Career-path interview: how to implement it and track it in your HRIS

What the law says, in practice

Law no. 2025-989 of 24 October 2025, completed by decree no. 2026-39 of 28 January 2026, rewrites Article L. 6315-1 of the French Labour Code. The professional interview becomes the career-path interview, and its calendar changes.

The six events that trigger an interview or a review

Event	Deadline	What the HRIS must know
Hiring	First interview within the following year	Start date
Regular cycle	One interview every 4 years	Date of the last interview held
Summary review	Every 8 full years of service	Length of service, interviews and training over the period
Return from leave	Offered on return from maternity or adoption leave, parental leave, sabbatical, carer's leave, long-term sick leave or union mandate, if no interview in the previous 12 months	Absence dates and reasons, date of the last interview
Mid-career	Within 2 months of the mid-career medical check (calendar year of the 45th birthday)	Date of birth, date of the check
End of career	The first interview in the 2 years before the 60th birthday covers staying in employment and adjustments	Date of birth

On substance, the interview does not assess the employee's work. It covers the skills and qualifications used in the job and how they may evolve, development and mobility wishes, internal or external, training needs beyond the skills development plan, validation of prior learning, skills assessment and the reconversion period, activation of the personal training account (CPF) and, where relevant, job adaptation and prevention of occupational wear. It takes place during working time, is led by the line manager or a representative of management, and results in a document of which a copy is handed to the employee.

The eight-year review checks that the interviews took place and that the employee followed at least one training course other than mandatory ones, obtained certification elements or benefited from pay or career progression. In companies with at least 50 employees, if interviews are missing and no non-mandatory training was followed, the employer tops up the employee's CPF by €3,000. Collective agreements may shorten the intervals, never extend them; those based on the previous rhythm had to be brought into line before 1 October 2026.

Frame before you configure

A tool does not settle a rule nobody has written down. Six decisions to take with the HR leadership, and to record, before opening the HRIS.

The anchor date. For new hires, the start date. For employees in post, the date of the last interview held, not today's date: that is what sets the four-year deadline. Write the rule for edge cases: intra-group transfer, business transfer, change of contract.
The rhythm. The law sets a maximum; your agreement may be more frequent. Many companies keep a career check-in every two years for sensitive populations, and the legal interview every four years.
Who leads. The trained manager in most cases; HR for long returns from leave and delicate situations. The HRIS must be able to assign the interview to either.
The invitation. No legal notice period in the private sector; ten to fifteen days is common practice, subject to your collective agreement. It states the date, place or link, interviewer and purpose, recalls that the interview is not an appraisal, and attaches the template, the previous record and the job description.
Handing over the record. The employee's signature is not mandatory; proof of handover is, in practice: electronic signature, read receipt in the HRIS or a kept email. A refusal to sign is noted.
Retention. At least one review cycle, eight years, and preferably the whole employment relationship: it is at the review, and in case of a dispute, that you will be asked for the records.

The template: one, with conditional sections

Rather than four forms, a single template whose sections appear only when the event calls for them. It is easier to maintain and reporting stays consistent.

Current situation: job, skills and qualifications used, what has changed in the role.
Path since the last interview: training followed, certifications obtained, job or pay changes. These three lines feed the eight-year review directly.
Development wishes: internal or external mobility, reconversion, validation of prior learning, skills assessment, reconversion period. As closed lists, so they can be counted, plus a free-text field.
Training needs and action plan: four columns, action, owner, deadline, follow-up. Each line must be able to become a training request in the plan.
Information given to the employee: CPF, career guidance service, validation of prior learning, dated checkbox.
Working conditions (where relevant, mandatory at mid-career): job adaptation or adjustment, prevention of wear.
End-of-career section (in the two years before 60): staying in employment, phased retirement, part-time, knowledge transfer.
Return-from-leave section: resumption, adaptation needs, skills refresh.
Closure: date, participants, copy handed over, signatures or note of refusal.

Configuring the HRIS in seven steps

1. The date reference, per employee

Everything starts from four dates on the employee record: start date, date of the last career-path interview, date of the last review, date of birth. Add absences with their reason, usually already in time management or payroll. If these dates live in one tool and the interviews in another, the interface between the two is what to secure first.

