A mental marathon to win a well-paid EU job

A less than 3 percent chance of getting the job. Months of studying, learning hundreds of acronyms and obscure politicians' names to be able to answer tricky quiz questions in seconds. Would you go for it?

Every year, tens of thousands of Europeans do, entering the European Union's public service job marathon. The prize is a 21st-century rarity: a highly paid, low-tax, job for life.

In the past five years, more than 290,000 hopefuls have applied for EU jobs. A mere 7,049 were eventually recruited by the 27-nation bloc's institutions, mostly based in Brussels, but also in Luxembourg and a few other EU states.