The following short guide may be helpful if you are interested in applying for a position in our group.
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How to contact us?
If you want to work with us, please do not hesitate to contact us via email or via our contact form. Some of our job postings might also indicate a specific website or email address to apply on. We are always keen in receiving spontaneous applications.
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Are you eligible?
In France, to perform an internship you MUST be a student in a university or school. For a PhD you MUST have completed a master-equivalent level of studies. For a postdoc position you MUST have completed a PhD. You may contact us and/or apply for a position before receiving the diplomas, but you will be likely be required to provide a copy of it (or a certificate of completion) before signing any contract. Please keep in mind that if you need a VISA, any delays in providing such proofs of completion may delay the procedures.
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What to send us?
In general, we ask for a CV and a short motivation paragraph explaining why you would like to work with us. Tell us if you are looking for an internship, a PhD program, a postdoc or a permanent position. You are free to send us a full motivation letter, but it is not required. Please avoid overly generic messages. We appreciate personal messages which show the interest taken in the group and/or topic.
If you are applying for an internship or a PhD, please do send us your grades too. Finally, if you can share a few references (email contact of your teachers, advisors…) that will be very helpful. We may ask for more documents depending on the position.
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When to expect a first response?
Often it might take us a week or two to respond and let you know if we are interested in your profile or not. If we do not respond, you are welcome to contact us again. However, if we still do not respond, please assume that we cannot offer you any position. We try to answer to each applicant in a timely manner, but apologize in advance if we ever don’t.
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What happens if we are interested in your profile?
Generally, we will setup an interview in the coming weeks.
If you are applying spontaneously and we do not have open positions at the moment, we will inform you about any possibilities to apply for funding.
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The interview
Interviews can often be carried over video-call, but if you are not too far we may invite you to visit the lab and have an in-person interview. We may sometimes invite a colleague to join the interview. In general we will ask you to prepare a few slides to present about your previous projects. In some cases, at the master or PhD level, we may ask you to think about or prepare some exercise. The main goal of the interview for us is to get to know you better, and to understand your critical thinking process, your general knowledge, and your motivation for the project. It is also the opportunity for you to ask us questions about the position, about the team or lab, or any other thing. All questions are good questions.
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After the interview
At the end of the interview we will inform you of the next steps. In general, we will have to wait for the application window to close (typically a month, but sometimes undefined) to allow for various candidates to apply for the position. We may in some cases ask for a second interview. Depending on the funding source, an interview might be required in front of a small jury panel.
Often, we will ask for a scan of your passport in order to obtain you access-authorizations to the lab (known as ZRR), in case you are selected for the position. We often start the ZRR procedure during the application process to be safe, since the authorization can take a month or more.
Once we make our decision we will contact you and let you know. If you have any doubts after the interview or after our response, please do not hesitate to contact us. If you’ve been selected for the position, we may start the joining process.