Upcoming EPSO competitions in 2026
A quick overview of the EPSO selection landscape for 2026 — the AD and AST competition tracks, what's confirmed to open this year, the CAST Permanent alternative, and how to prepare regardless of which route you take.
AD and AST — the two main competition tracks
Most EPSO competitions fall into one of two grade tracks. AD (Administrator) competitions are aimed at university graduates and lead to policy, legal, IT or specialist roles — this is the track for AD5 Graduate Administrators, Auditors, Lawyers and Lawyer-Linguists. AST (Assistant) competitions typically require a secondary education level plus relevant experience, covering support, secretarial and technical assistant roles. Both tracks share the same first hurdle: verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning tests.
What's confirmed for 2026
The AD5 Graduate Administrators competition — the largest in years, with over 174,000 applicants — is already underway, alongside AD7 Auditors and AD7 ICT Experts. EPSO has also confirmed five further competitions in preparation for 2026: IT Experts (AD8), Data Management experts (AST3), two separate Lawyer-Linguist competitions, and a Lawyers competition (AD7). For exact tentative dates and competition numbers, see our detailed dates breakdown.
CAST Permanent — the ongoing alternative
Not every route into an EU institution goes through a competition with a fixed deadline. CAST Permanent (Contract Agents Selection Tool) is EPSO's open-ended selection system for contract agent roles — there's no application deadline. You register a profile rather than apply for a specific job, and recruiting services contact you directly if your profile matches a staffing need. CAST selection typically includes multiple-choice reasoning tests as well, so preparation overlaps significantly with the competitions above.
How to prepare, regardless of the route
Whether you're aiming for AD5, a specialist AD7 competition, an AST profile, or registering for CAST Permanent, verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning are the common denominator — and usually the first hurdle to clear. Building this skill now pays off no matter which door ends up opening first.