Recruitment of a contract staff member in the Hospital Public Service (HPF)

Verified 27 August 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Wondering how contract staff are recruited in the hospital civil service? The cases in which hospitals may recruit contract staff are listed by law. The duration of the contract (fixed or indefinite) depends on the reason for recruitment. We present these conditions.

Accessible jobs

You may be recruited as a permanent contractor when the nature of the duties or the needs of the service justify it, in particular in the following cases:

  • There are no bodies of hospital officials to perform the desired functions
  • To exercise newly supported features by the administration or requiring highly specialized technical knowledge.

The employment may be category A, B, or C.

The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service. It states that employment is open to contractors.

Duration of contract

You can be recruited by CSDCSD : Fixed-term contract or DTADTA : Contract of employment of indefinite duration.

If you are recruited on a fixed term, the duration of your contract is up to 3 years, renewable up to a maximum of 6 years.

If your contract is renewed after 6 years, it can only be renewed in a DTA.

When you are recruited, if you already have 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category as the job you are recruited for, you are directly recruited on a permanent contract.

If, before the end of your fixed-term contract, you prove that you have had 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category, your contract is considered to have been concluded as a fixed-term contract.

Your employer institution sends you a new contract confirming its indefinite duration.

If you refuse to enter into this new contract, you will remain in office until the end of your current contract.

If, at the time of your recruitment, you are linked by CDI to another public hospital establishment or a public administration or establishment of the State or to a local authority or public establishment, in functions of the same hierarchical category, your contract may be concluded for an indefinite period.

Counting of services for a transfer to a DTA

The 6-year period is counted taking into account all services performed in the following posts or occupied for the following reasons :

  • Service Requirements or Nature of Functions
  • Non-full-time employment with working hours of less than 17 hours 30 hours per week
  • Replacing a temporarily absent agent
  • Temporary vacancy pending recruitment of a territorial official
  • Temporary or seasonal increase in activity.

The 6-year period must have been completed in its entirety with the same establishment.

Non-full-time and part-time services shall be treated as full-time services.

Services performed on a discontinuous basis are taken into account, if the duration of the interruption between 2 contracts does not exceed 4 months.

For the calculation of the duration of interruption between 2 contracts, any period of health emergency is not taken into account.

You may be recruited as a contractor on a permanent post to replace an official or a contract staff member on part-time or leave.

The employment may be category A, B, or C. The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service.

The contract shall be concluded for a fixed period.

It shall be renewable, by express decision, within the limit of the period of absence of the member of staff replaced.

You may be recruited as a contractor on a permanent job temporarily vacant pending the recruitment of a hospital official.

The employment may be category A, B, or C. The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service.

The contract shall be concluded for a fixed period of up to one year.

It may be extended up to a total period of two years if, at the end of the one-year period, the recruitment procedure for the post concerned by an official has not been successful.

You can be recruited as a contract contractor on a non-permanent job to deal with a temporary or seasonal increase in activity.

The total duration of the contract and any renewals may not exceed 6 months during a period of 12 consecutive months to cope with a seasonal increase in activities.

The total duration of the contract and any renewals may not exceed 12 months during a period of 18 consecutive months to cope with a temporary increase in activities.

The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service. It states that employment is open to contractors.

Accessible jobs

Non-full-time jobs with a weekly working time of less than half-time (17.30 hours) may be filled only by contract staff.

The employment may be category A, B, or C.

The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service. It states that employment is open to contractors.

Duration of contract

You can be recruited by CSDCSD : Fixed-term contract or DTADTA : Contract of employment of indefinite duration.

If you are recruited on a fixed term, the duration of your contract is up to 3 years, renewable up to a maximum of 6 years.

If your contract is renewed after 6 years, it can only be renewed in a DTA.

When you are recruited, if you already have 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category as the job you are recruited for, you are directly recruited on a permanent contract.

If, before the end of your fixed-term contract, you prove that you have had 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category, your contract is considered to have been concluded as a fixed-term contract.

Your employer institution sends you a new contract confirming its indefinite duration.

If you refuse to enter into this new contract, you will remain in office until the end of your current contract.

If, at the time of your recruitment, you are linked by CDI to another public hospital establishment or a public administration or establishment of the State or to a local authority or public establishment, in functions of the same hierarchical category, your contract may be concluded for an indefinite period.

Counting of services for a transfer to a DTA

The 6-year period is counted taking into account all services performed in the following posts or occupied for the following reasons :

  • Service Requirements or Nature of Functions
  • Non-full-time employment with working hours of less than 17 hours 30 hours per week
  • Replacing a temporarily absent agent
  • Temporary vacancy pending recruitment of a territorial official
  • Temporary or seasonal increase in activity.

The 6-year period must have been completed in its entirety with the same establishment.

Non-full-time and part-time services shall be treated as full-time services.

Services performed on a discontinuous basis are taken into account, if the duration of the interruption between 2 contracts does not exceed 4 months.

For the calculation of the duration of interruption between 2 contracts, any period of health emergency is not taken into account.

You can be recruited by project contract to perform an identified project or operation.

The project contract shall be concluded for a minimum duration of one year and one maximum duration of 6 years.

It may be renewed to complete the project or operation, up to a total duration of 6 years.

Where the contract is concluded for a period of less than 6 years and the planned project or operation is not completed by the end of the contract, the contract may be renewed up to a maximum of 6 years.

The project contract shall end with the completion of the object for which it was concluded, after a period of advance notice.

It may, however, be terminated by decision of the employer's administration after a minimum period of one year if the project or operation for which it was concluded cannot be carried out.

If you have a disability, you can, under certain conditions, be recruited on a permanent job such as contract on a fixed-term basis, then tenure.

The employment may be category A, B, or C.

You can be recruited as a contractor on a permanent job under the Career pathways in the public service (Pact) if you are in one of the following 2 situations:

The Pact provides for access to category C job, i.e. a job usually open to persons holding a BEP, CAP or college certificate.

The purpose of the Pact is to enable you to acquire, by means of training in alternation with your professional activity, a qualification related to your job or the diploma required to access the body to which your job belongs.

The duration of your contract cannot be less than 12 months, or over 2 years.

Your contract may be renewed for a maximum of one year if you fail the evaluation tests of your training and do not obtain the qualification, title or diploma provided for in your contract.

At the end of your contract, you are eligible to become a tenure holder and become a public servant.

You can be recruited as a contractor on a management job (director of a university hospital center or regional hospital center, director of a medical-social institution, etc.).

You're being recruited on temporary contracts.

Your appointment to one of these positions does not result in your tenure in the hospital public service or, at the end of your term, in your renewal as a permanent contract.