Commission proposes €3.6 million to help 1 000 redundant workers in Romanian steel industry

The European Commission has proposed to provide Romania with €3.6 million from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to help 1 000 former workers of the steel products manufacturer SC Mechel Campia Turzii SA and the downstream producer SC Mechel Reparatii Targoviste SRL to find new jobs. The proposal now goes to the European Parliament and the EU's Council of Ministers for approval.

EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion László Andor commented: "The manufacture of finished and semi-finished steel products in the EU has been seriously disrupted due to intensified competition from countries outside the EU, particularly China. Today's proposal would help to prepare some 1 000 former steelworkers from the Cluj region in Romania for new job opportunities or to set up their own businesses".

Romania applied for support from the EGF following the dismissal of more than 1 500 workers in Mechel Campia Turzii and in Mechel Reparatii Targoviste in Romania. The dismissals were the result of increased competition from steel products manufacturers elsewhere in the world.

More details on EGF website.

Only 9 in 100 European app developers are female! Tech is too important to be left to men!

Facts about women in the digital economy:

•  Only 9 in 100 European app developers are female.

•  Only 19% of ICT managers are women (45% women in other service sectors)

•  Only 19% of ICT entrepreneurs are women (54% women in other service sectors) 

•   Less than 30% of the ICT workforce is female

•  Number of female computing graduate is dropping (3% of female graduates compared to 10% of male graduates)

This campaign builds on a Commission study on women in the ICT sector, which found that the best way to get more women into tech jobs is by giving visibility to inspiring tech professionals, thus turning them into role models. Identifying career paths to inspire can also help women already working in technology stay in the sector throughout their career.

European Commission Vice-President @NeelieKroesEU said:

"Tech is too important to be left to men alone! Every week I meet more and more inspiring women in tech. ICT is no longer for the geeky few – it is cool, and it is the future!”

Join the campaign: Check out this collection of video's at ICTLadies.

You can make your own video with your story about life in the digital sector. Share your video to the "Every Girl Digital" Facebook page.

Happy Women Day!!!

The €63 billion app economy boom in Europe - an amazing scale-up !!!

The study Study "Sizing the EU App Economy" shows that The EU's app sector has gone from zero to digital superhero in less than five years. By 2018 it could employ 4.8 million people and contribute €63 billion to the EU economy.

Today the app economy employs 1 million developers, and 800,000 people in marketing & support posts. This could rise to 2.7 million developers + 2.1 million support staff by 2018. EU buyers and advertisers spent €6.1 billion on apps in 2013, 30% of total global app spending, growing to €18.7 billion in 2018. Consumer spending combined with advertising and contract work could lead to €63 billion annual revenue for the app sector within five years.

The study is part of Startup Europe, a Digital Agenda initiative supported by Neelie Kroes to promote ICT and web entrepreneurship in Europe and to help the companies flourish in Europe.

It includes six activities: The Accelerator Assembly, the European Crowdfunding Network, The Web Investors Forum, the Leaders Club, the Startup Europe Partnership and improving Web Skills via MOOCS (being launched in 2014).

Some other insights:

EU-career: 2010 Administrators (AD) competition re-OPENED

The AD competitions (for Administrators, these are Mid-Management positions) for careers in the European institutions have become rare opportunities in the last years (due to EU  budget and administration rationalisation), and in the best case there is only 1 "concours" organised each year.

 

In 2013, EPSO will not organize any new AD competitions!

 

However, some old AD competition are reopened: EPSO/AD/177/10, EPSO/AD/178/10 and EPSO/AD/179/10.

 

A corrigendum was published and new tests are being organised for those candidates who were excluded from the selection process in 2010 on the basis of their results in the admission tests, either because they did not reach the pass mark, or because they were not amongst the highest-scoring candidates who could be admitted to the selection based on qualifications phase

 

The person that triggered all these rehearsals is a candidate named Dimitrios Pachtitis that challenged EPSO responsibilities and initiated a legal battle. The General Court confirmed the Tribunal’s ruling, and EPSO re-affirmed its pledge to allow participants of the 2010 general AD5 level Administrator competitions to re-take their exams in 2013.

 

So he is the one to be congratulated (in case you ere positively impacted by this decision) or blamed (in all the other cases, as you will not have a chance for an AD competition this year).

 

In my case it's a bravo Dimi ;)

 

Note: Don't forget that you can prepare for these exams by practicing Abstract Reasoning and Situatiational Judgement tests on your iPhone or iPad.

Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs

"We want to empower Europeans to fill the jobs that will drive the next ICT revolution", Commission President José Manuel Barroso.

 

What does he mean?

 

Basically the EC tries to address the 900 000 job vacancies expected to exist in Europe in Information and Communication technologies (ICT) by 2015; and the fact that the number of fresh ICT graduates and skilled ICT workers is not keeping up. The ICT workforce in Europe in 2011 amounted to 6.7 million, which is 3.1% of the overall workforce.

 

With the Coalition for Digital Jobs (don't know why it's called Grand...), the Commission has sought pledges in the following key areas: Training and matching for digital jobs, Mobility, Certification, Awareness raising, Innovative learning and teaching.

 

Some linked European initiatives:

• Academy Cube - an European alliance between industrial companies and institutions; primarily intended for academics, graduates and job seekers – ideally from the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
• EU Skills Panorama - a website presenting quantitative and qualitative information on short- and medium-term skills needs, skills supply and skills mismatches.

 

Si de data asta, Romania e la coada clasamentului european cu cei mai multi cetateni fara cunostinte PC/IT, si anume peste 60%! Pare uimitor, tinand cont ca IT-istii nostri sunt vestiti in Europa; dar statisticile pulicate de Eurostat nu pot fi negate. Alte statistici (Panorama) arata ca in Romania IT-istii ,ca procent din numarul total de angajati, au un procent extrem de scazut in comparatie cu media europeana.

EPSO reserve lists (AST, AD) extended

Most of the EPSO (EU Careers) reserve lists were extended beyond 2013,  however there were some lists that were terminated. Hopefully you are not on these ;)

Go and check if your lists are still valid: for Administrators or for Assistants. 

Good luck!

EURES: Romanian Job Fair attracts 1 500 graduates

In cooperation with local employment services, EURES Romania has been organising job fairs for graduates for the last ten years. This year, the Public Employment Service in Prahova joined the cooperation and organised their first job fair exclusively for graduates.

Le premier salon de l'emploi de ce type tenu à Prahova, en Roumanie, s'est avéré être un succès fulgurant - environ 1 500 demandeurs d'emploi et 40 employeurs ont assisté à l'événement à Ploiesti.

more on EURES News.

PS: EURES = The European Job Mobility Portal

The purpose of EURES is to provide information, advice and recruitment/placement (job-matching) services for the benefit of workers and employers as well as any citizen wishing to benefit from the principle of the free movement of persons.

EU Careers: last AST3 competitions for 2012

This winter brings assistants posts: 2012 was a difficult year so the posts that will be published this time are not very appealing - just AST3 for Audit, Statistics, Economics, Finances and Accounting.

And for 2013 the EU recruiting plans are deeply sad and poor...so, your dreams to become European staff will need to wait!

The enrolling for the AST3 starts on 20 December 2012.

The address is well known - http://europa.eu/epso 

Ask Santa for lots of inspiration and start practicing reasoning tests!!!

Abstract Reasoning tests can also be found in the iTunes App Store.

Hohoho...and good luck!