Much less interesting than it seems from the outside. Misleading job descriptions: when you think you will work on a subject, what you'll really do is an administrative work related (somehow) with the background subject, in most of the possitions.
Management is representative for Peter's principle. Many bosses care about pleasing their own hierarchy, but they could not care less how to get the results and about their teams (of course, there are exceptions and committed people too, but not always easy to find).
In some cases they feel they can do whatever they want, without paying attention to the opinion of their people, or even without having respect for general principles, in what at a Member State level would be considered as illegal. That is especially the case when the manager jumped from an internship to an official possition, or have been there for a long time, and they don't know much about the real world outside the institutions, used to live on a bubble, where their mistakes are rarely penalised.
You have to be lucky to join a unit were the ambiance is good. 1/3 of the colleagues are "normal", 1/3 believes they are going to change the world, and 1/3 are fully demotivated. Attitude towards newcomers is not always welcoming or supportive, especially when it comes to receiving coachig about procedures, tools or contents (yes, there are trainings, but not really useful to your concrete tasks without further help).
Often, they will just not give you the information because they just don't feel it is their business (the less they do, the less they will make mistakes). And that is particularly bad, when the tasks to learn are neither planned or progressive, but you find yourself parachuted under a storm of different functions, procedures and IT tools, all at the same time, and your bosses ask you to do things you weren't instructed for, or you were not even hired for.
Some colleagues are overwhelmed with work, while others just sit on their chairs for the due worktime, but there is no real control from their management.
Unevenly talented, some bosses/colleagues are hard workers, collaborative, and know their job, but some others (more than we would like) will be a pain on your neck, or just won't have the skills needed. If you are going to work for the institution, it worth making some inquiries in advance about the kind of people you will work with, and not to believe 100% in what you are told in the interview and the job description.
Most of the positions are based in Brussels. A good place for some people, but depressive and uncomfortable for many others.
