The Civil Service offers contracts for individuals who have not worked for at least two years or whose current employment is not commensurate with their level of qualifications and skills. Lasting six weeks to six months, depending on the post, these contracts enable employees to update their knowledge and enhance their work experience, with a view to recruitment in a permanent position.

Germany has introduced new rules for appraisals of civil servants. These appraisals have a major impact on civil servants’ promotions and/or requests for transfers. A judgment handed down by the Stuttgart administrative court of appeal states that “specific grounds” must be given for any downgrade to a civil servant’s appraisal score. The judges considered that this obligation to give grounds for a lower appraisal score stems from the principle of legal protection, guaranteed by the Basic Law (Germany’s constitution).

In order to meet its sizeable recruitment needs (4,500 hires expected in 2019) and to streamline the processing of the 250,000 applications it receives annually, French railway operator SNCF is launching a new platform with a chatbot. Internet users thus have the opportunity to discover the various jobs within the group and to chat with current staff (60 “ambassadors” will answer potential applicants’ questions and share their own experiences).