What we offer to our successful candidates in terms of contract, compensation and benefits depends on the type of external recruitment they have been subject to.
When you consult our vacancies on our Career Portal, the type of recruitment is indicated in the General Information section of each job vacancy. Identify the type of recruitment of the vacancy you are interested in, so you can find more information here about the type of contract proposed, the conditions of employment and the related benefits.

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International Recruitment

International recruitment is our main recruitment channel for international civil servants.

(popup)  International Recruitment

External recruitment (international) is our main recruitment channel for international civil servants.

If successful, you will be offered employment based on an initial fixed-term period of at least one year at the grade indicated in the General information section of the vacancy notice. If the vacancy indicates several grades (e.g. C1/C2, B1/B2 or A1/A2), the grade proposed will depend on the relevance of your previous professional experience.

After successful completion of a one-year probationary period, the initial contract may be renewed one or several times for a total duration of service not exceeding four years. A fixed-term appointment shall be converted into an open-ended appointment at the end of four years’ continuous service subject to the fulfilment of the conditions established by the Secretary General.

You will be entitled to mobility throughout the Organisation as soon as your probationary period is successful. You will therefore have the possibility to apply to other jobs through our internal vacancy system.

Your salary will be exempt of income tax. The salary proposed depends on the grade and the duty station (which are both indicated in the General Information section of the vacancy notice you apply for.) For an indication, you can consult the Council of Europe salaries table.

This salary may be supplemented by additional allowances depending on your personal situation, such as:

  • Family allowances: depending on your household situation, for example if you have children or other dependants, you may be entitled to a family allowance.
  • Expatriation allowance: if you are recruited at grade A, B or L, if you are not a national of the duty station, if you have not been residing continuously there for more than one year before joining the Council of Europe and if you are recruited more than 100 km from your duty station, then you may be entitled to an expatriation allowance.
  • Education allowance: if you are entitled to the expatriation allowance, you may benefit from a partial reimbursement of the education costs of your children (subject to certain conditions).
  • Settling-in allowance: if you are recruited more than 100km from your place of duty and move to a new address, you may be entitled to an installation allowance and to the reimbursement of your removal expenses (subject to certain conditions).

You will also benefit from the Council of Europe pension scheme and a private medical insurance.

You will be entitled to 32 days of annual leave (in addition to public holidays applicable in the duty station) and other advantages (including flexible working hours, training and development, possibility of teleworking up to 50% of your working time).

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Junior Professionals Programme

The Junior Professionals Programme offers employment opportunity for young graduates with less than two years of relevant experience and are less than 35 years of age.

(popup)  Junior Professionals Programme

The Junior Professionals Programme of the Council of Europe offers recent graduates at the beginning of their career the opportunity to gain invaluable experience in an international institution and contribute to protecting human rights, democracy and the rule of law across Europe.

If successful, you will be offered employment based on an initial fixed-term period of at least one year at B3 level (you can consult the Council of Europe salaries table).

After successful completion of a one-year probationary period, the contract may be renewed one or several times for a total duration of service not exceeding four years.

Your salary will be exempt of income tax. The salary proposed depends on the duty station (which is indicated in the General Information section of the vacancy notice you apply for).

Junior Professionals, including Assistant Lawyers at the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights, are not eligible for any internal transfers or promotions, and cannot be re-employed under the same scheme.

This salary may be supplemented by additional allowances depending on your personal situation, such as:

  • Family allowances: depending on your household situation, for example if you have children or other dependants, you may be entitled to a family allowance.
  • Expatriation allowance: if you are not a national of the duty station and have not been residing continuously in it for more than one year before starting at the Council of Europe, you may receive an expatriation allowance.
  • Education allowance: if you are entitled to the expatriation allowance, you may benefit from a partial reimbursement of the education costs of your children.
  • Settling-in allowance: if you move from another country to work for the Council of Europe, your removal expenses will be reimbursed, and you will receive an installation allowance.

You will also benefit from the Council of Europe pension scheme and a private medical insurance.

You will be entitled to 32 days of annual leave (in addition to public holidays applicable in the duty station) and other advantages (including flexible working hours, training and development, possibility of teleworking up to 50%).

