The industry’s biggest recruiting challenges

The industry will have to hire 1.3 million people, according to the government, in the next 10 years. But young people continue to look elsewhere, even when they have been trained.

The needs in the industry are immense. More than 3 million employees work in this sector. PNearly 1 million will retire by 2030, while major projects accumulate in nuclear, hydrogen and energy transition. Hiring intentions continue to increase.

This year, the number of projects stands at 280,000, but two thirds are considered problematic. In short, companies are tearing their hair out.

franceinfo: Are enough people trained?

Sarah Lemoine: Yes, and that’s the paradox according to a joint report from the General Inspectorate of Administration (Igas), Finance (Igf) and Education, Sport and Youth (IGESR) published this week. On paper, the number of people trained to take up a profession in industry is supposed to cover recruitment needs. It is even much superior.

If we look at the figures, nearly 288,000 pupils and students were in the final year of training related to industrial professions in 2022. The same year, 108,000 unemployed people began industrial training. This is twice as much as 7 years ago. And yet, recruitment difficulties continue to increase.

A phenomenon of evaporation?

Once they have their diploma, some of the young people trained in industrial careers disappear into thin air. This phenomenon of evaporation is very important among CAP, BEP, BAC PRO, and BTS.

What the report shows is that a year after completing their training, of those who are working, only half are in industry. The others went to another area. This is also the case for unemployed people leaving training. More than half of them go into construction.

The report makes numerous recommendations…

The first is to better target learning aid on CAPs, BAC PROs, and BTS, which train workers and technicians, where the tensions are. Then, the industry still suffers from a bad image among young people, and it must carry out much more concrete campaigns on careers, in high schools and colleagues, during orientation.

The report also suggests taking inspiration from South Korea, which raises awareness among children from primary school, with construction games. For example, build a bridge or a wind turbine, in teams, involving both girls and boys.