Skip to contentSkip to footer
  • Community
  • Jobs
  • Companies
  • Salaries
  • For employers
      Notifications

      Loading...

      Elevate your career

      Discover your earning potential, land dream jobs, and share work-life insights anonymously.

      employer cover photo
      employer logo
      employer logo

      EPO

      Is this your company?

      About
      Reviews
      Pay and benefits
      Jobs
      Interviews
      Interviews
      Related searches: EPO reviews | EPO jobs | EPO salaries | EPO benefits
      EPO interviewsEPO Patent Examiner interviewsEPO interview


      Glassdoor

      • About / Press
      • Awards
      • Blog
      • Research
      • Contact Us
      • Guides

      Employers

      • Free Employer Account
      • Employer Centre
      • Employers Blog

      Information

      • Help
      • Guidelines
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy and Ad Choices
      • Do Not Sell Or Share My Information
      • Cookie Consent Tool
      • Security

      Work With Us

      • Advertisers
      • Careers
      Download the App

      • Browse by:
      • Companies
      • Jobs
      • Locations
      • Communities
      • Recent posts

      Copyright © 2008-2026. Glassdoor LLC. "Glassdoor," "Worklife Pro," "Bowls" and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor LLC.

      Company Bowl sample

      Want the inside scoop on your own company?

      Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.

      Bowls

      Get actionable career advice tailored to you by joining more bowls.

      Followed companies

      Stay ahead in opportunities and insider tips by following your dream companies.

      Job searches

      Get personalised job recommendations and updates by starting your searches.

      Patent Examiner Interview

      13 Feb 2018
      Anonymous employee
      Accepted offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at EPO in Nov 2017

      Interview

      As many people are looking for hints and tips about the recruitment process, I'll give as much info as I can. The process will happen in 4 steps: 1/ The online assessment. A few days after the application closing date you will receive an invitation to undergo an online assessment. It consists of 4 short tests (about 30 min each). - a logical test: you see sequences of 4 patterns and for each you have to select which pattern should follow. - a mathematical test. Several exercises mainly related to percentages, currency rates and reading charts. Review your basics beforehand and you'll be fine. - a comprehension test. You'll have a short journalistic abstract along with yes or no questions. The goal is to see with if you can understand advanced texts. - a personality test. I'm not sure what's the point of this one :) For each test, there is a practice. Do them several times in order to feel comfortable. 2/ The technical interview. If you have a good result to your online test and if your profile matches with EPO requirements, you'll be invited for a technical interview on Skype. I received the invitation about 2 weeks after completing the tests. There was a board of 3 persons and they asked me a LOT of very various technical questions. I sign an agreement, so I cannot disclose the exact questions, but they covered many fields of my specialty, even some totally unfamiliar to me. But when I didn't know, I didn't play smart and just said "I don't know, but I assume that maybe...." and they seemed satisfied. However, they didn't ask any question about patents. Also, they tested my French and German skills. As I hadn't spoken one of those languages for 15 years, I explain that I wasn't able to discuss in that language and seems it was not a problem. In total, is lasted about 1 hour. They were very nice and friendly. They didn't try to trick me. In the contrary, they gave me hints when I was not sure of the answer. That was very pleasant. The day after, I received confirmation that I passed and they told me I would be invited to another HR skype interview. 3/ The HR interview. The second skype interview is held by an external company. They ask typical ''competency based interview'' questions. Google it, you’ll find a lot of resources to train for that kind of interview. Some questions were like''tell me how you handle repetitive task'' or ''how do you work under pressure, give me an example''. The best way to answer that is to use the STAR technic (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Once again, just google it and train yourself. Once you passed this 2nd interview, you’ll be automatically invited for a face to face interview. I waited 3 weeks before receiving the invitation, don’t stress out. 4/ The face to face interview. It took place in the EPO premises with 3 people: an HR person, a manager and a staff representative. Once again, they were very nice and professional. They asked typical questions such as: - What do you think the typical examiner's week look like? - What does your typical week looks like? - Describe a one time when you worked under pressure - How did you handle when your boss gave you an impossible deadline? - How do you manage conflict? - How do you expect to handle expatriation? The meeting lasted about one hour. Don't forget to also prepare relevant questions. There's nothing worse than a candidate that doesn't have questions to ask. Then, I received the final answer 3 months later but that was exceptionally long because the EPO went through an administrative reorganization. Usually, they give a feedback within 4 weeks maximum.