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Turnover Workforce Scheme

The Turnover Workforce Scheme concerns specific job profiles characterized by a regular turnover of staff on the same position.

(popup)  Turnover Workforce Scheme

The Turnover Workforce Scheme of the Council of Europe concerns specific job profiles where a regular turnover of staff on the same position is considered to be beneficial (for example to bring in up to date external knowledge and practices to the Organisation, respond to changing organisational needs, where there is limited career perspective or the nature of the work is highly repetitive).

If successful, you will be offered employment based on an initial fixed-term period of at least one year at the grade indicated in the General information section of the vacancy notice. If the vacancy indicates several grades (e.g. C1/C2, B1/B2 or A1/A2), the grade proposed will depend on the relevance of your previous professional experience.

After successful completion of a one-year probationary period, the contract may be renewed one or several times for a total duration of service not exceeding four years.

Your salary will be exempt of income tax. The salary proposed depends on the duty station (which is indicated in the General Information section of the vacancy notice you apply for).

For an indication, you can consult the Council of Europe salaries table.

Staff members employed under a Turnover Workforce Scheme are not eligible for any internal transfers or promotions, and cannot be re-employed under the same scheme.

This salary may be supplemented by additional allowances depending on your personal situation, such as:

  • Family allowances: depending on your household situation, for example if you have children or other dependants, you may be entitled to a family allowance.
  • Expatriation allowance: if you are not a national of the duty station and have not been residing continuously in it for more than one year before starting at the Council of Europe, you may receive an expatriation allowance.
  • Education allowance: if you are entitled to the expatriation allowance, you may benefit from a partial reimbursement of the education costs of your children.
  • Settling-in allowance: if you move from another country to work for the Council of Europe, your removal expenses will be reimbursed, and you will receive an installation allowance.

 

You will also benefit from the Council of Europe pension scheme and a private medical insurance.

You will be entitled to 32 days of annual leave (in addition to public holidays applicable in the duty station) and other advantages (including flexible working hours, training and development, possibility of teleworking up to 50%).

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Secondments

To ensure a constant exchange of workforce and competencies with our member states, national civil servants are offered a specific recruitment path while keeping a link to their administration of origin

(popup) Secondments

We regularly have secondment opportunities for officials employed by our member states. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement - officials can gain experience and contacts in the international environment at the Council of Europe, while we can benefit from the specific skills and expertise they bring. As well as being published on our website, these opportunities are also issued to the members states' Permanent Delegations to the Council of Europe.

Seconded officials include international, national, regional and local officials, as well as other persons sent by member states in accordance with their national legislation.

Seconded officials must remain in employment or be paid by the member state from which they are seconded throughout the period of secondment and receive no salary from the Council of Europe. In accordance with the agreements concerned, secondments may foresee a displacement allowance and travel expenses from the Organisation. In 2025, the monthly relocation allowance amounts to €6.387,54 for the first two months and, as from the third month, to a minimum of €3.182,79. This amount could be supplemented depending on your personal situation.

They must also be nationals of a member state of the Council of Europe and, in the case of partial agreements, nationals of a member state of the Council of Europe or of the partial agreement concerned. They may work in any field where their services are deemed necessary, provided that there is no conflict with the interests of the organisation. While on secondment with the Council of Europe, seconded officials may neither receive nor seek instructions in connection with the performance of their duties from any government, authority, organisation or person outside the Council of Europe.

The period of secondment must be at least four months and not more than two years. Secondment may be prolonged or renewed, but the total duration of one secondment period may not exceed three years, except in cases of derogation.

Please note that, when applying online for a secondment, you will be asked to select from a drop-down list, the Permanent Representation to the Council of Europe that supports your secondment. When you submit your application, an e-mail will be sent directly to this Representation informing them about your application and asking them to validate your application within 10 working days. Without this validation, your application cannot be considered.

 Useful links:

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Local recruitment 

Local recruitment is essential to our field presence in more than 20 field offices.

(popup)  Local recruitment 

Local recruitment is essential to our field presence in more than 20 field offices. Local recruitment is a specific recruitment process applicable to our field offices and it is not applicable to jobs at Headquarters:

All contracts offered under this type of recruitment are temporary contracts which can be renewed on an annual basis.

