The 8th year of the “Bourse à l’Alternance” day (work-study scholarship pre-recruitment) took place on 12 May 2016 in ESIGELEC's CISE building.

More than 60 first and second year students came to meet companies interested in recruiting trainees from their first year in the engineering programme.

This was also an opportunity for students in the second year of the engineering programme, nearly 90 candidates, to apply for a professional-training contract in their third year.

The students were able to meet and make contact with 23 companies from business sectors and areas of industry, energy, computing, services, automotive and aeronautics, including Thales, Bouygues Energies & Services, BNP Paribas, SOPRA Steria, Siemens, Sphere,  Lubrizol, SPIE, among others, who presented their offers and offered an on-site interview in the afternoon with potential candidates.


5 Questions to 5 graduates

The day-release training scholarship has allowed five ESIGELEC graduates, four of whom did traineeships themselves, to recruit new students, future employees of their business.

Denis Leroux, Class of 2009, cost-estimation engineer, Bouygues Energies and Services
How much interest does you company have in traineeships ?
A significant amount of interest, and a real desire to take on trainees in Rouen as of this year.

Were you a trainee ?
Yes, I was a trainee with Sernelec which was bought by ETDE and then became Bouygues Energie & Services

What arguments do you put forward to promote traineeships ?
For the company: we highlight the versatility and flexibility of a trainee so we can promote internally, and it also allows for a trial period before hiring, and it's cost-effective for a business.
For the trainee: independence, being part of a multi-business group. In the Bouygues Energies and Services group, you'll always have a profession to offer, we're attentive to the trainees’ future career. ESIGELEC trainees are very mobile and they can take on international tasks during their training period.

What advice would you give to a candidate to prepare them effectively for their traineeship interview ?
To find out about the business, what it is, what it does, the company's history, whether it's a family business, for example, and what it does technically.

What are your best memories of ESIGELEC ?
The associations.

Gaëtan Thieulin, Class of 2015, Technical Specialist - Network Engineer, Spie
How much interest does you company have in traineeships ?
The benefits are the ability to recruit someone that the company has trained and whose potential they already know.

Were you a trainee ?
I was a trainee at Spie

What arguments do you put forward to promote traineeships  ?
For the company: identifying new talent.
For the trainee: it's a good way to gain experience, to be guided and paid.

What advice would you give to a candidate to prepare them effectively for their traineeship interview ?
To target the company carefully, to ensure the company's line of business corresponds to the trainee's career plans. To show motivation.

What are your best memories of ESIGELEC ?
Freshers’ week.

Thomas Daquin, Class of 2015, Assistant Technical and Maintenance Director, Sphere
How much interest does you company have in traineeships ?
To have someone who can work on projects that we don’t have a specific opening for, to help managers on projects on site. For me, it's a desire to give back what I had in training.

Were you a trainee ?
Yes, a trainee at Aptar.

What arguments do you put forward to promote traineeships  ?
For the company: it allows you to see if the trainee has the potential to work for the business in the long term.
For the trainee: it's a way to find motivation in the fact that you're going to university, because what you see is the practical application of what they study at uni, getting away from the academic perspective and understanding the academic issues in the company of professionals, and, let’s make no mistake, three years of experience is valuable. The way in which you think and express yourself  is important for recruiters, and finally, you are already operational for recruiters on the labour market.

What advice would you give to a candidate to prepare them effectively for their traineeship interview ?
They need to be aware that they are in a professional interview, even if it's in an educational environment, make the most of the little experience they have, and highlighting even just a little professional experience is important.

What are your best memories of ESIGELEC?
A week's skiing with other trainees. Freshers’ week.

Thomas Delangle, Class of 2006, Project Manager in automation and industrial computing, Lubrizol
How much interest does you company have in traineeships ?
For the company, it's an interesting exchange; it's a resource that we develop over three years while they also help to develop the company.

Were you a trainee ?
Yes, a trainee at Lubrizol.

What arguments do you put forward to promote traineeships  ?
For the company: it's cost-effective training because it prepares the trainee for the position, we can choose the best of the trainees that we have. It's also a three-year trial period for the company.
For the trainee: it's preparation for the world of business, it's one of the best ways to start in business, and you grow and develop in professional experience within the company.

What advice would you give to a candidate to prepare them effectively for their traineeship interview ?
To know your strengths and weakness, and find out about the company before the interview.

What are your best memories of ESIGELEC ?
The atmosphere in the class, the friends, training, it's a whole package.

Pierre-Thomas Alquier, Promo 2008, Ingénieur développement et workpackage manager, groupe THALES
How much interest does you company have in traineeships ?
The benefits are significant, we really need trainees and it's one of the best ways to discover young engineers and train them. There are major common benefits for all the divisions in having trainees.

Is this your first ESIGELEC day-release training scholarship ?
No, I've been doing them for three years. I am the group leader for the Thales group and will no doubt take part in “Company Thursday” recruitment events.

What arguments do you put forward to promote traineeships  ?
For the company: it's clearly a way to train an engineer to respond to our business needs.
For the trainee: it provides them with a framework for personal and professional development which is quite powerful because it is managed by numerous people, and straight away they get involved in industrial projects, they're part of the development or production team, for example.

What advice would you give to a candidate to prepare them effectively for their traineeship interview ?
That they really find out what they want in their area of activity, for example, research and development, supply chain, quality, or even sales for an engineer. To push themselves over their three years without cutting corners, this will really help them know what they want.

What are your best memories of ESIGELEC ?
The general spirit of the university, which was fairly professional and quite focussed on business, and which invited high-quality guest speakers. A good atmosphere and good diversity of people, good sporting moments like the Edhec sailing race.