Want to change career ? “Don’t wait until you’re in difficulty to get involved in career development counseling”

Cyrille Longuépée, directrice Occitanie de l'Association pour l'emploi des cadres (Apec).

Entretien avec Cyrille Longuépée, directrice régionale Occitanie de l’Association pour l’emploi des cadres (Apec).

Quelle est la place aujourd’hui des évolutions professionnelles radicales ?

Since 2020, with the lockdown and the total shutdown of activity in France, many things have emerged. Before the pandemic, executives worked at a very sustained pace. And suddenly, they found themselves at home and ended up asking themselves material questions about their job. There was a real turning point in the perception of professional activity, which often led to career changes. At the same time, a little before, towards the end of 2019, we saw the arrival of the CEP désignateur. It is a career development advice tool, hence its name CEP. With the Covid-19 pandemic, we were overwhelmed with requests for advice. There were a lot of concerns among executives, they wondered if their company was not going to fail, if it was going to play the recruitment game.

Has this observation been observed in Occitanie ?

Occitanie is one of the regions that, at the time, suffered the most from the lack of executive recruitment. Even if, today, we have caught up. In 2020, executives played it safe, we did not have many resignations. Today, according to our surveys, 31% of them say that they have or have had a professional retraining project, with a desire to change jobs. But in reality, only 8% say they have actually started the steps to achieve this. Of these 8%, only 15% opt for a radically different career.

What careers are people turning to today?

Towards so-called “greening” professions. These are the ones that are highlighted at Apec and those that are developing the most today. Especially since these are the professions that companies will need the most in the years to come. We have thus seen an insurer become a nurse, an automobile branch manager create her concierge company, or a payroll manager from Montpellier reconvert into a career development advisor in Paris.

How should we approach a career change? ?

You should already have an idea of ​​what you could do. Then, get in touch with a career guidance counselor. I recommend doing a CEP fairly early, without waiting until you are in difficulty in your position. Not necessarily when you resign. A CEP never makes you change jobs, it rather gives you the means to evolve or change in your job. Entering into a CEP process mainly allows an employee to be enlightened on the feasibility of their initial idea, when thinking about a possible professional development.

Are there many job changes in our region??

Apec is currently finalizing a study on this subject, we will have the results in the spring. What I can already say is that Occitanie is one of the regions where there is a strong sense of belonging to the territory. A manager does not necessarily want to leave. Young graduates also want to stay in their region of origin. Changing careers, yes, but it must be adapted to the region. To answer your question, I would say that there are no more training funding applications than elsewhere.

I subscribe to read the rest