Here are the main steps in the recruitment procedure for the Presidential Area, Corporate Services and Legal and International Affairs at the EPO.
Step 1: Application
Fill in the online application form and send it to us. You will receive confirmation by email that we have received your application. Kindly note that, to be eligible to work for us, you need to be a national of one of the European Patent Organisation’s contracting states.
Step 2: Preselection
- Applicants are preselected based on how well they match the required profile.
- The key preselection criteria are:
- Completed studies (certificate of completed secondary/post-secondary education or university degree)
- Command of the three EPO official languages (English, French, German)
- Openness to relocate to one of the EPO host countries / EPO sites
- Technical knowledge and background – clear and detailed description of previous work experience
- Motivation
- International mindedness
Step 3: Interviews
If preselected, you will be invited to an interview. You may also be invited to take part in an online assessment or to prepare a case study. As well, you will receive an email inviting you to complete an online personality questionnaire by a given deadline. We recommend that you check your inbox as well as your spam folder regularly to make sure you don't miss any important emails from us.
The interviews assess candidates on two main criteria:
- technical and interpersonal skills
- language proficiency
Step 4: Decision
After the interviews, usually one or more candidates are found to be suitable for the post and a final decision is taken.
Step 5: Job offer
The selected candidate will be sent a job offer with a letter of appointment by email. The offer is conditional on passing a medical examination and a pre-employment screening check. This process is compulsory for all new recruits, meaning that they cannot start work with us until it has been completed.
Screening begins as soon as the selected candidate has accepted our conditional job offer and provided us with a letter of authorisation to start the process.
