The best-ranked candidates following the interview(s) with the Selection Committee will be placed on a reserve list. The reserve list will include up to 15 successful candidates.[4]The list will be valid until the end of 2023. Its validity may be extended, in principle, for one year. [5]

Recruitment as a temporary agent is subject to a successful interview with the Ombudsman.

The Office intends to recruit two successful candidates immediately after the finalisation of the procedure.

Other candidates on the reserve list will be contacted when new vacancies arise.

Should containment measures against Coronavirus be in place at the time of interviews, candidates could be interviewed by video-conference.

All applicants will be informed of the outcome of each step of the selection procedure.

Applications

Candidates must submit their application through the online application system on the Ombudsman’s website (www.ombudsman.europa.eu/office/careers) by 12 September 2022 (17:00, Brussels time) at the very latest.

Late applications will not be considered.

Any correspondence concerning the selection procedure should be addressed to the following e-mail address: career@ombudsman.europa.eu (the email must have in the subject the following title: OMB/6/2022).

For information on the available post, you may contact Ms Jennifer King at: jennifer.king@ombudsman.europa.eu or +32 2 28 41541.

Inquiries about technical matters should be addressed to: WebMasterEo@ombudsman.europa.eu

To be valid, applications must include:

(a) a motivation letter in English explaining the applicant’s interest in this position;

(b) a copy of the applicant’s curriculum vitae in English (preferably europass CV: http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/).

Candidates invited to an interview with the SC will be required to submit the following documents prior to the interview:

(c) a copy of a document proving the candidate’s citizenship;

(d) copies of supporting documents relating to the candidate’s studies;

(e) if applicable, copies of evidence of professional experience (such as a contract or a signed attestation by the employer) for each position, clearly indicating the starting and finishing dates, the job title, and the exact nature of the duties carried out.

 

Only the candidates who will be eventually recruited will be asked to prove that they enjoy their full rights as citizens and have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the laws concerning military service.

Strasbourg, 25/07/2022

Emily O'Reilly

 

[1] The European Union’s official languages are: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.

[2] OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39.

[3] The European Ombudsman publishes the names of the Committee members on its website once established.

[4] Candidates of equal merit will be placed on the list even if the total number exceeds the maximum number of 15 candidates.

[5] Please note that inclusion in the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment.