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You can apply to join the ECB in one or more of the following ways:
We regularly advertise vacancies for typical central banking positions, such as macroeconomists, economist-statisticians, research analysts, payment systems experts, operations and back-office experts, risk analysts as well as securities settlement experts and banknotes production and counterfeit experts.
However, we also look for a wide variety of corporate service personnel, e.g. HR specialists, finance experts, auditors, legal counsels, translators and terminologists, lawyer-linguists, press officers, procurement experts, IT experts and architects. All of these specialists require secretarial, administrative and support services, so we hire in these areas too.
The ECB Graduate Programme (GP) is aimed at highly talented recent graduates with a postgraduate degree, preferably a PhD, in one of a broad range of disciplines and a a keen interest in central banking.
The two-year programme gives participants a unique development opportunity and valuable on-the-job experience, as well as an insight into the ECB’s tasks and working methods from the perspectives of different functional areas. The participants also gain an overview of the policy-making processes of the ECB.
Participants are given two challenging one-year assignments each to be carried out in a different division of the ECB, allocated on the basis of their field of expertise and in line with the organisational needs of the Bank. They will contribute fully to the work of the divisions to which they are appointed. During the second year of the programme, they are also expected to write a project paper which will form the basis of their appraisal. GP participants benefit from a number of in-house as well as external training opportunities, such as area-specific technical training, writing skills, IT, personal and interpersonal skills, task and information-oriented skills and languages.
Participants in the programme are assigned a mentor (an experienced staff member) who will provide them with support, advice and guidance.
The successful completion of the programme by each participant will be assessed by a GP Committee.
The Graduate Programme is one way of starting a career at the ECB. However, we do not automatically offer contracts to successful participants at the end of the programme. Graduates who wish to start a career at the ECB have the possibility to apply for available vacancies advertised both internally and externally.
The ECB offers traineeship opportunities for students with at least a bachelor’s degree, including PhD students, or for recent graduates in areas such as economics, finance, statistics, business administration, law, human resources and translation.
These traineeships give students and job entrants an opportunity to put their learning into practice, gain an insight into the ECB’s activities and operations, and to contribute to the ECB’s mission. The tasks performed by trainees are supervised and depend on the unit they join. It can consist of research tasks, the preparation of draft reports, the compilation of statistical data, the execution of operational tasks and the participation in ad hoc studies.
Trainees registered in this programme are subject to the Rules governing the ECB traineeship programme (download). The overview below also outlines the conditions of admission, the supporting documentation, the selection process, the contract, the grant, and the possibilities regarding residence and reimbursement of travel.
As a candidate you should meet a number of conditions of admission:
As a candidate you may submit supporting documentation i.e. letter(s) of recommendation from employers or professors. If you do so, please upload them directly in the electronic application form. The letters do not need to be sent to the ECB in a confidential manner. If the author of the letter prefers to send it to the ECB in a confidential manner, he/she may email it to: recruitment@ecb.europa.eu. Note that we will only consider these letters, or any other supporting documents which you would not have uploaded in the application form, if they have reached us before the closing date of the application.
The selection process starts after the closing date of the vacancy notice. It takes usually around two months, unless the number of candidates is very large. When the selection is completed, you will be informed by email of the outcome. At that stage you may either (i) receive a traineeship offer, (ii) be notified that you are on a reserve list as you have been assessed as a suitable candidate, or (iii) be informed that your application has not been successful. In cases (ii) and (iii), you may still apply for further traineeship vacancies.
If you are selected we will offer you a contract for a period between 3 to 6 months, which may be prolonged once up to a total of 12 months.
We will also offer you a grant of either €950 or €1800 per month, depending on the tasks you will be expected to perform and on your relevant qualifications (unless otherwise stated in the vacancy). For example, trainees who have completed at least 2 years of PhD study and who apply for a traineeship vacancy that requires such a level of qualification may be granted €1800. If your place of recruitment is more than 50 km from the ECB, we will also offer you residence (or equivalent reimbursement), and will reimburse you for your travel expenses at the beginning and end of your traineeship.
The residence consists of a single occupancy self-catering apartment (including kitchenette and bathroom). Alternatively you may be reimbursed for private accommodation, for rental costs up to €750 (including utilities) per month, against presentation of a signed rental contract and proof of payment No additional costs such as agent's fees/deposits/cleaning will be reimbursed. In case of shared apartments, costs will be divided by the number of occupants.
The travel expenses at the beginning and end of their traineeship are reimbursed under the following guidelines:
Traineeship vacancies are published from time to time throughout the year. Please note that interviews for traineeships will take place via telephone. If you are interested, please register here.
This programme is aimed at young, highly promising economists who have completed a first degree and are aiming to enrol in a Masters/PhD programme in economics or a related field at a leading international university. Participants have the opportunity to cooperate closely with the economists in the Directorate General Research and are involved in research projects at all stages. Project findings are usually published in international academic journals.
