Contract agents (or staff) carry out a number of manual or administrative tasks and may provide additional capacity in specialised fields where an insufficient number of permanent officials is available.
They are generally recruited for fixed-term contracts (maximum 6 years in any EU Institution), but in some cases they can be offered contracts for an indefinite duration (in Offices, Agencies, Delegations or Representations).

See also: Contract agents related FAQs and Cast permanent selection procedure.