Overview
There is no single national exam called concours de la fonction publique. Each concours is organised for a particular corps or job by a ministry or other employer, with its own conditions, tests and calendar. The ministry portal for the public service, run by the DGAFP, brings together the information. It says that a concours is only one way in: other routes include recruitment without concours, the PACTE scheme and hiring of contract staff, and the public service offers more than 1,000 different jobs.
This page describes what the portal itself says. For tests, conditions and dates of a particular concours, use the notice published by the organising ministry or employer.
Levels or stages
The general calendar of concours for the state civil service sorts them by statutory category: A+, A, B and C. When the page was read in October 2026, it listed 4 concours in category A+, 124 in A, 33 in B and 3 in C. Posts are also tagged with a diploma level, from lower-secondary certificates (CAP, BEP, brevet) through baccalauréat, bac+2, licence, master and doctorate, so the qualification needed depends on the concours.
The calendar groups concours by:
Access route: external concours, internal concours, third concours, and selection on qualifications and work (sur titres et travaux).
Employer: for example the Éducation nationale, Interior, Finance, Higher Education and Research, Justice, Agriculture and Defence.
Field: teaching and research, administrative, security and justice, technical, sport, health and social, and culture.
Important dates
Each concours has its own registration closing date, which the calendar shows. For example, in October 2026 it listed registration closing on 6 November 2026 for the Ingénieurs des travaux de la météorologie concours and on 22 October 2026 for Ingénieurs de recherche at INRIA. There is no common national exam date.
How to apply
The portal's calendar gathers the orders and notices of state civil service concours published in the Journal Officiel, with filters to search. For ministries' forecast calendars, it directs candidates to the concours sections of the ministries' own sites, noting that these are indicative and often change. Registration itself is made through the organising employer.
Is there one single concours for the French civil service?
No. Each corps or job has its own concours, run by the ministry or employer concerned, with its own conditions and calendar.
Do I have to pass a concours to join the public service?
Not always. The portal lists other routes, including recruitment without concours, the PACTE scheme and contract posts.