Notes from Brussels

Her face shows no sign of any sort of malice. All I see is a patient and understanding smile, as she continues in a calm and soft voice: “Experience in the field of international dialogue would be a great advantage.” I don’t know how to respond. The job she is describing is temporary with no guarantee of extension, and – shockingly, unpaid. In Brussels, one of the most expensive European cities. “We only accept the best and the best are able to find a scholarship,” she replies when I ask what I would eat for the 6 months. “Remarkable”, I express my genuine puzzlement as we part and I make my way to the neighbouring desk, wondering what “international dialogue” even means. “We require the minimum of two years of work experience,” says a different employer representative confidently. “As a condition for an internship?” I inquire in disbelief. “The monthly compensation during the traineeship is 300 euros,” still another young manager depicts the advertised role, visibly feeling awkward. “So I can choose either to live somewhere or to eat, right?” I laugh to lighten the mood.

We are in a spacious parlour of Hotel Renaissance in the EU quarter of Brussels. LSE, along with the Parisian Sciences Po and the College of Europe, have organised here a European Careers Fair. A wide range of employers accepted the invitation, including public institutions, consulting groups, think tanks, research centres, international organisations, lobbyists and non-profits. The three organising universities, all focused on social sciences, are in the centre of European governance well known and their alumni richly represented.

“We are looking for one person to join us as a Research Assistant,” answers my question a young woman from a narrowly specialised consultancy. I ask out of interest how many applied. “Just today I received more than 40 resumes, another 150 people responded to the online advert,” she replies. Young Europeans, especially students of the social sciences, often look to Brussels as to their dream career destination. Fairs like this one represent the rare opportunity for graduates in European studies, politics or international relations to find employment in their field.

The road there, however, is not an easy one. I had already witnessed the tough reality of young idealists in the European metropolis two years ago when I was one of them, working as an intern in the Czech permanent representation to the EU. For many years now have the Brussels “stagiares” been meeting every Thursday night on the Place du Luxembourg. They sit in smaller and larger groups on the grass patch in the middle of the square, drinking Belgian beer and sharing their experiences. The struggle to “make it” in Brussels is by far the most common conversation topic. The largest employer is the European civil service, but of the 20 thousand applicants for a half-year internship in the European Commission, only about 600 succeed, and even they have no hope the stage can be extended into a permanent contract. The sieve selecting new permanent civil servants is even a finer one and the whole application process takes more than a year.

After several hours, the rush in Hotel Renaissance slowly fades. The young men and women in formal attire have distributed their CVs and are heading out for lunch. Only to a handful of them, this will not have turned out to be a futile trip. To my surprise, I met here a number of old friends, from York, Brussels, Prague – maybe the Brussels microcosm is not as large as I had thought. After lunch we are set to meet with several LSE alumni, who have “made it” and agreed to share their stories.

Finally, the busy day is over and we part at the Maelbeek metro station, unsuspecting of the horrors that are to happen here in only a few days. I’m travelling back to London by coach. In the middle of the night, we are crossing the English channel and as I sit in a quiet restaurant on the ferry, I wonder if I’ll be one of those who would return to Brussels and start a career there. One day, I want to go back to the Czech Republic, but it might be worthwhile to gain some more experience abroad before I do.

This week is the last one of the term. I will attend the last lectures and seminars and then spend the following two months writing essays and preparing for exams. When that is done, I still have to write my dissertation and then my studies may truly be over, perhaps for good. In our student consulting group Cognoscere, we have nearly finished an extensive project focused on social housing in the UK. A new issue of our economic society magazine Rationale is also due to come out soon.