The conditions of remuneration differ from those of the international recruitment. Salaries are exempt of income tax when relevant privileges and immunities apply. The salary proposed depends on the grade and the duty station (which are both indicated in the General Information section of the vacancy notice you apply for). For an indication, you can consult the Council of Europe local recruitment salaries table. Local staff are entitled to the following allowances, subject to applicable conditions being fulfilled:

  • the allowance in respect of dependent children or the dependent child supplement (except for the additional supplement for single parent families provided for in the Staff Rule on Salaries and Allowances);
  • the indemnity for disabled child or the supplements for disabled or severely disabled child.

Locally recruited staff members shall be affiliated to the Council of Europe’s compulsory insurance scheme and a compulsory pension scheme established by the Council of Europe for this purpose, unless agreements with the host country provide otherwise.

Recrutees are entitled to 32 days of annual leave (in addition to public holidays applicable in the duty station) and other advantages (including flexible working hours, training and development, possibility of teleworking up to 50%).

Successful candidates are however not entitled to mobility throughout the Organisation and cannot apply to other jobs through our internal vacancy system.

 Useful links:

For full details of the conditions that apply to local recruitment, you can consult our Rule No. 1234 laying down the conditions of recruitment and employment of locally recruited staff members working in Council of Europe Duty Stations located outside of France.

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Traineeships

Two training sessions are open for applications every year, in May and October. If you consider applying, do not miss the deadlines.

(popup)  Traineeships

Do you have a strong interest for human rights, democracy and the rule of law? Would you like to gain valuable experience working at a multi-cultural Organisation aiming to make Europe a better place for all citizens? Do you want to acquire a hands-on understanding of the functioning and activities of the Council of Europe. Does working with people from various backgrounds on subjects you’ve already studied sound interesting? In turn, would you be willing to share your enthusiasm and skills with us?

A traineeship lasts between two to five months. Traineeships sessions start every year on 1 March and on 1 October.

The remuneration is of approximately €635/month (it only applies to trainees selected for the official programme).

To self-finance the traineeship, there exist various scholarship options with different international funds (for ex. Erasmus+). You must be selected to start the process and the Traineeship Office can support applications.

The typical responsibilities given to trainees include observing and assisting in:

  • research work;
  • preparation of draft reports and studies for meetings of experts;
  • drafting of meeting reports;
  • committee organisation;
  • developing communication content; and more.

To make the best selection for you, please find out all about our different placements here. 

Most of our in-person traineeships take place at our Strasbourg headquarters but there are a few options to work in our field offices. 

Please note that if you already were a trainee/study visitor within the Council of Europe (either in Strasbourg or in the field) you may not undertake another traineeship in the Organisation, whatever form it may take.

The selection procedure can take approximately two months and notifications (selection, reserve list, rejection) are usually sent three months in advance of the start date.

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Spontaneous applications – Temporary needs

To ensure short-term replacement and help us during special events and picks of activity, we also recruit on a temporary basis. Let us know if you are interested.

(popup)  Spontaneous applications – Temporary needs

Looking for short-term work? In our Headquarters in Strasbourg, in order to meet short-term needs, we may offer a monthly or daily temporary contracts for short-term assignments (for example: to cover staff absences, periods of increased workload or to support specific projects). We regularly look for highly motivated individuals who can quickly slot into our existing structure and be immediately operational to a high level on the job.

Monthly contracts shall be concluded for periods of one month or more and may be renewed up to a maximum of 12 months over the person's entire career.

Daily contracts shall be concluded for periods of less than three weeks. They may be renewed up to a maximum of 100 working days in any calendar year. The 12 months' limitation is not applicable to daily contracts.

These types of contracts may be a good way to discover our Organisation and to pick up new skills; they cannot, however, lead to longer fixed-term employment which is accessed through separate recruitment processes.

We offer our temporary staff tax-free salaries, good holiday allowance and other benefits. See the specific employment conditions for temporary staff.

Given the volume of applications received for temporary employment, we are not in a position to reply to individual inquiries. Once submitted through our Career Portal, and should you fulfil the general requirements to apply to the Council of Europe, your application form will be stored in our database and may be consulted if a temporary vacancy for your profile becomes available. The hiring department may contact you directly, should your application be of interest. You can update your form with any new professional or personal information (or withdraw it) at any time.