Diplomacy roles

Working in the Ministry means having a professional career that involves a great deal of moving and changing jobs. Two out of three Ministry staff work abroad.

On 31 December 2021, the Ministry had a total of 13,665 staff. There are several statuses for Ministry staff so as to address the Ministry’s needs and variety of jobs appropriately.

The Ministry is both present in the central administration, in other words France, mainly in Paris, the Courneuve and Nantes, and on all the continents. There are therefore a wide range of statuses at the Ministry as it employs local staff who are subject to different private foreign laws.

France ranks third in the world in terms of its representation and activity abroad:
• 163 embassies working on bilateral relations
• 16 permanent representations acting on behalf of France in multilateral forums
• 113 consular sections
• 92 consulates general

Permanent staff, who are recruited by competitive exam, change posts every three or four years. They alternate jobs in France and foreign countries. The annual mobility rate of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs is 33%, the highest of all French government administrations.