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Communications Assistant in the Corporate Communications Unit

EUROPOL - European Police Office

The Hague, Netherlands

Reporting to: Senior Specialist in the Corporate Communications Unit (G4)

Head of Corporate Communications Unit (G4)

1. Background

Europol is located in The Hague, The Netherlands, and its main tasks are the following:

a) to collect, store, process, analyse and exchange information and intelligence;

b) to aid investigations in the Member States, in particular by forwarding all relevant information to the national units;

c) to ask the competent authorities of the Member States concerned to initiate, conduct or coordinate investigations and to suggest the setting up of joint investigation teams in specific cases;

d) to provide intelligence and analytical support to Member States in connection with major international events;

e) to prepare threat assessments, strategic analyses and general situation reports relating to its objective, including organised crime threat assessments.

For more information please visit Europol’s website www.europol.europa.eu.

2. Purpose of the post

The principal function of the Corporate Communications Unit is to promote awareness of Europol. The activities of the Corporate Communications Unit cover looking after internal and external communication strategies, handling of press and media contacts and public request as well as organising PR events and visits. The Corporate Communications Unit is also responsible for open sources research, media analyses and producing publications.

The successful candidate will contribute to the daily work of the Corporate Communications Unit by providing assistance with the administration of day-to-day matters as well as publishing and editing matters.

3. Tasks and responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Head of Unit, the successful candidate will have to carry out the following main duties:

  • Maintain and update Europol website and intranet content;
  • Provide support to the media production of the Unit (photo, video, etc);
  • Assist in the development and implementation of a social media strategy and manage the presence in social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter and other similar community sites and seeding content into social applications as needed;
  • Assist in coordinating PR and media work;
  • Contribute to and support the creation of Europol publications;
  • Participate in and support Europol’s presence in exhibitions and other relevant public events;
  • Provide support to other administrative or organisational duties relating to ongoing and newly established projects;
  • Any other administrative duties in the area of competence as assigned by the Head of Unit.

4. Requirements

4.1 Eligibility criteria:

a. Candidates must

  • Be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union and enjoy full rights as a citizen;
  • Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws on military service;
  • Produce appropriate character references as to his or her suitability for the performance of the duties;
  • Be physically fit to perform the duties pertaining to the position;
  • Produce evidence of a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the Communities and a satisfactory knowledge of another language of the Communities to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.

b. Candidates must have

  • A level of post-secondary education attested by a diploma;

    OR

    A level of secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education, and appropriate professional experience of at least 3 years;

    OR

    Professional training or professional experience of an equivalent level in a relevant area (e.g. Business Administration School) and after having completed the training, at least the number of years of relevant professional experience indicated below:
    • For more than 6 months of professional training, the professional experience should be 3 years;
    • For more than 1 year of professional training, the professional experience should be 2 years;
    • For more than 2 years of professional training, the professional experience should be 1 year.

4.2 Selection criteria:

a. Professional experience:

Essential:

  • In addition to the 4.1b requirements 2 years of relevant professional work experience gained after the award of the diploma;
  • Experience with managing website content and using web content management systems;
  • Experience in organising meetings, visits and events in an international environment;
  • Experience with two or more desktop publishing/imaging applications:
    • Photo Editing (Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro);
    • Drawing (Macromedia Freehand, Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw);
    • Page Layout (Adobe PageMaker, Adobe InDesign);
    • Presentation (MS Powerpoint);
    • Multimedia (Macromedia Flash).
  • Experience in working with a Document Management System.

Desirable:

  • Experience of working in an international, multidisciplinary work environment;
  • Experience in working with social media.

b. Professional knowledge:

Essential:

  • Confident user of Microsoft Office applications (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook);
  • Be familiar with the internet technology (client and servers side).

Desirable:

  • Knowledge of HTML and cascading style sheet language;
  • Qualifications particularly in the field of Corporate Communications, Media and Communications, Marketing or International Communication.

c. Technical skills and competencies:

Essential:

  • Excellent communication skills in English, both verbally and in writing;
  • Keen eye for detail with the ability to maintain standards of accuracy under pressure of tight deadlines;
  • Ability and experience in preparing clear and comprehensive reports, media analysis and statistics in relevant PR fields;
  • Excellent organisational skills including the ability to organize, plan and track assignments.

d. Social skills and competencies:

Essential:

  • Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work well under pressure, both independently and in a team;
  • High level of customer-orientation;
  • High degree of commitment, responsibility, flexibility and initiative.

5. Selection procedure

The Contracting Authority sets up a Selection Committee which consists of at least three members, one from the Human Resources Unit of Europol, one from the concerned Unit or Department and one designated by the Staff Committee.

