Appointment of the Public Service Intern: What Reinstatement of Seniority?

Verified 25 November 2025 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

When you are appointed as a probationary officer for the 1re Sometimes you are in principle paid on the basis of 1er step of grade in which you are named.

However, if you have engaged in one or more professional activities before you were appointed official on probation, these periods of activity may be partially taken into account.

You can start your career and be paid on a step more favorable than 1er step.

The professional activities partially taken into account are: activities performed as a contractor in the public service.

It can also beprofessional activities carried out under another status (e.g. as a private sector employee) in related functions and areas of activity of those in which the members of the body or employment framework in which you are appointed are employed.

The conditions for taking into account in part these previous periods of professional activity are not the same for all employment bodies and managers of the 3 public functions.

They shall be laid down by special status the body or framework of posts in which you are appointed as a probationary official or by provisions common to several bodies or frameworks of posts.

If you have worked as a public service contractor and then under another status (or vice versa), only the most favorable activity is taken into account.

Example :

If you are appointed as a probationary officer for the 1re Once, as a territorial engineer, and if you have previously carried out one or more professional activities in the private sector, in functions and fields of activity that are similar to those corresponding to the employment framework of territorial engineers, the duration of these activities is taken into account for half, within the limit of 7 years.

A resumption of seniority of 7 years allows to be classified at 4e step of the grade of engineer and to be paid on the basis of the index corresponding to that step.

To benefit from the partial resumption of your previous periods of activity, you must provide the necessary supporting documents to your Human Resources Department (HRD). For example, copies of your employment contracts and work certificates.

The HR department draws up a summary of your professional experience from these documents.

This statement is mentioned and attached to your order of appointment as an intern.

Your HR manager then determines your grade step based on the length of time you have been promoted to grade.

If you are appointed as a probationary official again in career following your admission to a contest or to the internal promotionHowever, you can apply for the continuation of your previous index treatment during your internship, to which you were entitled in your original body or employment.

If you are appointed as a trainee civil servant in the public service or hospital, the maintenance of the previous index salary is ensured within the upper limit of the salary to which you can claim your tenure.

Upon your appointment, your previous services will be partially taken into account to determine your step of classification in your new grade according to the rules laid down by the particular status of the corps or the framework of posts in which you are appointed as a probationary official or by provisions common to several corps or frameworks of posts.

Example :

If you are appointed as a Territorial Engineer Trainee and you were previously employed in a Category B position, you are ranked at a grade level with the index closest to the one that gives you a 60-point gross index gain. If 2 successive steps meet this condition, you are ranked at the step with the lowest index.

The State civil service has about 270 corps, the territorial civil service 52 managers and the hospital civil service about 60 corps.

Specific rules may be laid down for certain employment bodies or managers.

For example, in the territorial civil service, where the special status of an official in category A posts results in an official, who was previously already an official or a contract official, being classified at a step with a lower index than that which he previously enjoyed, being classified at the end of the last step of his substantive grade, he retains the benefit of his earlier index until he reaches a step with an index at least equal.

Depending on your individual situation, ask your human resources department.

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