“Mme Rochelet is expected at the reception, Mme Rochelet. » February 2016: Solène Rochelet, 18, is in her favorite section of the Decathlon in Compiègne (Oise) to buy a new hand ball, with the usual gift card offered by her brothers at Christmas. She took the opportunity to drop off her CV at the entrance, and now we call her at the store’s microphone. “In five minutes, I found myself in front of my future boss for an interview, she says today. It was super spontaneous, I hadn’t prepared anything. » In the blink of an eye, the soldier’s daughter becomes a cashier, with a first contract of 25 hours a week. “I was so happy to come to work, when it’s very repetitive, tiring, monotonous. You often work 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., but it doesn’t show. I gained self-confidence because people trusted me. And I finally found my way. »
Before this founding episode, Solène Rochelet dreamed of being a nurse. But, after an internship “traumatic” in a retirement home during her preparatory year for the competition, she had given up everything in the middle of the year: “I had a little depression and I got it into my head that I had to work to repay my parents. » Hence this job at Decathlon – its “revenge” within one of the favorite companies of the French, according to various opinion polls, including that of Universum, which each year questions graduates of engineering and business schools about their ideal employer. The experience led her to reorient herself towards a DUT in marketing techniques, then a master’s degree in management at the University of Lille.
In parallel with her studies, Solène Rochelet rose through the ranks: fixed-term contract in the sliding department, “student” permanent contract in swimming, internship to learn “how to boost the average basket”, alternation in the offices… until the Grail: a CDI of executive signed at the end of his studies, in August 2021, as manager of the running, walking and health department, at the Decathlon of Villeneuve-d’Ascq ( North) – flagship of the brand born in 1976 a few kilometers away, where we meet her on a gray Friday in December 2021.
” Employer brand “
At 24, blue vest pegged to the body, Solène Rochelet supervises eight people and manages a department of 3.8 million euros in annual turnover. “Here we believe in young people”, she says, convinced that she is not yet “only at the beginning of the slope”. His career path is not exceptional for the Mulliez family’s retail business (Auchan, Kiabi, Leroy Merlin, etc.), which has hired 15,000 young new “Decathletes” across France in 2021, all trades and contracts combined. Globally, out of 94,000 employees, nearly 60% are under 30 according to the latest annual report.
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