About a year ago, my wife and I decided to look for jobs in the EU institutions, which meant applying through the EPSO competitions. We both applied for every competition we were eligible for, even AST1, despite both having doctorates. Having worked hard and passed the first round of the AD competitions in Audit and European Public Administration, we knew we would need some extra training and preparations in order to get through the final interview stages.

We started searching the internet for sources of guidance, and came across Carmen’s EPSO Coaching and Training site. We had also heard about her through a friend, so we decided to see whether she would be able to give us the help we needed. Although I had taken part in several different preparation courses before, I didn’t feel that they had prepared me adequately for the final stages of the EPSO recruitment process. The stakes were high, and both myself and my wife wanted to be sure of getting through.

After speaking with Carmen, we each booked two sessions of coaching and training, at two hours per session. These sessions were very timely, as they took place shortly before the interviews. They had a dual purpose; firstly to make a list of potential questions and answers, but also to assess our personal strengths and areas for improvement.

For me, I particularly appreciated the way Carmen approached the coaching sessions; I felt it was professional, constructive and most importantly Carmen had great insight into what the institutions are looking for. She asked exactly the right sort of questions, and really helped me to work on my answers. Carmen explained that it is important to realise that there are no ‘right’ answers, but what you can do is to present your best self. In that we, she used my answers as a base from which to work from, and helped me to understand how they could be presented.

My wife was in a slightly different situation; having had a career break in order to start our family, she was concerned about how to present this. Carmen was able to give her good advice about how to show this in a positive light, and helped her to gain confidence.

What Carmen really helped us to do was to prioritise and focus on what was important in these interviews. The coaching and training definitely paid off; we now both have the EU careers we wanted. I have a very interesting job, working in a Parliamentary Committee secretariat and my wife works in the European Commission in analysis and research, a job which means she can extend the work she started during her PhD.

I would recommend Carmen to anyone who is looking to prepare thoroughly and successfully for their next career move, and I would definitely work with her again.