Trainee (Records and Document Management)

About the traineeship programme

The Agency is looking for motivated, qualified recent graduates or students on an Erasmus+ or other programme or PhD students or Master's students (who posses a previous degree), who are interested in gaining experience and contribute to the Agency’s work for every patient in Europe. The purpose of a traineeship at the Agency is to perform tasks that are predominantly in the interest of the trainee’s training and principally serve to increase the trainee’s knowledge and to gain relevant experience.

Placement description

We are looking for a trainee in the Chief Information Office (CIO) within the Information Management Division.

Specific objectives and projects

Information Management Division are modernising the digital workplace, bringing a suite of modern collaboration tools to our users (Sharepoint, OneDrive, Teams). In this context, Records Management is an emerging discipline that brings many career opportunities and challenges. Under the supervision of the Enterprise Records Manager, you will contribute to the some of the following activities according to the set priorities: 

• involvement in defining how modern collaboration tools are used across the Agency;
• support setting up a Records Management framework, ensuring compliance of the usage of these modern tools with EU regulations on data protection, public access to documents and international archival standards;
• reviewing and implementing applicable records management documents such as the EMA filing plan and retention schedule;
• involvement in the preparation of records management trainings and presentations to ensure the consistent application of standards;
• supporting the records manager with the drafting and establishment of relevant RM and archiving policies, guidance and, procedures;
• involvement in the preparatory works on identifying, selecting and appraising the archival records that must be transfer to Florence in 2025 in compliance with the legal obligations dictated by the EU Council Regulation 2015/496;
• involvement in any other tasks in the CIO Office if applicable.

Learning outcomes

From this traineeship experience you will gain:

A. Project outputs & learning outcomes
•    experience in developing and updating EMA's records management policy, procedures and guidance; 
•    understanding of filing plans and retention schedules as well as experience in creating them;
•    insights into the handling of information in databases and business applications used by EMA Organisational Units;
•    skills and experience in the process of selecting a tooling for handling documents and records;
•    strategies for raising awareness amongst staff of records management policies and procedures.

B. Technical / Soft skills to be acquired
•    ability to work effectively in a multinational and multicultural EU environment;
•    ability to work in a small team (2 people) and independently in his/her area of responsibility;
•    accuracy and attention to detail;
•    very good knowledge of RM principles;
•    skills in database content and user access management;
•    very good organisational and communication skills;
•    flexibility and ability to communicate with different counterparts (EU agencies and internal colleagues) in both written and verbal form;
•    very good research, problem-solving and analytical skills;
•    report preparation and writing skills;
•    web-tool/database management skills;
•    understanding of project management principles;
•    time management skills;
•    experience in multi-stakeholder relations/management;
•    experience in drafting policies, procedures, guidelines and other kind of documents;
•    experience in organising (internal) meetings and events;
•    understanding of the organisation of Medicines research.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for consideration for this placement, you are required to:

1. enjoy full rights as a citizen of a European Union Member State or Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway;
2. possess a university degree in library and Information Sciences, History, Law, Information Management or Archives related studies (minimum of three years or more) that must have been obtained within the last 12 months (graduated between 20 May 2023 and 20 May 2024) or be a university student on an Erasmus + or a similar programme or a PhD student or a Master's student with a previous fully finished degree in the areas mentioned before.
3. a thorough knowledge of English (at least level C1) and good knowledge of other official EU language (at least B2) of the Common European Framework for Languages

For criteria 1 and 2, you will be required to provide proof in the application form and at the interview stage. Failing to present these documents may result in the disqualification from the procedure.

Additional skills

In addition to the eligibility criteria, you will have:

Linguistic:

• Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English 

Technical:

• advanced IT literacy, particularly in MS Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook);
• ability to work with VTC tools (Teams, WebEx, Zoom);
• knowledge of the concepts, principles and practices of information, document, electronic records and archives management.

Desirable: The following will be considered an advantage:

• familiarity with an international environment;
• previous experience working in a team;
• previous experience as a project assistant;
• knowledge of the Archival Standards, including the ISAD(G) standard and ISO 15489;
• knowledge of Electronic Records Management Systems (ERMS);
• familiarity with EU regulation 1049/2001 on public access to documents and EU regulation 45/2001 on data protection and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR);
• working knowledge of Microsoft Office suite, in particular Office 365, including SharePoint;
• good writing skills and experience in preparing various types of documents, presentations and emails.

Behavioural Competencies

You will demonstrate the following behavioural competencies:

• Communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Working with others
• Adaptability
• Research and analytical skills
• Learning and development

Expected selection timelines

Conditions of traineeship

The traineeship is offered for 10 months (1 October 2024 – 31 July 2025) and takes place at the Agency’s premises in Amsterdam with possibility for teleworking up to 40% of working time from The Netherlands and occasional teleworking from outside The Netherlands. Traineeships are offered for either full-time or part-time (80% or 50%) if combined with university studies.

The Agency pays a monthly stipend of €1,858.31 for a full-time traineeship (reduced accordingly for 80% or 50%) and a travel contribution upon joining the Agency.

Each trainee will have a mentor at the Agency who will guide the trainee through the programme.

The conditions of employment are stated in the Executive Decision on rules governing the traineeship programme at the EMA available here.