In early February, on his LinkedIn account, Quentin, a community host, 26 years old, shared a disappointed post where he told his difficult job search. After five years of higher education including two alternating, and an obvious capacity to “sell” on social networks, the young man had not imagined having to “struggle” for more than six months. In response, some of his subscribers advised him to change sector, that of communication being “blocked”.
In fact, if a post -bac diploma continues to better protect unemployment, the job market can be cruel for new entrants. Certainly, 82 % of students Leaving a large management or engineering school get a permanent contract six months after their release. But many others “rarely”, including bins + 5. Unemployment of under 25 has increased by more than 7 % in 2024 in France, against 3.9 % all age groups, According to the Ministry of Labor. You have to see the consequence of a slowdown in the economy and the multiplication of social plans, of course. But also the revealing of an inadequacy between the needs of companies and the choices of orientation.
There are too many osteopaths on the market, show professionals and graphic designers, but we are lacking competent people in the sports, hotel, or food trades, notes The Youth Information and Documentation Center. Contrary to popular belief, the agricultural sector is also recruiting, underlines Jean-François Vergne, of the Lycée des Etablières, in Vendée: “We are beset with business requests for our BTSA Management and water mastery, and agronomy and sustainable cultures. Unfortunately, these training courses are not popular.”
Too many jugglers and not enough butchers?
They are not the only ones. Nursing assistance, masons, roofers, handler … Many sectors in tension are demanding physically and – often – poorly paid, indicates France work. In terms of white collars, accounting, IT, and CSR are also in need of candidates. “Companies are also very demanding of profiles of hybrid leaders with solid knowledge in digital technology,” said Julien Grobert, in charge of corporate relations at the Toulouse School of Management.
He also insists on the discrepancy between the level of training of candidates and that expected by employers: “In the field of accounting, the firms are looking for bac + 3 (DCG) and Bac + 5 (DSCG) while many candidates have only Bac + 2, which blocks them on automated tasks that risk disappearing with artificial intelligence.” Conversely, certain companies, especially in the industry, are in search of professional baccalaureate and technicians at Bac + 2 level. And do not find them.
“Companies want butter and butter money”
To try to best stick to market needs, schools and universities are based on advice for improvement of their diplomas, in which companies participate, especially those that welcome their trainees and their work -study students. Recruiters and trainers talk to each other, therefore, but sometimes without getting along.
Jean-Luc Reinero, of the Cinov Federation, which brings together companies in consulting, engineering and digital trades, affirms it: “We have a cruel deficit in engineers and Bac + 3 in the energy and digital transition sectors, but their professionalization is not always optimal, even after six months of internship.” And to continue: “These young people are technically brilliant, but do not know anything about customer relations.” An analysis that Antoine Amiel, of Learn Assembly, contests. “Companies have a little too much tendency to expect” finished “graduates, loans to use. However, when you recruit a newly new one, it is normal to provide support. Admittedly, the skills benchmarks that constitute the architecture of diplomas are sometimes out of step with the reality of the needs of the market, which evolve very quickly, for example in digital. But certain skills are only learned in the context of work.”
Julien Gombert does not say anything else. “Businesses want butter and butter money. They consider that it is up to us to train our graduates in all the tools they will need to use, but it is impossible. We must take into account the latency between the moment when the need is identified and that when the corresponding training is implemented.”
Antoine Amiel is advancing a radical proposal. “I campaign for an entry into the world of work after the license, which could be completed by another training around 30 or 35 years, via continuing education”. A revolution in the country of “Bac + 5 if not nothing”, but which would have the merit of better meeting the needs of companies.
“We are collectively suffering from acute graduate”
Antoine Amiel’s analysis, CEO of Learn Assembly, a consulting firm for employment and training players and partner at Kea & Partners.
“Before even talking about the sectors that recruit or not, we must talk about the place of the diploma in professional careers, and denounce our acute graduate. Today, professional development remains overdetermined by the studies followed after the baccalaureate, while continuing education is devalued, just like professional bins, seen as a default orientation reserved for” bad students “. Technical professions, while in certain sectors companies need more bac + 2 or bac + 3. The professions in tension, around care or energy transition, for example, do not require masters, but recruit a lot at the BTS level and only 50 % of the holders of a bac + which have a framework status have a supervisory function, as has just shown it A Cereq study – Which has not been much relayed. This should alert us because it feeds large disillusionment among young people who are not hired at the level of responsibility they had hoped. “