Personal Statement

Personal Statement

Since 2007 I have been successful in the Open Competition organized by EPSO for ADMINISTRATORS (AD5) level:
EPSO/AD/53/06 - CYPRIOT CITIZENSHIP (CY), Field 3: Economics. [1]

Furthermore since March 2009 I am participating in a 5 months period traineeship programme within the Directorate-General of the European Commission Humanitarian-aid Office (D-G ECHO) in Brussels, Belgium. As part of the Finance Management Unit I have taken both administrative and assistant level responsibilities inter alia assessment of NGOs candidates, monitoring of late payment interest and administrative and logistical support.

My Academic and Professional background could be summarized as the following. My Scientific interests and goals are related to the branch of Social Sciences. More specifically I am reffering to the scientific disciplines of Economic Science, Political Science and International Relations. My Professional interests and goals are related to posts concerning the field International Relations and Economics applied through employment in International Organizations.

I studied at the department of Economics of the Aristotle’s University of Thessaloniki graduating with a BSc (Ptychio) in Economics and specialised in the Division of Business Studies. Moreover I followed an exchange student’s programme of the EC (Socrates-Erasmus) in Budapest Business School in Hungary attending modules regarding Strategic Marketing studies and Understanding East-Central European Countries in the framework of the European Union. Especially the last one instigated my interest in Political Science and International Relations.

After graduation and for a period of more than five years I worked in the private business sector in Cyprus and Thessaloniki with a short break being a volunteer in the Athens Olympics in 2004. Mainly I worked at the Bank of Cyprus in Thessaloniki for a period of four years where I seized the opportunity to apply the economic knowledge I had acquired from my studies. To be exact I mainly focused in sales & marketing methods in the area of consumer and business credit aiming to increase the turnover of banking products such as business loans, accrual accounts, overdrafts and long-term deposits. Moreover I negotiated on behalf of the Bank of its clients or potential client’s salary scheme agreements, i.e. negotiating with public services and private enterprises of the framework of their payroll schemes and indicating their benefits if the payroll is carried out through the Bank of Cyprus channels.

Simultaneously with my professional life I decided to continue my studies in the fields of Political Science and International Relations. For that reason and for the time being, I am pursuing a second degree at the department of International and European Studies of the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki aiming to graduate the soonest possible with a BA (Ptychio) in International and European Studies.



Studying International and European Studies gave to me the impetus to further continue my studies in a higher level. That was possible due to the fact of holding a Bachelor degree. Hence I am pursuing a Post-Graduate Degree in International Studies at the aforementioned department aiming to graduate till the end of 2009 with a MA (Metaptychiako) in International Studies, having left only to write my thesis. Namely I intend to put forward my arguments on a potential solution of the Cyprus problem in the framework of Regional International Organizations such as the EU and NATO.

Involvement in civil society includes inter alia the representation of my fellow students in Aristotle’s University at the Students Council and the Senate of the University during my studies. Moreover I was the Treasurer of the Greek Association of Political Science Students (GAPSS) and currently I am involved in the alumni commission of the GAPSS, member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for Political Science Students (IAPSS) based in Ljubljana, Slovenia and a member of the Solidarity sub-committee of the trainees in the EC. In addition, the completion of military service with an officer’s grade in Cyprus National Guard along with the aforementioned activities has improved my organisational competences in coordination and administration of people and further enhanced my organisational and communicational skills in the application of project and team management.

Summarizing, my previous experience in the private business sector through my employment in a bank, an insurance company and in the family enterprise along with the attendance in several vocational training seminars related to the afore mentioned enterprises gives to me the necessary capabilities and professional skills and competences to meet the expectations required by working in an international organization. My background studies in Economics, Political Science and International Relations, the participation in several Conferences and Models with themes on International Organizations such as the UN, NATO and EU, and involvement in the IAPSS and GAPSS NGOs cultivated my interest for working in one of the Institutions of the European Union. Furthermore the study experience abroad (Erasmus), the volunteer experience during the Olympic Games (Athens 2004) and the traineeship experience in the European Commission (D-G ECHO) has enhanced my skill of interacting with people in a multinational and culturally-diverse working environment.

Using the professional experience along with the academic knowledge I have acquired I am strongly motivated to work for the European Union Institutions. Working for the EU is very challenging for me since I have taken part in the experience of the European Integration project since inter alia the introduction of Euro in 2002 in Greece and the accession of Cyprus in the EU in 2004. My expectations are to undertake responsibilities equivalent to civil servants of the EU as soon as possible bearing in mind that civil servants working for the EU are called to face a wide field of tasks and responsibilities which are placed in an international professional environment. To conclude with, the curriculum of my studies together with the cumulative work environment know-how I have acquired gives to me the strong background needed in order to face this challenge.

Sincerely

Vasilis Kiliaris

[1] The information has been extracted from the Reserve lists published in the EU website: http://europa.eu/epso/success/list/admin/pdf/epso_ad_53-62_06_en.pdf [25 June 2009]