Dear colleagues,

EPSO/AD/398/22 and EPSO/AST/151/22 are two open competitions for ITC specialists launched in February 2022 and still ongoing.

Last week, there was the second day of testing for the candidates to the AST competition, while one week ago, it was the turn of those competing for getting into the AD reserve list. In both cases, the exam consisted of the usual multiple choice questions test on verbal, numeral and abstract reasoning, followed by the case study after a 20-minute break.

Everything was remotely administered, as for the EPSO/AST/154/22 that was cancelled by EPSO, following too many complaints for technical reasons.

Did it go better this time? Well, apparently not! Many candidates experienced issues.

But before getting into the detail of what went wrong, let's see what is the inner problem of this "remote test" approach.

No more "equal treatment of candidates"

Back at the time before pandemics, candidates had to reach one of the Prometric physical test centres. While travelling may have been uncomfortable for some people, at least test centres assured a very similar, if not identical, testing experience everywhere. Test takers were all using more or the same model of workstation, with the same monitor size, the same type of keyboard, in a similar type of room, etc.

Now, this is not the case anymore. Candidates are supposed to run the exam remotely, using their own private computer. However, everyone does not necessarily have a computer at home or does not have a computer meeting the requirements of the competition, thus automatically excluding certain potential candidates or obliging some to buy or rent a computer specifically to take the examination.

Finally, also the test environment is far from standard. While some people may have a quiet and comfortable space at their disposal, many others will need to adapt to what they have. They may need to take the exam in their kitchen or bedroom. And maybe in a house with tiny walls, while their partner needs to have a video conference in another room, or the neighbours are mowing their lawn or having an argument. It seems even that a new market emerged recently: private companies hiring appropriate rooms to unfortunate EPSO candidates who need to sit a competition without fulfilling all the requirements of remote testing! At an additional cost for them of course!

Too many issues!

Unfortunately, the situation can be even worse.

First of all, due to technical and logistic issues on the Prometric side (including what was described as "worldwide issue" by their assistance on May 10 afternoon) many candidates had to wait up to two hours and half (!) after their scheduled time before actually having a successful security scan and taking the test.

Available time slots were already far from optimal (many had managed to book only for late in afternoon or evening), but can you imagine the consequence of staring at a screen for several endless minutes without a hint of what is going on, then trying to frantically contact an overwhelmed help desk for assistance?

And then, some people even experienced major technical issues in the middle of the exam, with the screen turning grey or black, and no other option than restarting the computer, waiting several minutes for a proctor to come and then do the security scan again. All of this, wasting the time allocated for the exam.

Something must be done

While EPSO claims that remote testing has improved with respect to the disaster that led to the cancellation of the EPSO/AST/154/22 competition, in reality the situation remains unacceptable. And the problem also affects the selection of contract agents: it would be a nasty issue if a candidate that is suitable for a position in the Commission must be rejected because of issues with the EPSO test.

Clearly, Prometric keeps delivering a poor service, and more in general the remote testing model seems not adequate to EPSO-like tests.

EPSO and the institutions must acknowledge the failure and significantly reconsider the approach, without persevering in adopting something that manifestly does not work.

A change of attitude is, first of all, a matter of respect for candidates. But also, the image of EU institutions is at stake, and their ability to effectively recruit the required specialist profiles.

As Union Suydicale, we would like to hear about your own experience with EPSO tests. Feel free to write us an e-mail and get in contact.

Union Syndicale will soon also organise other initiatives on this topic,

such as a roundtable to hear your opinion on the broader topic of competitions.

Stay tuned!