Job opportunities: recruitment competitions and selections

The main means of staff recruitment used by Istat involves selection procedures, in accordance with the constitutional principle that requires open, public recruitment competitions to be held in order to select candidates for public administration positions (Article 97 of the Constitution) and with Article 35 of Legislative Decree no. 165/01 ("General rules concerning employment in public administration").

In addition, selection may take place without recourse to open recruitment competitions, through employment of registered candidates for positions and profiles for which the sole requirement is that candidates have completed their compulsory education and candidates belonging to protected categories as provided for by Law no. 68/99, as well as invitations to application by victims of terrorism and organised crime.

Recruitment procedures are published in the Official Gazette and on this website.

The Institute’s staff is organised in three areas: research, technological, and administrative. Each area includes several professional profiles, divided into nine salary levels: the highest level is the first, while subsequent levels constitute lower scales on the pyramid.

Recruitment competitions for permanent employment contracts

Pursuant to Presidential Decree no. 171/91 implementing regulations concerning staff of research bodies and institutions, selection by means of open recruitment competitions applies from levels I to III and the basic level for each profile between levels IV and IX.
In addition, in the case of specific operational requirements, the Institute may also select staff through open recruitment competitions for level IV positions for technicians and executive administrative staff within the limit of 2% of the staffing requirements specified for the professional profile concerned.

Requirements

Procedures relating to recruitment competitions held by the Institute comply with Presidential Decree no. 487/94 and subsequent amendments and additions. Selection requirements include qualifications and fitness for work in relation to the position in question. Knowledge of computer equipment and applications is a requirement for all levels, as is a knowledge of at least one foreign language.
Recruitment competitions for the first three levels regard highly qualified professional profiles. Specifically, for the third levels a research doctorate relating to the chosen area is required, or alternatively, in the same area, at least three years of documented professional post-graduate scientific and/or technological research.
The profiles of chief technologist or technologist require, respectively, 12 and 8 years of specific professional experience.
Examination candidates for the fourth to the ninth level must be in possession of the qualification required for each level and the standard skills required to perform the duties in the various areas of work concerned. Previous work experience is also required for some specific areas. For profiles requiring a school diploma, selection is based on a suitability assessment.

Examinations

Recruitment competitions for first- and second-level profiles, which are held to fill positions of greater, more complex responsibility, involve an evaluation of candidates’ qualifications and an interview (only qualifications are evaluated for senior managers). In addition, there are two written tests are for third-level profiles.
Recruitment competitions for intermediate profiles include the evaluation of educational qualifications for each level, as well as any other qualifications gained, and require candidates to take written and oral examinations. For the basic levels, candidates are required to have completed their compulsory education, and specific selections are made from official job-seekers’ lists.

Careers

The CCNL (National Labour Collective Agreement) sets out rules for mobility between levels by profile, excluding the professional profiles of researcher and technologist for which redeployment from other profiles is not permitted, and access to each of the levels from I. II to III takes place exclusively through national, public recruitment competitions. For all other professional profiles mobility between levels is possible through selection procedures for staff who hold the relevant profile, who have accumulated, respectively, 6 years of service at each level for the profiles of research institute technical staff, technicians and assistant technicians, and 5 years of service at each level for the profiles of executive administrative staff, administrative staff and administrative assistants (Article 13, paragraph 3, letter b of Presidential Decree no. 171/91). Finally, for personnel belonging to levels IV-IX, the CCNL governs the salary increases awarded as a result of two successive pay positions through selection procedures to be implemented every two years for staff who have accumulated at least 5 years of service at the highest pay position in their level or the pay position immediately below this. Both selection procedures are implemented every two years by specific committees set up by the Institute, which produce a ranking based on years of service, training, qualifications and performance assessment; ranking points are awarded as per the CCNL itself.

Selections

For fixed-term employment contracts

Public selection procedures may apply also to fixed-term employment, as expressly provided for by Article 36 of the abovementioned Legislative Decree no. 165/01, which grants public administration bodies the possibility to adopt more flexible staff hiring and employment contracts alongside standard contracts, in compliance with the provisions regarding staff recruitment mentioned above.
Fixed-term employment contracts are governed by Legislative Decree no. 368/01. They can be stipulated for technical, production, organisational or staff replacement reasons. They regard candidates who hold a diploma or degree and who are selected to join research projects or to take up technical or administrative support positions for a fixed term. In order to meet specific requirements for staff with specific professional qualifications or capacities, Istat may publish calls for applications in the Official Gazette.

For temporary work assignments

The purpose of selections is to stipulate contracts for the provision of professional services, in accordance with Articles 2222 et seq. of the Civil Code, in the form of coordinated, ongoing working relationships not subject to ordinary employment conditions.

For scholarships

Scholarships are awarded to young graduates and undergraduates to study and conduct research at Istat. They are awarded following public selections on the basis of qualifications and an interview. Their duration is eleven months and they are renewable. The subject areas and amounts of the scholarships are decided by the committee during the session held to approve the three-year plan.