On Friday, November 26, 2004 at 5:51:46 PM UTC+1, Antoine Delacroix wrote:

Hi,

EPO claims to recruit many patent examiners. It is often stated on
the recruitment website that the salary is "attractive", "competitive", at
a "similar level to those of other international organisations". This is
all very vague...

Some "other international organisations" propose only voluntary work. Some others offer good salaries. To which group belongs the EPO? Are the salary competitive from a the romanian candidate's point of view or from the
british one's?

Thanks in advance,

Antoine

Hi,


I also have a question. In case you get a position at EPO and decide after some time (2 years or more) the job is not for you - it can happen -, what are the career opportunities afterwards? I assume you cannot go back to the lab to be a researcher
anymore, right?

Thanks!

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what are the career options after 3-5 years at EPO?


On Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at 11:34:56 PM UTC+2, Interested_candidate wrote:

On Friday, November 26, 2004 at 5:51:46 PM UTC+1, Antoine Delacroix wrote:

Hi,

EPO claims to recruit many patent examiners. It is often stated on
the recruitment website that the salary is "attractive", "competitive", at a "similar level to those of other international organisations". This is all very vague...

Some "other international organisations" propose only voluntary work. Some others offer good salaries. To which group belongs the EPO? Are the salary competitive from a the romanian candidate's point of view or from the british one's?

Thanks in advance,

Antoine

Hi,

I also have a question. In case you get a position at EPO and decide after some time (2 years or more) the job is not for you - it can happen -, what are the career opportunities afterwards? I assume you cannot go back to the lab to be a researcher

anymore, right?

Thanks!

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On Wednesday, December 1, 2004 at 11:41:22 AM UTC+2, Regis wrote:

Hi there !

The salary indication (>3000€ net / month: taxes, health insurance and pension scheme paid) is a lowest estimation: non expatriate, no
experience examiner. An expatriate gets an extra 16% on his salary. He
will also have every other year a home leave allowance depending on
the distance from "home" (9 to 11 days holidays + AR flight ticket for
the family), and will receive an installation allowance (1 month
salary) the very first day when starting, the removal+travel being
also paid.
Salaries are also somewhat indexed on the inflation, meaning you
cannot loose purchasing power (that's why giving an exact figure now
is useless, you should get more when actually joining). You also get
family allowances when having chidren, the EPO also paying part of creche/school costs...

To summarize, money is not a real concern when joining the EPO...

About the calculation of your experience when starting at the EPO.
This is not so simple. Roughly, studies after MsC are taken at 50%,
PhD at 75%, working experience at 75%, military service at 75%, work
related to patent at 100% (i.a. if you worked in a national patent
office).

Nevertheless, it is true that living as an expatriate has some
drawbacks (different culture, far from friends and family), which
could be a little more sensitive in the Netherlands since you should
there speak Dutch, a fourth language to be added to the official
English, German and French requested by the EPO. However (as I live
there), Dutch people are just excellent in English, very good in
German, and you also find a lot of them knowing some French (preferred holidays location...). So you can live in TH without learning Dutch at
all: it's an international city with a British school, American
school, Deutsche Schule, Lycée Français... All the embassies are here,
+ lot of people working for ESTEC (ESA), Europol, Tribunal
International, OPCW, Shell headquarters, Unilever headquarters... And
in fact, if you know German, learning Dutch is easy.

Both in the Netherlands and Germany, the EPO has a social department
helping for your everyday life problems (housing, schools for
children, language courses for partners, etc.).
About leisure time, the "Amicale" offers a lot (in house sport
facilities in TH, soon to be built in MU), arranging parties, cultural exhibitions, sport events with other international agencies, etc.
The rumor says that 30% of singles find a partner within the EPO in 2
years time. Well, I'm in these 30% ;-) Come on, you work with highly
educated people from 30 different countries, about the same age and expatriate like you.
So, of course, you are still an expatriate, but everything is made to
make you feel comfortable. And it is true that money is not everything
(what about job satisfaction, security of employment, stress level,
career opportunities, etc.?), but it can help.

Dear Regis!
Are you still working for the EPO? I would like to ask some questions :)! Regards,
Inge

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