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Examiner recruitment procedure

The first steps in the recruitment procedure for examiners are as follows:

Step 1: Application
Fill out the online application form. Receipt of your application will be confirmed by email.

Step 2: Technical interview
If you are shortlisted, you will be invited to participate in one or more technical interviews.

The purpose of these interviews is to assess the suitability of your technical knowledge for the fields with vacancies. One or more technical documents will be used as a basis for discussion. They will usually be patent drawings, examples of which you can find on Espacenet. Your command of our official languages (English, French and German) will also be tested.

Step 3: Interview with Selection Board
If your technical interview is successful, you will be invited to take part in a final interview with representatives from the business and the Talent Acquisition team. 

You will have the opportunity to find out more about the EPO and the job of a European patent examiner, a role which demands a unique combination of scientific expertise, analytical thinking, language skills and an interest in intellectual property law.

You may also receive an email inviting you to complete a number of online assessment exercises. The purpose of the exercises is to test – for example – your cognitive ability, personality and language skills. You will need to complete all the exercises by the given deadline. We recommend you check your inbox as well as your spam folder regularly to make sure you don't miss any important emails from us.