The 2022/23 Certification exercise is still moving forward: from 294 eligible candidates to 104 individuals chosen for Joint Certification Panel interviews, to the April publication of the final list of 50 officials authorised to take part in the Certification training programme (the list will be published in Administrative Notices, in 2022 it was done on 12 April) and subsequent exams[1]. Well done to the 32 colleagues who appealed their non-inclusion post-DG interview,  4 of whom were successful: it is possible! Unfortunately, Certification continues to be a labour-intensive and time-consuming process which is not particularly user-friendly (see diagram for evidence of this).

For everyone involved, here are the next steps.

For the 54 colleagues who are not on the mid-April list

• You have 3 months from the publication of the final list to submit an Article 90(2) complaint. You can also check the process for submitting the complaint, but not your text, with HR. HR have 4 months to respond. Please get in touch if you want us to check your text with you.

For the 244 colleagues who were not successful in the 2022/23 exercise

Will you present your candidature for the 2023/24 exercise?

• YES: is it possible for you to use what you’ve learned this time round e.g. would it be an option to work on your policy knowledge/acquire more AD tasks? Could your language skills do with a little polishing?

‘It is recommended that the level of the language concerned should be at least that of C1 in the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.’ (My EUSAnet)

• NO: how do you unacquire all of the AD tasks you are currently doing without it negatively impacting your annual evaluation? Please send us your tips and tricks for doing this! Many, many colleagues are working beyond their function group, taking on responsibility that is not rewarded, but how to step back?

For the 50 successful colleagues who are on the April list

Well done! Here are the dates for the 2023 compulsory training.

• Block 1: 30 May to 22 June 2023 [please note, Sunday 11 June Luxembourg elections[2]]
• Block 2: 11-26 September 2023

It looks like one of the four modules will be delivered online (Writing with Impact II, 21-26 September), suggesting that the others will be classroom based.

To all of our colleagues who participated

What did you think of the process? Did you find it worthwhile, useful, frustrating? What would you change? In previous editions DGs chose their candidates without interviews, how does that compare with this current path?

Check out all of our articles on Certification to understand the process and the pitfalls.

As always, we would love to hear from you. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us or leave a comment below.

If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004.

[1] 11 of the 294 withdrew their candidature. 15 applications were considered ineligible (Administrative Notice, N° 01-2023 / 05.0​1​.2​023).

[2] Why is this here? Voting in Luxembourg is obligatory. There is a limited window and limited duly-justified reasons to request a postal vote.