Marcus Delacor

Preparation for the EPSO Selection Procedure

BOOKLET 13

THE CASE STUDY

 OUR BOOKLETS

euphorum has published a range of booklets as prepara-

tion for the selection process of the European Person-
nel Selection Office (EPSO).

Booklet 1 Booklet 12
EU open competitions: Overcoming the hurdles The assessment centre

Booklet 2 Booklet 13
The pre-selection phase: The computer based tests The case study

Booklet 3 Booklet 14
The situational judgement test The oral presentation

Booklet 4 Booklet 15
The verbal reasoning test: Part I: The principle of The motivational interview
compliance
Booklet 16
Booklet 5 The group exercise
The verbal reasoning test: Part II: Methodical
Booklet 17
approaches
The Role Play
Booklet 6
Booklet 18
The numerical reasoning test: Tasks and strategies Competency based interview (CBI)

Booklet 7
The abstract reasoning test:

Booklet 8
The accuracy and precision test

Booklet 9
The organising and prioritising test

Booklet 10
The language comprehesion test

Booklet 11
The etray
 THE CASE STUDY

The case study group erxercise and the etray. All eight general
The applicants face a "real" problem by the case competencises, defined in EPSO’s general
study and have to solved it. There are given a number framework, were applied and applicants could gain
of documents, such as emails, reports, newspaper maximum 80 points.
articles, etc. that you have to analyse and to take into
consideration, that the task can be correctly solved. Assessed general competencies
Specifically, you will be asked to write a report, to
analyze a given situation, to find the root causes of a Analysis and problem Written
problem or to develop solutions or solving communication
recommendations.
It is important that you accept the scenario as it is Result and quality Prioritising and
presented to you. Although in real life you would orientation organising
have access to other sources of information and
would be able to consult your colleagues, in this
The EPSO assessors will estimate applicants’
exercise you are limited to the information contained
performance and in case of the case study the written
in the documents provided. You are, however,
text, using a check list. For each exercise this list
allowed to make logical assumptions where
contains a list of features of the tested competency
information is missing or incomplete.
and criteria how the texts are to be evaluated and for
The case study is usually based on a quite “real”
what the applicants shall receive points. This
problem. Knowledge about different EU policies and
appraoch will ensure that all assessors approach their
the functioning of the EU institutions can therefore
texts with the same standards.
be very helpful.
It is useful to understand for what behaviour EPSO
Besides the ability to apply already existing
awards points to rank applicants and how to achieve
knowledge on a fictitious case in this exercise, in
to be among the bests in the process and to get a
particular, various general competencies defined by
place on the reserve list.
the the EPSO competency framework are assessed.
A closer look at the official note of the competition is
essential to find out which competencies are tested
by the case study.
Moreover, the importance of the case study, also in
comparison with the other tests, may vary. In the
selection process different exercises are used. In AD
generalist and expert open competitions the case
study is part of the assessment center. At expert open
competition in addition to the general case study
there might be a case study assessing candidate’s
knowledge in the expert’s field. Applicants of AST
competitions often do not need to pass a case study
for that exdercise is replaced by an etray.
EPSO chose for the assessment center of the AD
open competition for generalists five instruments: a
case study, a presentation, a structured interview, a

Competency: Analysis and Problem Solving
„Identify the critical facts in complex issues and develop creative and practical solutions“
Bad behaviours
 Misunderstands information or interprets it
incorrectly
 Has difficulty distinguishing between critical
and noncritical issues
 Relies in single sources of data and takes it at
face value
 Focuses too much on detail rather than drawing
out conclusions
 Does not gather a sufficiently clear picture of
the problems in their full complexity
 Focuses only one single solution
 Proposes solutions that contain elements used
as justification for rejecting alternative options
 Relies on traditional solutions
 Relies more on intuition than on analysis
 Is overwhelmed by high volumes of data or
conflicting information
 Fails to appreciate wider implications
 Presents unimportant information and is too
detailed
THE CASE STUDY
Good behaviours
 Understands information and deals with
complexity
 Analyses and prioritises critical problems
accurately and quickly
 Gathers information from different sources and
critically evaluates it
 Uses judgement and analysis to find solutions to
problems
 Analyses and interprets the available data
correctly and completely
 Develops several options to solve a problem
 Consistently proposes solutions that reflect a
balanced analysis and sound judgment
 Provides creative solutions to problems
 Considers all the options before deciding on the
best way forward
 Finds the root causes of a problem and
differentiates clearly between the relative
importances of the different issues
 Looks beyond the data to understand the true
situation
 Crystallises and synthesises the important points
into a concise summary

