Kenexa Continues to Help Improve the Selection of European Union Officials

Kenexa, a provider of recruitment and retention solutions, today announced that they have won two coveted three-year contracts by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) - which organizes the recruitment of European Union officials.

The first contract is to provide multiple-choice verbal and non-verbal reasoning questions for use at the first stage of its selection procedure for the large number of candidates who want to work at the heart of Europe.

Kenexa has also been awarded the contract to build a database of test items for people applying for specific Human Resources, Financial/Accounts Management, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Secretarial and Administrative roles.

Based in Brussels, EPSO organizes ëopen competitionsí to find candidates who can fill posts within all institutions and bodies of the EU, such as the European Parliament, the European Council, the European Commission and the Court of Justice.

These posts are usually advertised on the EPSO website, in the national press of the countries concerned and on some internet job-boards. Candidates - who can number 25,000 or more, depending on the posts - apply online, via EPSOís website.

To streamline the pre-selection process, EPSO introduced online testing to assess candidatesí verbal and numerical reasoning ability and Kenexa is proud to have contributed significantly to this move over the past 3 years. Candidates now sit these reasoning tests on a computer, in a supervised environment at test centers across Europe. The number of test centers varies, but there is at least one in each of the 25 European member states.

ìWeíve modernized our procedures to make the best use of technology to ensure we can deal efficiently with the high volume of applications we receive,î said David Bearfield, Director of EPSO.

For those who successfully pass the pre-selection, the next stages in the process are written and oral tests. Each stage is eliminatory. The candidates who gain the highest overall marks are then considered for specific vacancies.

ìWe are pleased that Kenexa has the capability and capacity to provide questions of varying levels of difficulty across a range of subject matter,î said Bearfield. ìWhen candidates sit a test, they will each be presented with a random sample of questions, appropriate to the level of position they are applying for. These questions will be taken from a large database in order to reduce any possibility of cheating or of overexposure to the test.î

Troy Kanter, President and Chief Operating Officer, Kenexa said, ìOver the past three years, Kenexa has built a strong relationship with EPSO and we are honored that EPSO has once again chosen Kenexa to work with them to further their use of computer based testing.î