In recent years, the industry has been faced with a major challenge: attracting the new generations entering the job market to cope with the retirement of a large proportion of their workforce.
Never in recent history has industry faced such recruitment difficulties. According to a 2023 Dares study, the number of vacant industrial jobs has tripled between 2017 and 2022, to around 60,000.
According to French Fab, 20% of manufacturers even turn down orders because they lack in-house skills. But why do young people seem to be abandoning industry, and what solutions are being considered to reverse this trend?
The new generation of "digital natives", sensitive to new technologies and adept at horizontal management, have different aspirations from their predecessors! They are looking for more agile work environments, offering flexibility, autonomy and rapid decision-making.
Yet industry can sometimes be perceived as traditional and lacking in innovation compared to other sectors. Many young people have an outdated image of industry, which is still associated with drudgery.
Traditional industries can also be associated with a negative environmental impact or unsustainable production practices, deterring many talented young people from entering them.
Finally, often located in rural areas, industry companies are far from training facilities, making it difficult to attract young trainees, apprentices or graduates.
"The jobs in industry have changed so quickly, that it's essential to make young people aware of them, and to promote all the opportunities present in industry." Romy Christin, Quality Manager at Mécapro Centre. (Interview UIMM - 2022)
Some companies in the industry have taken the problem head-on and are already proposing innovative or original initiatives to attract young talent to the industry. For example, Mécapro and Naval Group regularly organize tours of their facilities for teachers and students, enabling them to discover their professions. School projects involving 3D design also enable young people to immerse themselves in concrete projects.
Make the younger generation dream by tackling topical issues such as the ecological transition, the factory of the future, and the feminization of professions... For several years now, thousands of events have been organized all over France in an attempt to boost the attractiveness of the sector!
Large-scale communication campaigns have been launched to promote industrial professions to talented young people. Take, for example, the Ministry's " My adventure begins with industry " campaign.
OPCO 2i has also launched an ambitious communications campaign. Its aim: to transform the image of industry and create vocations, and thus fill the 70,000 vacancies in industry that are unable to recruit.
Every company in the industry can do its part to make its employer brand more attractive to young talent. In particular, it is imperative to modernize work, communication and training tools to make them more effective and more relevant to the younger generation.
All too often, there is still a huge gap between the digital tools used in personal life and those used in the workplace. If this difference were still accepted by previous generations, digital natives might be less fond of paper-based operating procedures, for example!
In our article 7 concrete actions to attract young talent to industry.
"With Komin, we have documented our operating procedures 10x faster than with paper"
- J. Cerruti (Methods & Industrialization Manager)