Competency: Delivering Quality and Results
„Take personal responsibility and initiative for delivering work to a high standard of quality within set
procedures“
Bad behaviours
 Misses deadlines or fails to complete tasks
 Blaims external factors for failure to deliver
quality work
 Does not grasp the general picture
 Does the minimum work required
 Resists change: prefers to continue to do things
as they always have been done
 Ignores necessary processes and procedures
 Makes excuses for not completing tasks
 Is deflected or stopped by obstacles and does
not find ways around them
 Submits work that contains errors
 Settles for quick and easy solutions
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Good behaviours
 Delivers work to deadlines and complete tasks
 Accepts that the own can better contribute to
the success
 Has a clear understanding of the bigger picture
 Finds ways to complete tasks better and on a
higher level
 Consistently offers original, inventive ideas for
improving products and services
 Follows set procedures and processes
 Takes responsibility for results
 Takes initiative to overcome obstacles
 Produces accurate work and checks work
carefully for errors
 Puts a large amount of personal effort and
creative thought into work
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Competency: Communicating (in writing)

„Communicate clearly and precisely both orally and in writing“
Bad behaviours
 Written communication lacks structure or, is
open to misinterpretation or
 Written communication is either overly
simplistic or too complex
 Text is difficult to understand, not
comprehensive and too long
 Key arguments are not obvious and gves
minimalist or no answers to questions
 Written communication takes no account of the
reader - language, vocabulary and style and is
not appropriate
 Fails to keep the attention of the reader
Good behaviours
 Communicating accurately, precisely and
concisely in writing
 Written communication consistently addresses
all the needs within the audience
 Text is detailed enough, but not too short
 Simplifies complex subject matter and gives full
and complete answers to questions
 Adapts the message to suit the reader
 Keeps the attention of the reader

 Text contains many grammar or spelling errors  No grammar or spelling mistakes

Competency: Prioritising and Organising

„Prioritise the most important tasks, work flexibly and organise own workload efficiently.“
Bad behaviours
 Prioritises the wrong things or does not
distinguish between important and unimportant
tasks
 Is not able to integrate multiple activities and
resources into a cohesive, actionable plan
 Sets unrealistic deadlines
Good behaviours
 Identifies the most critical tasks from a heavy
workload, in terms of deadlines or importance
 Effectively influences, informs, and mobilises
resources
 Sets realistic deadlines and meets deadlines

 Sets unrealistic milestones  Sets realistic milestones and meets them

 Allows work to continue without monitoring
 Sticks rigidly to current work without taking
account of new tasks
 Works on single tasks only, and takes a long
time to switch from one task to another
 Identifies and recommends changes to improve
efficiency and effectiveness
 Focuses their efforts on the most important
work, and takes account of new work coming in
 Works on multiple tasks at the same time
 THE CASE STUDY

The case study – in practice

The case study is an exercise that is carried out entirely at a computer and lasts in general 90 minutes. You have
access to a variety of documents, but you can only open the editor and read one document at time. You take over a
certain role and have to complete some tasks.
The following is an excerpt from the assignment of a case study, which could be used in this way in the EPSO
Assessment Centre:
 THE CASE STUDY

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This document provides you with fictitious emails, letters etc. produced only for the purpose of this exercise. All
references to states, organisations, private persons etc. should be considered as mere examples. The views and
statements expressed do not represent the position of these bodies or persons. Applicants are therefore advised to
rely solely on the information provided and not on any prior expertise in the field when answering the questions.

You task
You work in the GD XX and you are responsible for YY. All documents that you need is included in this booklet.
It comprises a number of e-mails, newspaper articles, and other information that you will have to analyse and di-
gest in order to be able to deal properly with the assignment given to you. This is your first day in your new job.
It is important that you accept the scenario as it is presented to you. Although in real life you would have access to
other sources of information and would be able to consult your colleagues, in this exercise you are limited to the
information contained in the documents provided. You are, however, allowed to make logical assumptions where
information is missing or incomplete.
You may read the documents in any order you wish. Write your answer in the editor. You can take notes, but re-
member that the assessors will base their evaluation exclusively on what you write.

