Traineeships FAQs

Current EUSPA traineeship rules foresee two types of traineeships:

1. Regular traineeships (remunerated) you can apply for through our E-Recruitment portal. You can find our current open calls on our traineeships page.
2. Ad hoc traineeships (unpaid) following spontaneous expression of interest by a candidate.

• Regular traineeships last a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 12 months.
• Ad-hoc traineeships last a minimum of 1 month and a maximum of 3 months. A 3-month ad-hoc traineeship is ideal for gaining the necessary experience.

All available traineeship positions are published here. By clicking on the vacancy, you will be taken to the EUSPA e-recruitment portal (it is recommended to use Google Chrome).

Applications received after the deadline indicated in the vacancy notice will not be considered.

We advise you to apply as early as possible, as positions may arise at any point in time as long as the call remains open. You are welcome to indicate your preferred start date in your motivation letter.

You may find more information in our Rules governing the traineeship.

To apply for a short-term unpaid traineeship please send us the following documents in English:

• Your CV.
• A motivation letter, indicating your preferred time-frame and area/s of interest within the scope of the Agency (or a specific Department) and justifying the need (if any) of the traineeship for educational purposes.

Please note that an ad-hoc traineeship should be offered as a priority to university students who have to accomplish a compulsory training period as part of their ongoing university education.

The traineeship is open to applicants who have not previously undertaken a regular traineeship at EUSPA and who meet the eligibility criteria on the closing date for applications.

To be eligible for a traineeship, candidates must be nationals of the EU, Iceland or Norway.

The Agency is an equal opportunities employer and strongly encourages applications from all candidates who fulfil the eligibility and selection criteria without any distinction whatsoever on grounds of nationality, age, race, political, philosophical or religious conviction, gender or sexual orientation and regardless of disabilities, marital status or other family situation.

Yes, as long as candidates have not already completed a paid traineeship at EUSPA, they are eligible to apply even if they have already started/completed a traineeship at another EU institution/body.

The Agency does not consider spontaneous applications or applications that are not submitted using our e-recruitment tool.

Only applications for open traineeship calls can be taken into consideration. The only exception is the expressed interest in an ad-hoc free traineeship.

Yes. Vacancies published on the EUSPA traineeships page are independent of one another. Unless specified otherwise, candidates are welcome to apply for more than one open traineeship.

Each application will be treated separately.

Yes. Candidates may update their already submitted application until the deadline of the respective vacancy notice. Only the latest version will be considered.

The traineeship is offered at our headquarters in Prague (Czech Republic) or at one of our centres in Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Toulouse (France), Noordwijk (the Netherlands), and Torrejon de Ardoz and San Martin de la Vega (Spain).

The successful trainees will have to relocate to the place of employment as indicated in the respective vacancy notice.

No work experience is required to be eligible for a traineeship at EUSPA. However, should you have any work experience prior to submitting your application – you are welcome to mention it.

1. The selection of trainees for regular traineeships is based on a vacancy notice. This vacancy notice will lay down the conditions of the traineeship, the prerequisites, admissibility and selection criteria as well as the application and selection procedure.
2. Each application shall be submitted via the EUSPA e-recruitment tool.
3. The Head of Department where the trainee will be allocated nominates the Department’s representatives to carry out the selection. The Department’s representatives perform the selection based on a detailed applications screening and establish a list. The most suitable candidates may be invited for a phone/video interview which may include other appropriate testing. Engagement for a traineeship will be decided by the Head of Administration based on a list of suitable candidates proposed by the evaluators. The established list may be used for other similar traineeships depending on the Agency’s needs.
4. If an application is unsuccessful, a candidate may re-apply for another traineeship. It is necessary to submit a new application.
5. All candidates are notified about the outcome via email once the procedure is concluded.

All applicants will be notified via email about the outcome of their application, regardless of the result.

The regular traineeships at EUSPA are open calls, which means that a selection process may be started at any point. The eligible applications are evaluated on a regular basis.

The starting date of the traineeship depends on the needs of the Agency and the department, as well as budget availability.

If your application is successful, you will be invited for an interview with the relevant department.

Trainees receive a monthly grant for a full-time traineeship. The current monthly grant is 1,500.00 EUR.

Successful candidates with a recognised disability may receive 50% supplement of the grant to cover additional costs.

As stated in the Rules governing the traineeship, the trainee shall be subject to the same rules concerning working hours as staff members within the Agency. The normal working week is 40 hours.

The regular traineeship shall be conducted on a full-time basis. Other part-time working arrangements must be approved by the Traineeship counsellor and the Head of HR.

If the contract states that the traineeship is part-time, the traineeship counsellor shall keep a time sheet for every part-time trainee.

EUSPA trainees shall not use any EU-provided grant or allowance (e.g. Erasmus+ grant), especially as a subsidy for an unpaid traineeship. However, current or previous participation in an Erasmus semester does not prevent you from doing a traineeship at EUSPA.

Unfortunately, we do not offer the possibility to write a thesis in collaboration with our Agency.

Relocation support is provided through the HR-Welcome office. However, the search for accommodation is not included in the services provided. We usually share an overview of useful links on websites where you can check and search the accommodation according to your preferences.