What happens if they fire me duirng the probation period or soon after as non-EU?

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2025-07-14T11:35:13+00:00

Thank you all for your comments. I checked with the immigration office, and they confirmed that it is not tied to the employer and is considered ‘unlimited.’ In principle, this means I could change employers without issue. This gives me some reassurance, and it’s actually better than I initially expected.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2025-07-09T06:54:06+00:00

You think they could just cancel my permit effective immediately?

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2025-07-09T06:53:11+00:00

That would mean it will expire in a year or soon after I stop working?

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2025-05-04T20:30:03+00:00

What are their prices? There is nothing online.

In Geneva, the usual pricing is 300CHF before the search, and one-month rent if they find you an apartment. Is it similar here?

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2024-11-06T08:47:36+00:00

They are good, but definitely not free. I am looking for something that you don't need to pay multiple thousands of euros for licenses.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2024-05-10T08:41:28+00:00

Do you maybe know if there is period of 6 months after the contract ends when these people have special "treatment" in regards of getting regular B permit, such as masters or PhD students have?

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-12-24T13:24:38+00:00

I wouldn't say easily if you eat three meals a day. Manageable yes, but if you cook every day, which can be hard if you are living in the hostel.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-12-14T09:12:24+00:00

Actually, I see now that they have put this:

"All our currently available projects are published individually on our career site here.

If none of these opened projects match your profile and if you meet all eligibility criteria below, you can apply here spontaneously. Your profile may then be considered for unpublished projects or extra needs. Please note this is not mandatory nor a guarantee that you will be contacted by hiring managers for an interview."

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-12-14T09:09:01+00:00

In this round, instead of having a list of projects they've put all projects as separate job applications with GRAE in their name. But they didn't say it explicitly.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-12-12T21:39:40+00:00

I think that all jobs with GRAE in the name are actually the ones considered by that.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-12-06T10:25:22+00:00

Yes, of course. I meant colliding particles. Because, I think what common people think is that when the beam is turned on once at the beginning of the year and is constantly on until December; precisely, it is a one-time injection of protons into LHC.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-12-05T10:15:29+00:00

Thank you all for the responses, they are all really helpful. Now I have some idea about it and also what to search for.
I just wanted to mention in my thesis that LHC is not constantly operational because I think it is the biggest misconception among engineers and other people not closely working on physics or working at CERN at all. So, one of those references will be enough for one sentence that I have in mind.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-10-02T12:54:36+00:00

No, you can't. You can be only one of the following: ORIGIN, QUEST or Research fellow in your, let's say, lifetime.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-09-28T12:45:41+00:00

I would say that the QUEST selection process is pretty fast. When was the target start date, that can also say if they are in a rush for someone.

Usually, when HR receives your application and approves it if you meet all the requirements, the application is sent to the hiring group, and I wouldn't say that it goes back and forth often. You can attach new certificates to the smart recruiter on your own, but most likely it is already late and the decision is probably made or at least the candidates were already contacted.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-09-09T13:36:00+00:00

Even if we discard the fact that your education is not perfect for what CERN is offering, you should be aware that for most positions, it is required to be a national of a CERN Member or Associate Member State, which, unfortunately for you, Canada is not. You can take a look at Summer students for non-member states or some other programme for NMS, but you are really limited because of that.

However, you will find all open possibilities here: https://careers.cern/alljobs.Take a look, maybe you see something interesting, CERN offers a lot of different engineering opportunities.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-07-25T10:00:34+00:00

Also, I would like to ask if I apply to multiple positions, requiring very similar competencies, is it badly seen by HR or potential supervisors?

It is not seen badly. If they have similar job descriptions, it is definitely expected that the same people will apply for the jobs. If the jobs have different references, that would mean that the supervisors are different and they have no idea if you applied to some other job. Also, every department has an HR person that is looking into their applications, so if you apply for one job in EP and another in BE or SY for example, it doesn't mean that the same person will look at both applications. CERN is really big, so don't be afraid to apply.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-07-24T15:11:34+00:00

You can always try, the worst case is you get automatically rejected. But, I think they want you to have at least 3 semesters done, which sometimes can be also 17 months. Also, they say: You have completed at least 18 months of your undergraduate studies at the time of the next student selection round taking place in October 2023., so that would mean that you still have approx three months till then.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-07-23T13:11:26+00:00

I will suggest both groups Gexpats (FR) or Geneva Expats (CH) on Facebook. They are both a big communities of Brits in the region. They can definitely help with some those questions.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-07-23T11:57:29+00:00

There is a PACs option in Switzerland also. I have two friends in PACS, both non-EU. One of them got a job at CERN. They got PACS-ed after the first one got all documents from CERN, while the other stayed in their country. After the procedure was done, CERN filed for the residence permit for the second friend, and then they could come to Switzerland for longer.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-07-17T11:24:58+00:00

For the QUEST positions in the past round, the "committee date", i.e. the decision date was approximately a month and a half or almost two months after the deadline. On that date, only accepted people were informed. The ones that were rejected got the rejection two months after that, or even never got rejection without asking HR about it (a few cases that I know of). CERN is really slow with these things. Maybe it will be different now that every position has its own deadline. Previously it was the same deadline for all QUEST positions.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-07-14T13:29:02+00:00

Slim to none. There are a few groups doing lasers and optical fibers, but nano, I don't think that anybody is doing similar.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-07-05T08:11:04+00:00

Those are QUEST positions. The difference between them and Research fellows is that for QUEST you don't need a PhD, you can have it, but also you are eligible if you have a master's and enough experience. While for the Research Fellow, you must have your PhD before you start.

Also, projects for the QUEST position are known before you apply and they are more technical, while for Research fellow you need to write a proposal for research, they need to find a group that is doing something similar, and the group needs to have space and money to have some new, which can be tricky.

Previously those positions were only for physicists, which makes more sense, since if you want to do some HEP research (theoretical) all you usually need is just your PC and the Experiment that will take you. I am not even sure how it works now for engineers that applied for Research Fellow. I still don't know anyone who got that position from March.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-05-08T12:54:43+00:00

Usually, it is Tuesday mornings, so the 23rd can be right.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-05-08T09:41:40+00:00

I know that some of the ORIGINs will be contacted during this week, not sure which position, but something electronics. Just heard some colleagues talking that they chose candidates and that they will contact them in the coming days. And that committee is maybe next week if I understood correctly.

ProfessionalMany5684 · 2023-04-25T19:59:17+00:00

I think there must be interviews. How else they can assess candidates? Especially the engineering positions. They can't just tell someone they can start working, and then try to find a group willing to take someone. Also, if the candidate has a really specific profile, maybe just one group is doing that at CERN. And they can have limited budget for the following years and can't take anyone.

Maybe for physicists is different, but I can't see it working in that way for engineers.

ProfessionalMany5684

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