The giants of the sector are creating their own training centers. Companies are broadening the spectrum of their recruitments.
Faced with skills shortages – the training provided by the National Education is not always aligned with the needs of the industry, according to several aeronautical groups – the sector has decided to take matters into its own hands. Alongside the classic presentations and meetings with high school students and students in technical and engineering schools, and participation in trade fairs and open house operations, manufacturers are creating their own schools and training centers.
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Airbus supports young people, from the second class, in two high schools: the first in Toulouse which trains 300 young people per year and the second, Airbus Atlantic – Henry Potez in Méaulte (Somme), which trains 120 students per year . The course lasts between 2 and 5 years and is validated by a CAP or a Bac pro aeronautics. On average, 50% of pupils continue their studies and the other half enter working life. 95% find a job in aeronautics at Airbus or one of its partners.
For its part, Thales has created specialized academies by profession (sonars, radars, optronics, electronic cards, etc.), backed by its industrial sites, like its military electronic card assembly site in Etrelles next to Laval. These training centers have established partnerships with the National Education in order to offer diploma courses at the BTS and Bac Pro level. The defense and high-tech group thus trains 450 young people a year.
Attract more women
For its part, Gifas is studying the creation of a digital and cyber school, applied to aeronautics, armaments and space. The sector’s employers’ organization also wants “expand the pool of potential candidates and change its recruitment practices”. It encourages its members to “to give a chance to people without industrial training and to the long-term unemployed and to train them”, sums up Philippe Dujaric, director of social affairs at Gifas. The employers’ union relies on the actors of temporary work so that they identify the profiles and direct them in aeronautics where large groups and subcontractors make them pass qualification certificates and hire them. “ It is no longer necessary to recruit only on CV but on skills. We open the doors more widely and run campaigns everywhere, from Pôle Emploi to temping companies, passing through the suburbs. After a simple test, training and employment are within reach”argues Philippe Dujaric.
Expanding the pool also means recruiting more women. A challenge since only 28% of young girls leave engineering schools every year and industrial jobs attract them little. Airbus goes to meet them by seconding employees to talk about their jobs in women’s sports clubs. Thales, in partnership with the Elles Bougent association, is sending 420 “godmothers” from its ranks to meet a thousand young girls this year. “We even take part in parent-teacher meetings in CM2 class. We must raise awareness very early on so that little girls are already thinking about careers as engineers in industry. We need them and talents representing the diversity of our countries”insists the direction of the defense group.