The Selection Committee determines candidates’ suitability for the position by assessing their skills, experience and qualifications against the established job profile and makes an initial selection from the applications received.

Shortlisted applicants are invited to participate in a post-related selection procedure, generally consisting of written and/or practical tests and competency-based interviews.

The Contracting Authority makes a decision of appointment on the basis of advice from the Selection Committee. He will inform the Committee of his decision. All candidates who attend the selection procedure will be informed of the outcome.

Candidates who attended a selection procedure may request feedback on their performance of the written test and interview within three months after the selection procedure. Europol will not be in a position to respond to feedback inquiries received outside this time frame.

The Selection Committee’s work and deliberations are confidential. It is forbidden for candidates to make direct or indirect contact with the members of the Selection Committee or for anyone to do so on their behalf. All enquiries or requests for information or documentation in relation to the competition should be addressed to the Europol Recruitment Office.

6. Salary

The successful candidate will be engaged in Function Group FGIII, grade 8 (EUR 2 457, 08), grade 9 (EUR 2 780, 03) or grade 10 (EUR 3 145, 43), subject to years of professional experience.

In line with applicable implementing rules the professional experience gained after the education required for the grades above is as follows:

  • For Grade 8 the professional experience is up to 7 years;
  • For Grade 9 the professional experience is more than 7 years;
  • For Grade 10 the professional experience is more than 15 years.

In addition, if applicable, allowances such as expatriation allowance, household allowance, dependent child allowance and education allowance may be granted.

Europol offers a comprehensive welfare package comprising additional benefits such as medical and unemployment insurance as well as a pension scheme.

Salaries are subject to a community tax but are exempt from national taxation.

7. Terms and conditions

7.1 Probation period

Engagement at Europol is subject to the successful completion of a probationary period of 9 months. Within the above period the successful candidate will have to undergo a post-related security screening.

Europol reserves the right to terminate the contract of employment during or at the end of the probation period in accordance with Title IV, Article 84 of the Staff Regulations of Officials and Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities.

7.2 Security screening and certificate of good conduct

In order to ensure that all candidates who have successfully passed a selection procedure comply with the security standards and do not have a criminal record we request all successful candidates to apply for a “certificate of good conduct” at the time an offer of employment is made.

The certificate of good conduct provides evidence that the candidate is suitable to be employed by Europol. However, the certificate of good conduct does not substitute a full security clearance that must be carried out for all Europol staff in accordance with the clearance level determined for the position.

7.3 Contract of employment

The successful candidate will be recruited as Contract Agent in Function Group III pursuant to Article 3a of the Staff Regulations of Officials and Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities, for a period of 2 years. The contract may be renewed.

The place of employment will be The Hague, The Netherlands.

For further information on terms and conditions please consult the Staff Regulations of Officials and Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities which are available on Europol’s website www.europol.europa.eu.

8. Data Protection

The data submitted is processed in order to assess the suitability of candidates for a position at Europol. All personal data collected for the purpose of the selection procedure will only be used within this specific context and will not be disclosed to any third party, except for restricted posts in which the application may be transmitted to the National Unit and the respective Liaison Bureau.

Any data provided will be treated in the strictest confidence and in full compliance with all applicable data protection rules. The legal basis for the processing of personal data is the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities (Title III Chapter 1) and its implementing instruments.

All documents provided to Europol will be kept in Europol’s files and will not be returned to the candidate. Applications of non-recruited candidates will be kept for a maximum of two years. Data of non-recruited applicants on the reserve list for appointment will be kept for the duration of the validity of the reserve list. Data of recruited candidates will be transferred to their personal file.

The Head of Unit of the Human Resources Unit is responsible for the data processing operation. Candidates have the right to access, rectify, block and erase their personal data in accordance with the applicable data protection rules.

Candidates have the right of recourse to the Europol Data Protection Office (Data Protection Office - PO Box 90850, 2509 LW The Hague, The Netherlands) and the Joint Supervisory Body (www.europoljsb.consilium.europa.eu). Applications sent to the DPO or JSB will not be processed and deleted.

9. Additional Information

9.1 Main dates

Deadline for application: 9 September 2011

Recruitment procedure: 28 and 29 September 2011

Starting date of employment: as soon as possible

9.2 Selection procedure

The selection procedure will be carried out in accordance with the EUROPOL RECRUITMENT GUIDELINES available on Europol’s website www.europol.europa.eu.

9.3 Contact Details

For further details on the application process please call +31 (0) 70 353 1467 or +31 (0) 70 302 5075.

Reporting to: Senior Specialist in the Corporate Communications Unit (G4)

Head of Corporate Communications Unit (G4)

Reporting to: Senior Specialist in the Corporate Communications Unit (G4)

Head of Corporate Communications Unit (G4)