2. Trigger rules

An automatic task creates the interview 90 days before the deadline and alerts the manager, then HR at 30 days if nothing is scheduled. Returns from leave trigger on the return date, mid-career on the date of the medical check, end of career at 58. The review is created at eight full years and pre-fills the elapsed period.

3. Rolling or campaign?

A single annual campaign produces late interviews for everyone whose deadline falls before it. The compromise that holds: an annual window for interviews due within the year, launched early enough for the oldest to stay on time, and a rolling flow for returns from leave and new hires.

4. The form

Conditional sections by event type, closed lists for everything that must be counted, free text for the rest, employee preparation before the interview, and a dated CPF and career guidance information block. A form separate from the annual appraisal, even if both take place on the same day.

5. The workflow

Creation, invitation generated from the tool with attachments, preparation, interview, written record, handover to the employee with electronic signature or read receipt, closure. Each step has a status and a date; that is what makes reporting possible and proof available.

6. The link with training

A line in the action plan must be able to become a request in the skills development plan, then an enrolment in the LMS, without re-keying. Conversely, completed training, mandatory or not, must flow back into the "path" section of the next interview and into the eight-year review, with the distinction that matters for the top-up.

7. History and access rights

Load at least the dates of past professional interviews and the records as attachments, otherwise the first deadlines will be wrong. Then set who sees what: the employee their file, the manager their team, HR their scope. External mobility or reconversion wishes are sensitive data for the employment relationship.

The indicators that keep the promise

Six indicators for the HR dashboard

Indicator	What it tells you
On-time completion rate	Interviews closed before the due date, by team and site
Overdue interviews	Deadline passed without a closed record, with the number of days
Returns from leave covered	Eligible returns with an interview offered within the month
Mid-career and end of career	Employees aged 45 and 58 with the dedicated interview held
Reviews due within 12 months	Employees whose summary review falls within the year
Top-up exposure	Companies with 50 or more employees: employees with neither interview nor non-mandatory training over the period

Pitfalls to avoid

Launching a campaign without a per-employee rule. It produces late interviews and pointless ones.
Merging the career-path interview into the annual appraisal. One form, and the record handed over no longer counts for the obligation.
Forgetting returns from leave. They have no campaign; only a trigger on the return date catches them.
Not tracing the handover. A record exists, nobody can prove it was handed over.
Counting mandatory training in the review. It does not protect against the top-up.
Letting an agreement on the old rhythm run. Since 1 October 2026, the law applies.

What you gain

Frequently asked questions

Can the annual appraisal replace the career-path interview?

No. The law states that the career-path interview does not assess the employee's work. Both can take place on the same day, but with two templates and two separate written records, and a separate form in the HRIS.

How do we handle employees already in post?

Start from the date of each employee's last professional interview: the next career-path interview is due four years later, and the summary review every eight years of service. A company or industry agreement may shorten these intervals, never extend them; those based on the previous rhythm had to be brought into line before 1 October 2026.

Who can conduct the interview?

The line manager or a representative of management, during working time. In most organisations the manager conducts the interview and HR monitors deadlines, the quality of the written records and the follow-up of the action plan.

Is the employee's signature mandatory?

No. The obligation is to write a document and hand a copy to the employee. You must, however, be able to prove that handover: electronic signature, acknowledgement in the HRIS or a kept sending email. A refusal to sign is noted on the document.

What does the eight-year review check, and what is the risk?

It checks that the employee had their career-path interviews and that they followed at least one training course other than mandatory ones, obtained certification elements or benefited from progression. In companies with at least 50 employees, if the interviews did not take place and no non-mandatory training was followed, the employer tops up the employee's CPF by €3,000.

Where to start

Pull your employee list with three columns: start date, date of the last professional interview, date of birth. What you cannot fill in is exactly what the HRIS will not be able to trigger. To frame the rules or configure your tool, let's talk.

Sources: Légifrance (Article L. 6315-1 of the Labour Code, law no. 2025-989 of 24 October 2025, decree no. 2026-39 of 28 January 2026), the Ministry of Labour's questions and answers on the professional interview, specialist HR and legal press. This article is an information summary, not legal advice: refer to the texts in force and to your collective agreement.