The Competition

Working at the University, I think I've understood the important facts about the "concours" to become civil servants or to get a promotion; if anyone spots an error, leave me a comment!

Each year in the spring, the government publishes a list of open civil servant positions for all the various areas where civil servants work: universities, public schools, hospitals, local governments, ministries, etc. Some of these are open to the general public, and some are only open to people either already "en poste" or with a certain amount of time spent working in the public sector (often specified whether the time can be as a "contractuel" like me or if it needs to be as a civil servant).

The part of the University where I work is something like 80% contract workers, but my office mate is a civil servant. When the lists came out a few months ago, she decided to apply for one which would mean a promotion. Some of my colleagues who are contract workers like me applied for positions which would mean doing the same job, but as a civil servant.

There are couple things to know about civil servant jobs:
-for non-research positions (basically everyone but a professor) you have to have a European passport
-jobs are divided into three categories: A for top management (cadre), B for middle management, and C for entry level.
-the different civil servant positions that exist haven't been significantly redone since the rise of computers and audiovisual techonology; my colleagues who work in IT and audiovisual have a job that is "Category A ou sans équivalent de poste titulaire"

My position at the University is category B since I'm required to be bilingual and I work on a special international accreditation, but all my colleagues who do very similar work are category C. I think the whole categorization thing is outdated because the gardeners for the city are category C as are my colleagues who are trained on specific software, ensure professors are paid, and prepare grades and diplomas for students (among a ton of other things). My colleague in category C doesn't have to speak English daily, but she helps train colleagues for several different types of software and it's not entry level.

So back to the "concours". My colleague decided to apply for a category B position, which would mean a promotion. The concours was only open to people who were already civil servants and the first part was a paper application. One of the things I saw her working on was an organi-gramme which put herself in the best possible light. I thought it was kind of odd that candidates weren't required to submit the official organi-gramme of our department, but from what I understood the idea was to show how you are linked to lots of different things and that your position puts you at the center of an important structure. I think the administrative head of our department had to write an evaluation of her work as well, called a "rapport d'activité" (though I'm unsure). She also had to provide proof that she was up to date with her "Journée d'appel à la défénse".

After that was submitted, my colleague started studying for a possible oral exam, and after about a month she learned she was one of 28 people who had passed the initial evaluation and would have an oral. The 28 people would compete for 6 category B positions in the Toulouse universities.

Some of my colleagues who are contract workers also applied for some "concours" but in category C. Most of them had to first take a written exam which included a lot of "Culture-G", or general knowledge questions, plus a minimum of questions related to the actual kind of work we do. One of my colleagues who is a civil servant was saying they put math, logic, and French grammar questions on the test as a way to eliminate a high number of candidates because questions only on the kind of work to be done wouldn't differentiate the candidates. Those who get a high enough score on the written test will be "admissible" and will have an oral exam in front of a jury.

When my office mate learned she was admissible and would have the oral, it was a mini revolution in my office. Several hours each day she would work on her speech (candidates are given 5 minutes to present themselves and their professional experiences), sometimes with colleagues. She would do practice interviews, and she printed out reams of reference documents. After her 5 minute presentation, the jury could ask her all kinds of questions about the legal requirements for this or that aspect of a university, or what does the new independent status of the university mean, or what kind of managerial skills has she developed. She had binders full of accounting rules, internship contract rules, Ministry of Education rules for who can get a diploma, information on the history of the Toulouse university, an much much more. She did practice orals with our bosses, and took days off to study. As a civil servant she had 2 days off free in order to do the concours.
Last Thursday she had her appointment in Bordeaux, and by Thursday night she learned she was "admise".

For the moment we don't know if she will leave our part of the University or will be able to stay in the same position (more or less) but with the category B status, potentially more responsibilities, and a pay raise.

For my colleagues who took the written exams, none of them have done their orals yet.

I can't apply for any concours yet because of my nationality, but my colleagues often ask me if I plan on applying once I'll have French nationality.

I have to say I don't really know. There definitely are advantages to being a civil servant for the evolution of your salary, retirement, the possibility of getting a home loan, etc. But there are also the disadvantages of possibly having to move cities if you want more responsibilities, and the fact that you have to do a "concours" each time you want to change.

There's also the fact that the government doesn't create enough civil servant positions for the work needed in Universities and public structures. This means lots of people are competing for each civil servant position. My colleagues said that at the written exam for a civil servant position there were 100 people in the amphitheater; there is 1 position available. When the government says that 1 civil servant position out of 2 will not be replaced when people retire, it means that someone will be hired on a CDD (like me) to replace them, not that there will be fewer people working in the administration. It also means that people are reduced to begging more or less for each civil servant position. The worst part is that in March a law was passed to reduce the number of people with CDDs in public administrations with the idea of pushing them to take the tests and become civil servants. After 5 years, contract workers will no longer be renewed if they haven't gotten a civil servant position. This would be okay if there were enough civil servant positions for everyone, but it's far from the case. People are being hired knowing that there is only a very small chance they will be able to stay longer than 5 years.

Theoretically, it would be possible to tell the government "FU, we're not competing for a 1% chance of staying in my job". If people stopped applying for contract positions because they knew they wouldn't be able to stay longer than 5 years, a lot of the administrations would grind to a halt.

But people (like me) need work, so we take CDD positions, and sign up for concours, and hope that  we will be one of the lucky few who are able to get a civil servant position. Once I have French nationality I'll have to decide if I play the game or not.