General Information
Type of contract
Traineeship
Who can apply?
EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme
Grant
The trainee grant is €1,170 per month plus an accommodation allowance (see further information section)
Working time
Full time
Place of work
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Closing date
20.03.2024
Your team
You will be part of the Euro Area External Sector and Euro Adoption Division in the Directorate General Economics. The Directorate General Economics monitors and analyses the economies of the euro area as a whole, the individual euro area countries and the non-euro area EU countries.
Our Division has about 20 staff members and is responsible for analysing and conducting studies on international trade, the balance of payments and the international investment position, as well as the price and non-price competitiveness of the euro area and of EU countries. In addition, we monitor and forecast macroeconomic developments in non-euro area EU countries and the euro area countries in central and eastern Europe, while also developing tools for these purposes.
Our output is an integral part of the policy advice the Directorate General provides to the ECB’s decision-making bodies for monetary policy meetings. It includes articles and studies in publications such as the ECB’s Economic Bulletin, Annual Report, Occasional Paper Series, Working Paper Series and the ECB Blog.
Trainees will be expected to focus on one or more of the Division’s three main areas of competence: (1) euro area trade and competitiveness; (2) the euro area current account and financial account; (3) the forecasting and surveillance of non-euro area EU countries and euro area countries in central and eastern Europe.
The ECB is an inclusive employer and we strive to reflect the diversity of the population we serve. We encourage you to apply irrespective of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other characteristics.
Your role
As a trainee, you will:
- contribute to maintaining and enhancing analytical, econometric and forecasting tools in the fields of trade, balance of payments and country analysis;
- orchestrate the processing, consolidation and transformation of datasets while managing and upgrading database infrastructures in order to monitor economic developments;
- conduct quantitative analyses for the economic and policy assessment of the euro area as a whole and of individual countries;
- support the team in collecting, processing and visualising data;
- contribute to the Economic Bulletin and other regular internal and external publications produced by the Directorate General Economics in collaboration with other ECB business areas.
The position offers you excellent opportunities to work closely with the Division’s economists and to contribute to long-term projects and short-term tasks, giving you valuable experience for your transition to a successful career. You will also be assigned a mentor and will be able to develop your potential and contribute significantly to the work we do. You will be part of a multicultural team that strives for continuous innovation to make a positive impact on the lives of European citizens.
Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:
- a bachelor’s degree or higher in economics or a related field;
- a working knowledge of applied econometrics, especially time series econometrics, panel data econometrics or microeconometrics;
- practical experience in working with databases as well as handling and manipulating one or more of the following types of economic data: macroeconomic data, firm-level and/or other microeconomic data, financial market data;
- a good understanding of the economic issues covered by the Division and of the institutional framework of the ECB and the Eurosystem;
- a high level of computer literacy and the ability to use software applications, including a good working knowledge of MS Office, particularly PowerPoint and Excel;
- practical experience in working with statistical and econometric packages such as Stata, EViews or MATLAB, or with programming languages such as R or Python;
- an advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Desired:
- a master’s degree or higher (completed or nearing completion) in economics or a related field;
- experience in using market data services such as Bloomberg or Haver Analytics;
- practical experience in designing and programming automated reports and/or creating web applications using Shiny for R.
You are curious and eager to learn, and want to further develop your ability to analyse complex information. You are keen to collaborate with others, pursue team goals and learn from other people’s diverse perspectives. You strive to know and anticipate stakeholder needs, and will signal any need for change and propose alternative solutions.
You are motivated to contribute to the ECB’s mission, to serve the citizens of the EU as a member of a public institution and to work with colleagues from all over Europe. You are keen to be part of our team and to use your skills and competencies to achieve the aims of this position.
Further information
Initial traineeship of 6 months, with a possible extension to up to 12 months in total. The positions will start to be filled from the summer of 2024 onwards.
Application and selection process
The recruitment process for this position will include an online interview.
Further information on
how to apply is available on our website.
If you are not selected for this position but are still considered suitable, you will be placed on a reserve list for 12 months from the closing date for applications, from which you might be considered for other traineeship positions within the ECB.
