It's not just about Bergot but about an Office-wide trend

Summary: The above job ad (less than a week old) serves to reinforce suspicions that the EPO under Battistelli is a house of cards where people are treated like dirt

THE EXODUS of EPO staff may or may not be the cause of the above job ad. Regardless of the cause (Battistelli too looked for an assistant/secretary not too long ago), worth noting from the above (see original URL) is that it's contract work (as usual), filed under "Temporary appointments".

This relates to an aspect we shall cover another day, namely that the career system is being abolished, gradually, in favour of short-term contracts with little or no benefits. This is a very significant change, not only to insiders, as we shall explain (with supporting facts) some day in the future. Work experience and seniority don't seem to be concepts that Battistelli is able to grasp. ENA is, perhaps, not a valuable institution for education after all...

"Work experience and seniority don't seem to be concepts that Battistelli is able to grasp.""Vacant position at the EPO," told us one reader about the above, "Assistant/secretary for PD 4.3 (secretary of Ms. Bergot)."

For those who are not familiar with Bergot, recall this long series [1, 2, 3, 4] about her, her husband, and Battistelli. It's one of the best (or most obvious) examples of nepotism and favouritism under Battistelli.

"I think that this deserves some attention," told us the reader. "Would be funny if it wasn't so sad! A premiere in EPO history: according to my information NO ONE in intern to candidate for the vacant position of secretary of Mrs Bergot .....aouch! So much for the "social conference" and well-being at workplace..."

"It's one of the best (or most obvious) examples of nepotism and favouritism under Battistelli."Apparently Battistelli isn't quite so interested in the current staff. Maybe he can just find/fish some people out in the streets to undertake the complex task of examining patents in specialised fields? What a disaster!

"And please do not laugh," our reader added, "also for an external candidate they demand realistic things: 'Une bonne connaissance des processus et des procédures de l'OEB serait un avantage.'" (a good knowledge of the EPO procedure would be considered an advantage)

Our reader joked: "Do you think that I should apply? I'm more than confident that I would be the perfect candidate for this vacant position."

Well, people who know enough about the EPO (and have some wit) won't bother applying, judging by how staff gets treated even if/when not working directly for Bergot.

"With her own bodyguards (reportedly two of them), she has proven that Battistelli's paranoia is infectious, not just hugely expensive (with no tender)."From the page of the ad: "Experience with Babylon, Common Log and MS SharePoint would be an asset" and "Very good knowledge of the MS Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Lotus Notes (repositories)" (again the Microsoft-EPO connection).

Maybe they should just hire directly from Microsoft then. Recall the following older articles of ours:

• You Need to Become Proprietary Software Customer (Microsoft Recommended) to Interact with the European Patent Office
• European Patent Office a Microsoft Stronghold: GNU/Linux and Mac Support Seemingly Just Dumped
• Microsoft at EPO: A Look Into the Relationship
• Scandalous: European Patent Office Serves Only Microsoft Customers With Filing Software
• Unitary Microsoft: EPO Excludes People Who Are Not Microsoft Customers From UPC Participation

As an aside, Bergot is totally incompetent for her own job (she didn't have to endure gruesome interviews to get offered her high position). We occasionally hear all sorts of private stories about her and these are sometimes hilarious if not embarrassing. With her own bodyguards (reportedly two of them), she has proven that Battistelli's paranoia is infectious, not just hugely expensive (with no tender). ⬆