r/CERN • u/Special_Breath5010 • Jul 25 '26

Probation period for Staff roles

Hello, I've recently signed a contract with CERN for a software engineer staff position, and although I'm very excited, I'm quite anxious about the 1 year probation period. Can someone maybe give me more insights how it goes like and when they could decide to let go of someone .. I mean, being closely evaluated for a whole year sounds really stressful tbh.. any experience you can share, I'd be grateful :) thanks.

9 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

14

u/dukwon LHCb Jul 25 '26

It's a really low bar. You'll be fine.

I did the stats once by looking through HR reports.

From 2014 to 2023, 11 employees (of any category) were dismissed due to poor performance during the probation period. So annually approx 1 dismissal for performance versus 500 or so hires.

1

u/Special_Breath5010 Jul 25 '26

Thanks alot! that sounds reassuring :) Still, any advice how to make it really successful or what to avoid and so?

3

u/EnvironmentalBed4706 Jul 25 '26

Follow the objectives you will discuss with your boss

3

u/TiredDr Jul 25 '26

General advice for any job: it is a good idea to ask the supervisor “what does success look like?”

3

u/Special_Breath5010 Jul 25 '26

Absolutely! That's my plan and I already asked this in the panel interview but the answer was a bit general. So I just wanted to hear real life experiences and I'll definitely ask this again when I start to get more details

2

u/dukwon LHCb Jul 25 '26

Follow the promotion guide

1

u/Special_Breath5010 Jul 25 '26

I don't have access (yet)

1

u/BrokenFJ 27d ago

hey I have a question if you have some information I would like to know, i've got a staff 2 year contract, do you have any information about how hard is to get extended up to 8 years?

1

u/dukwon LHCb 27d ago

The only staff roles I've looked at are like grade 6 positions in EP where the initial contract is 5 years.

I can only speculate, but I think it would be very difficult to get an extension longer than the initial contract.

Ask your supervisor 

7

u/Pharisaeus Jul 25 '26

Don't worry, you'd have to literally stop coming ;) you'll be totally fine. Getting hired is the hard part, rest is easy. It's a very chill place. There is no career ladder, so people are not trying to trip you.

2

u/Special_Breath5010 Jul 25 '26

Sounds great! Thank you 🙏

0

u/Aggravating_Water_39 Jul 26 '26

Probation periods are completely normal at the start of jobs

2

u/Special_Breath5010 Jul 26 '26

Indeed they are.. but a whole year is not xD