The case study is designed to assess the following competencies: Analysis & Problem Solving, Communicating
(Drafting Skills), Delivering Quality & Results, and Prioritising & Organising.
Specifically your task(s) will be to:
 Task 1
 Task 2
 Tasks 3
Please note:
Today is Thursday, 16 May 201X
Last year was 201X-1, nex year is 201X+1

Concrete tasks or questions of a case study can be:
 Make an executive summary of the situation:
what are the key issues observed in the YX?
 Which potential solutions do you see to resolve
the key problems in the YX?
 What would be your recommendations for the
longer term, taking into account the different
parties involved?
 Please include your suggestions to improve the
process in the future.
or
Prepare a briefing note for your Head of Unit in
which you
 discuss the main issues related to unemploy-
ment in country Y
 discuss the European initiatives that could be
applicable in this case and explain why;
 make a concrete recommendation on what Eu-
ropean actions to take regarding X, a regional
company;
What makes a good text?
To facilitate the work of the evaluators, it has proven
to be useful to adapt the written answer of the case
study to the evaluation sheet. Therefore, two points
of vital importance:
 a structure that follows the questions/ tasks and
 a clear, comprehensible, logical and appropriate
content
Structure
If you adapt the structure of your text to the concrete
tasks/ questions, the evealuator will easily find the
relevant pieces of information. You can list the points
1. Introduction INTRODUCTION
2. Title on question 1 TITLE ON QUESTION 1
3. Title on question 2 TITLE ON QUESTION 2
4. Title on question 3 TITLE ON QUESTION 3
5. Conclusion CONCLUSION
The editor, by which the answer is written at the
THE CASE STUDY
computer, has usually only very few design tools:
bold, italic, underlined is does not allowed. Therefore,
it is necessary to work with CAPITALS or a
numerical lists.
The introduction provides an overview and mentions
the most important items. After reading the
introduction, your evaluator should not have any
major surprises in store when they read the main
body of the text.
The conclusion provides a bridge between the
previously discussed matters, and allows to consider
broader issues. It stresses the importance of the
thesis statement, summarises and compares, states
central results and gives the text a sense of
completeness.
a clear, comprehensible, logical and appropriate
content
Looking at the length of the text, it sould contain
600-800 words, what means 2.5-3.5 pages to answer
all tasks. However, this may be only a rough rule,
since the scope of the text is also dependent on the
documents and tasks.
The content should be well structured in order to
facilitate the work of the evaluators. Per paragraph
one thought should always be described. Non-
numerical lists are also useful to clearly illustrate the
content.
 THE CASE STUDY

Six Golden Rules on how to work on a case study

Grammar &
spelling
Introduction 6 minutes
& conclusi-
Write text on
33-38 minu- 10 minutes
Extract con- tes
tent
Analysis of 25-30 minu-
documents tes
Structure 5 minutes
3 minutes

1. Create the structure first. The struture is in accordance with the tasks / the questions. Insert paragraphs between
the headings. Here you can write your comments and notes.

2. Analyse the documents. Part of the case study is to present to you more documents that you can understand
in the limited time. It is absolutely not necessary to thoroughly read all texts. Therefore, you first gain an
overview of the texts: authors, type (article, email, report, etc.) and relevance. The e-mail of a citizen or a
company might highlight the problem from a very specific point of view, while articles by journalist often well
summarises a certain problem or situation.

3. After having won an overview, you decide which document you woudl like to read first and more carefully. Do
not read the documents in the order, that is given. Read the document with a certain intention, for example to
gather information for question one or to have an overview of the current situation in state YX.
If you read a document and find information that is relevant to the answers of the questions or tasks, you write
your notes in complete sentences immediateldly into the editor at the right place. You can insert at the beginning
of the line a specific character such as “#”. It will help you easier identifying later that this text represents a note
that needs to be processed. Extract from the documents the important information.

4. Revise now the notes. Formulate the sentences. Expand the sentences. Weigh the differents points of view.
Bring your own ideas. Develop appropriate solutions, suggestions, recommendations.

5. If you have answered the questions, then write the introduction and the conclusion.

6. At the end, check again if your text contains spelling and grammatical errors.
 THE CASE STUDY

Tipps for the preparation

 If you are familiar with the working and decison making procedures of the EU institutions, it will be easier for
you to realistically develop solutions or drawing conclusion..
 Recommodations about an appropriate writing style you find in the document of the EU Commission „Writing
clearly). (Link https://www.euphorum.org/demo/computertests/casestudy)
 Solve some case study and simulate the exam. You can use the examples that EPSO has posted to its web site,
and also contact euphorum for further case studies.