In order to attract the very best talent to work at the EU Institutions, the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) will accept for the first time in this annual recruitment drive applications from candidates who are still in their final year of undergraduate study, allowing the EU to compete with top recruiters from across the public and private sectors. This process launched on 16 March, sees the opening of the second annual EU Careers 'Administrator' recruitment drive, for candidates in fields such as law, economics and policy development.

The second annual EU Careers 'Administrator' recruitment drive launched in March 2011 aims to identify around 300 successful candidates to become new EU officials, serving the interests of over 500 million citizens across Europe. Interested applicants can find out more details about the process and register on-line at the EU Careers website. The registration period will be open until 14 April 2011.

Among the new features introduced in the second annual drive, a key part of the assessment process will now be available in all 23 of the official EU languages. Demonstrating the EU Institutions' commitment to multilingualism, applicants will now for the first time sit verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning tests in their main language. This change is especially important considering that all of the main EU selection procedures are open to citizens from all 27 member states.

Furthermore, the process introduces for the first time in 2011 a split between applications for recent graduates and for those with professional experience. This change will allow candidates who have at least six years experience in their field to enter at a higher level.

These modifications are a further improvement in the radical overhaul of the EU institutions recruiting process initiated by EPSO in the first annual drive in 2010. These changes introduced an annual cycle of key selection procedures, making application periods more predictable for interested applicants, and a greater focus on competency and skill.

The final key improvement was to the speed and efficiency of the application process which has allowed large selection procedures to be carried out in just 10 months, instead of 2 years under the previous system, and smaller procedures to be reduced to just 6 months.