      Interview questions [2]

      Question 1

      What do you think the typical examiner's week look like?
      Answer question

      Question 2

      How do you manage conflict?
      14 Answers
      51

      Other Patent Examiner interview reviews for EPO

      Patent Examiner Interview

      29 May 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at EPO in Apr 2026

      Interview

      Ma dernière candidature à l'OEB (EPO) a suivi le même déroulement que la première : je candidate sur une spécialité proche de mon domaine de travail actuel, je me vois proposer un entretien sur un poste d'examinateur dans un domaine différent. En 2024, la spécialité relevait de la chimie tandis que je suis ingénieur en mécanique des fluides, j'avais donc décliné d'emblée. Cette fois-ci, puisque la spécialité était plus proche de mon expertise, j'ai accepté de poursuivre et me suis présenté à l'entretien. Bien qu'étant germanophone d'origine et bien que travaillant en France, les recruteurs m'ont fait passer l'entretien aux 3/4 en anglais et rien en français. Je trouve que c'est moyen pour un office représentant l'Europe exigeant 2 langues maîtrisées parmi FR/DE/EN. En dépit du fait que j'ai su répondre aux questions, j'ai reçu un malheureux mail automatique 3 semaines plus tard m'informant que ma candidature n'était pas retenue. J'ajoute avoir candidaté à une autre offre de l'EPO en parallèle, aussi dans un domaine attenant à mon cursus, et que cette candidature n'a même pas été considérée à ce jours (2 mois après) et n'a reçu aucune réponse. Je suis étonné par le fait qu'un ingénieur remplissant parfaitement les critères de sélection (expérience pro, langues, expérience PI entreprise, pleinement européen) soit si peu considéré. Les vrais critères ne sont sans doute pas de notoriété publique.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      - Traduisez ce passage de brevet allemand en anglais - Retrouvez les signes de références de cette demande anglaise sur ce dessin - Imaginez une raison pour laquelle ce brevet fait cette évolution par rapport à l'état de l'art - Qu'attendez vous de l'EPO ? - Pourquoi quittez vous votre poste actuel ? Êtes-vous en activité ?
      Answer question
      1

      Patent Examiner Interview

      21 Jan 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Neutral experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I interviewed at EPO

      Interview

      interview with two ladies, tested language skills they gave me some documents to read before the interview and then asked me patent law related questions. These documents were actually part of the EQE examinatoin. As a novice in the field, these were hard to answer for me

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      you changed your job in the past five years a few times. Why do you want to change it again
      Answer question

      Patent Examiner Interview

      14 Jan 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      Munich, Bavaria
      No offer
      Neutral experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I interviewed at EPO (Munich, Bavaria)

      Interview

      During the technical interview they've asked me general questions related to my field of expertise in a very broad manner for approximately 45 min. Then they've shown me snippets of patent claims and technical drawings from earlier patent applications and made me identify novel parts and explain everything to them. They basically wanted to check my understadning of patent claims and the invention.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      evaluate different patent claims and drawings related to my field of expertise. I had to describe the invention, show that i understood the novel parts and communicate that to the interviewers.
      Answer question

      Top companies for "Compensation and Benefits" near you

      avatar
      United Nations
      3.9★Compensation and benefits
      avatar
      Gana-A’Yoo
      4.3★Compensation and benefits
      avatar
      Australian Antarctic Division
      4.0★Compensation and benefits