Trainees registered in this programme are subject to the Rules governing the ECB traineeship programme (download). An overview is given in the section "Traineeships" above.
This programme is aimed at recent graduates or students who are close to finishing their graduate studies in economics, statistics, finance, business administration or related disciplines. Participants gain exposure to conceptual and operational statistical work in a policy-oriented environment that contributes to the decision-making processes at the ECB. They are also responsible for one or several tasks including information management, quality control of data transmitted to the ECB as well as statistical analytical tasks relating to time-series analysis and the assessment of banking industry and financial market developments. Trainees are required to complete a self-contained conceptual or empirical study or to develop an operational application suitable for presentation at seminars.
Trainees registered in this programme are subject to the Rules governing the ECB traineeship programme (download). An overview is given in the section "Traineeships" above.
The ECB offers short-term assignments which are open exclusively to staff of:
Positions of this type are offered at one the following levels.
The specific expertise and skills sought depend on the needs of the recruiting division. The positions cover the full range of functions.
Candidates recruited for ESCB/IO assignments perform the same work as the division’s usual staff members. They are seconded to the ECB by their current employer on the basis of a short-term ECB contract for a minimum period of three months to a maximum of 24 months (including extensions). Fixed-term ESCB/IO contracts for specific project-based work are awarded from time to time. Candidates shall have a contract of employment with the home institution for a period of at least one year beyond the duration of the ECB contract being offered.
The Wim Duisenberg Research Fellowship Programme, which is organised by the Directorate General Research (DG/R), welcomes applications from leading economists in academia, central banks and top research institutions.
The programme aims to:
Research fellows produce papers of a theoretical or empirical nature for presentation at internal and external conferences and for publication in the ECB Working Paper Series and, possibly, a refereed journal. The research project must focus on issues of relevance to in the work of DG/R.
Participants in the programme exchange opinions, insights and experience with ECB staff members, both in DG/R and in other business areas.
The Language Services Division, the Secretariat Division (English Translation and Editing Section) and the Legislation Division draw on the services of professional translators and lawyer-linguists with experience in the ECB’s fields of competence to translate from English into other official languages of the EU – and vice versa – on a freelance basis. The Language Services Division and the Secretariat Division's English Translation and Editing Section also use professional freelance linguists for terminology-related work and for editing and proof-reading assignments in English.
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We use a range of assessment tools to make sure we find the candidate whose profile most closely matches the requirements of the position. If invited for an interview, we will inform you which assessment tool you can expect on the day. Our assessment tools include:
During the interview(s) you will be asked about your knowledge, experience, opinions as well as how you have handled past situations and how you would handle specific scenarios.
These assessment tools will cover a number of the key technical and behavioural competencies which have been identified in the vacancy notice.
If you are invited to be interviewed for a management position, we will also engage an external provider to form an assessment on your managerial and leadership competencies. This will be done using online pre-assessment exercises and an interview with the external provider.
We recommend that you prepare carefully for the interview. Make sure you:
If you travel to Frankfurt for an interview, we will reimburse you for your expenses according to
our interview travel expenses guidelines
download .
If you are successful, the recruiting manager will call you and say that we will be sending you a written offer.
If unsuccessful you will be informed by the recruiting manager, who will also be in a position to provide you with feedback on your performance at interview if requested.
The ECB participates in job and student fairs from time to time. Upcoming events will be posted here.
Applying for a position at the ECB implies sharing your personal information with us. We take the need to protect your data seriously.
The data you submit is processed in order to assess your suitability for a position at the ECB.
Some of the data you submit (name, address, education and qualifications, work experience, spoken languages and IT skills) will be accessed by the members of the Selection Committee established for each recruitment procedure. In addition, if you apply for a managerial position at the ECB and get short-listed, your managerial skills will be assessed by our external provider. We will therefore share your application details with our provider for this purpose and they will also contact you directly on our behalf. Our external provider is bound contractually to respect the confidentiality of information as required under data protection regulations.
Other information such as disabilities and your declaration regarding any criminal records is only viewed by Human Resources. The data in stored with our external data processor. We do not disclose or sell your data to third parties.
Your personal information is handled in accordance with the IT security and confidentiality rules of the ECB and the confidentiality and security requirements of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001. This Regulation concerns the protection of individuals in respect of the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and the free movement of such data.
As an applicant, you can access and update or correct your data on line at any time up to the vacancy deadline. You can also update your data should you decide to apply for another vacancy. We store your data for 24 months after closure of a recruitment campaign.
If you have any further questions concerning the protection of your data you may address them to the Deputy Director General, Human Resources Budget and Organisation, who is the responsible data controller. You may also address your concerns to the European Data Protection Supervisor.
