1. Public sector Recruitment System and challenges in France
Simon Loréal
Directorate-General for Public Admnistration and Civil Service - France
EUPAN WL Meeting
10-11 April 2018

2. SUMMARY Key figures and Principles of the French Civil Service
Recruitment system
Modernising the recruitment

3. Key figures and Principles of the French Civil Service
France : 66 million inhabitants
5.4 million public servants
i.e. 1/5th of the active population
in three branches of civil service
Branch of civil service
Workforce
(in millions)
Employer
Civil service general statute
5.4
State civil service, Local civil service, Hospital civil service
State civil service
2.4
Ministerial departments, national Administrative Public Establishments (EPA)
Local civil service
1.8
Regions, departments, and municipalities, local administrative public establishments
Hospital civil service
1.1
Hospitals, public care establishments
State civil service: 2.4 million, of which:
Ministries 1,9 million
Local State administrations 60%
Middle and high schools 30%
National public entities
Local civil service: 1.9 million, of which:
Municipalities 1 million
“Départements”
Regions
Local public entities
Hospital civil service: 1.1 million
Public employment, other than civil service, covers :
Public organizations like social security
Private organizations with a majority public shareholding
Public firms like Engie or Orange
And represents more than 6.5 million employees, about 1/4th of the active population

4. Key figures and Principles of the French Civil Service
Permanent civil servants (80% of staff) are clustered into corps (301), i.e. groups of civil servants submitted to the same particular rules regarding:
The type of competitive examination for their recruitment
The nature of the positions they are deemed to hold and the scheme of administrations they shall work for
The structure of their advancement process
Each corps :
belongs to a category :
category A : policy-making, management and supervision staff
category B : application - middle-ranked staff
category C : execution - unskilled and semi-skilled staff
is structured in several grades (2 or 3), levels, to which a level of remuneration is attached
Advancement from one level to another is based on seniority (e.g. 2 to 3 years in general) to a higher grade based on seniority or of being successful to a professional examination.
Promotion to a higher corps is accessible through examination or experience / expertise
Around 340 different corps in the State civil service

5. SUMMARY Key figures and Principles of the French Civil Service
Recruitment system
Modernising the recruitment

6. Recruitment system
Two features distinguish the French recruitment system :
→ the importance of the competitive examination ;
→ the link between selection (competitive examination) and training (professional schools).

7. Recruitment system
Governed by the principle of equal access to public positions and jobs
Article 6 of the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Open to citizens from member countries of the European Economic Area
Competitive examination (“concours”) is the common mode of recruitment of civil servants, except for :
Contractual staff (around 20%)
“Discretionary positions” : very Top Managers (around 450 people e.g. central administration directors, prefects, ambassadors)
Non-competitive hiring for unskilled personnel (less than 700 / year)
In the State civil service : recruitments in by competitive examination ( on external competition, i.e. 68%)
From 2004 to 2014, the number of State civil servants has decreased: retirement increase (“oldies boom”) and non-replacement policies
Decrease in the State civil service 2014/2004 : -0,9 %
BUT +0,4% for the whole civil service, all 3 branches included (+2% in Local, +1% in Hospital)
Same increase, +0,4%, for employment as a whole, public & private sectors.

8. Recruitment system
Different types of competitive examinations (around 400 sessions yearly):
External competition: for who meet the nationality and degree criteria
Internal competition: for public-sector employees who seek promotion and meet a seniority criterion
Special competition (“third competition”): for people with professional experience outside the public sector
Competition based on qualifications: for highly and specific qualified professionals
Civil servants start their career as trainees, generally for 1 or 2 years.
Training generally takes place in a specialized public service school or training institute (close link between recruitment and training system).
After this probation and on-the-job training period, they are granted confirmation (“titularisation”) provided they properly fulfilled their duties

9. Recruitment system DGAFP - Recruitment policy
- Controle of the regulatory framework (statutory orders, ministerial orders),
- Countersignature of authorization of the competitive examination starting procedures
Ministry or recruiter service
- Identification of recruitment needs
- Material (logistic) and legal (regulatory texts, jury) organization
- Management of the laureates
Jury
Composed in accordance of the regulatory framework of each competitive examination, obligation of gender balance
The jury is sovereign
Services providers
Shared service centers, equipment suppliers for the room, printers, transporters …
The candidates…

10. SUMMARY Key figures and Principles of the French Civil Service
Recruitment system
Modernising the recruitment

11. Modernising the recruitment
Revision of the content and methods of competitions (1)
Objective: a less academic and more professional recruitment
 Tests adapted to the required skills : testing knowledge, “know-how“ skills, “know-how-to-be” skills (soft skills) and motivation
What we want to avoid :
Tests not adapted to the skills sought (too academic) ;
Multiple options not related to jobs performed;
General culture questions for category C (execution staff)
Insufficiently differentiated tests between the different ways of access 11

12. Modernising the recruitment
Revision of the content and methods of competitions (2)
Objective: a less academic and more professional recruitment
 Tests adapted to the required skills : testing knowledge, “know-how“ skills, “know-how-to-be” skills (soft skills) and motivation
What we promote :
Reducing the number of tests
Focusing on practical situation tests
More third competitions (private sector experience) and professional exams
Developing interviews based on career paths and skills acquired (RAEP) for internal (even external) competitions : based on a file prepared by the candidate (standard template), evaluate candidate's professional background, training, skills, strengths and motivations related to the position/corps.
More Grids for evaluation used by juries during oral tests (knowledge, know-how, soft skills, motivation) and more transparency (publication)
Increasing coefficients of interview tests in the competitions 12

13. Modernising the recruitment
2) Professionalization of juries
Better recruiting on the basis of talents and abilities :
training for juries for interviewing techniques, evaluation grids to assess candidates' qualifications, non-discrimination issues
diversity of juries composition (gender balanced, recruitment professional…)
exchanges of good practices between members of juries.
3) Mobilisation of candidates pools (1)
- By communication: SCORE (online platform with centralized information on all competitions), BIEP (online platform with all State job offers), RIME (Interdepartmental Directory of State trade) and DICO (Dictionary of skills)
- By Networking : information on occupations and ways of recruitment, especially in universities and higher education institutions schools. 13

14. Modernising the recruitment 3) Mobilisation of candidates pools (2)
- By opening up to new skills: developing the 3rd competitions (people with professional experience outside the public sector).
- By the knowledge of the profiles of the candidates: the "Base competition" will help gather data on candidates and develop statistics to adjust the recruitment actions to the imbalances and shortcomings observed (2020)
- By diversity measures :
Recruitment for “reserved jobs” : people with disabilities (minimum of 6%)
Social criteria (until 28 or after 45 years old ) :
Diversity allowances
Integrated preparatory classes (CPI)
PrAB contract for category A and B
“PACTE” recruitment for category C 14

15. Questions ?