From a fellowship to a permanent position as an economist
At the end of the twelve-month period, you will be invited to take part in an assessment procedure for a permanent position with the Directorate General for Economics, Statistics and Research. A committee of experts will primarily assess the content and results of your research project. To be hired, you will have to meet the standard requirements for recruitment by the Bank of Italy: you must be a citizen of an EU country or equivalent (e.g. non-EU citizens holding an Italian residence permit and who are family members of an EU citizen) and have an adequate knowledge of the Italian language. To date, all the fellows invited to take part in this selection have been hired for a permanent position.
Salary and career path
Economists at the Bank of Italy are divided into three categories: Expert, Advisor and Director.
Successful fellows enter the Bank at the Advisor level, with a starting base level salary of about €83,000 per year (pre-tax and social security contributions to be paid by the employee). Under standard tax treatment, the initial take home salary is about €48,000 per year; as for the fellowship, generous tax incentives also apply in this case.
You would also have access to health and life insurance plans as well as to the Bank's pension fund.
Based on a year-by-year performance appraisal process, economists can progress to the next level of the salary band, in a period from 1 to a maximum of 3 years, which will give a gross salary increase of about €5,500 pre-tax.
The Bank's internal labour market is based on a constant flow of vacancies for managerial positions. Advisors are eligible to apply for the position of Head or Deputy Head of a Division or Head of a Section within a Division. Applicants are interviewed by an internal committee which assigns the position based on an interview and the candidates' CVs. While you hold a managerial position your salary is increased according to the position held.
Once at the 7th level of the salary band, Advisors are considered for promotion to a higher category of the career path (Director).
Work-life balance and benefits
The Bank of Italy places special emphasis on its employees' motivation and wellbeing.
Over the last few years, the Bank of Italy has developed policies for diversity management and has adopted a wide range of measures to help workers achieve an optimal work-life balance, such as flexible working hours, a time bank, teleworking, part-time work. Powered-up smart-working practices that ensured a smooth functioning of all the Bank's activities during the COVID pandemic have since become structural features of the working relationship.
The Bank of Italy's employees are also eligible for a wide range of benefits, including:
- two nurseries and one pre-school facility open to employees' children only, available at subsidized rates;
- the financial services of the Bank of Italy employees' credit union (mortgages, savings accounts, financial investments);
