POLITICO spoke to five people and reviewed dozens of documents relating to two contentious hiring processes, both of which took place earlier this year: one for an adviser position in the directorate general of market operations and the other involving multiple supervisory roles in the directorate overseeing on-site inspections of banks. Staff representatives accuse management of twisting selection criteria after the process had been completed, to favor preferred candidates.
“At the ECB … corrupted recruitment campaigns seem to be a standard practice,” the committee lashed out in an email to all staff on Nov. 18, seen by POLITICO.
The ECB disputes this. In addressing the complaints, Eva Murciano, head of human resources, called the accusations baseless and said that in both instances her team found no wrongdoing.
The great switcheroo
Recruitment campaigns at the ECB involve several steps before a select few advance to a final round, which includes an hourlong interview. Once the process is completed, a hiring panel, generally consisting of three members, ranks the candidates based on a pre-agreed scoring framework for each question.
In the case of the supervisory jobs, where the process was only open to internal applicants and was completed by the end of April, the staff committee alleges candidates were informed after the last round — without any further explanation — that the results would be delayed until early June. Around May 20, the hiring panel then began circulating results unofficially among department managers.
At the ECB, hiring managers typically contact successful candidates when the results are still unofficial to make sure they’re still interested in the open position. At the same time, other managers whose protégés have been unsuccessful begin horse-trading with the panel to secure places on the reserve list, three people familiar with the ECB’s procedures told POLITICO. The reserve list allows the ECB to fill similar job openings later without a new recruitment process.
