Messages have multiplied in recent weeks on social networks, like so many bottles in the sea, punctuated with imploring or desperate emoticons.
“Urgent - Internship search!
Students who land there as a last resort post on Twitter or Facebook, after having sent for some of the hundreds of resumes.
Every year, the same requests come back at the same time.
"This is the expected peak of internships starting in April," slips a source from the Ministry of Labor.
But this year, as in 2020, students in work-study or at the end of their studies have all the more difficulty finding a company willing to welcome them than at the time of the Covid, between teams in teleworking and declining activity, they feel less able to integrate young people.
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According to figures from the Dares, the statistical service of the Ministry of Labor, the volume of internship offers fell by 20% in 2020 in the private sector.
And the same scenario could be repeated this year, even if "the situation is less catastrophic than that which one could expect", one tries to relativize to the ministry.
Difficulties from CAP to professional bac via the BEP
According to Sigrid Gérardin, co-secretary general of Snuep-FSU, a trade union for vocational education, “30 to 40%” of students in vocational high schools (645,000 in France) “encountered a problem in their search for an internship this year , all diplomas combined - from CAP to professional bac through the BEP ”.
“We have even extended our working hours to cope with the influx of requests,” also explains Valérie Deflandre, guidance counselor at CIDJ (Youth Information and Documentation Center).
In recent months, the High Commission for Employment and Business Engagement, attached to the Ministry of Labor, has been monitoring the situation closely.
Objective: to try to "push back or mitigate the bump of the April internships", indicates a source at the ministry.
Clearly, to alleviate the difficulties of young people leaving training, the public authorities are currently asking higher institutions to leave an additional period of time for their students to complete their internship or to remove the mandatory aspect.
"It is of course at the goodwill of the establishments", adds one to the ministry.
The compulsory duration of the reduced internship
The situation remains delicate, especially for the 250,000 CAP students whose training lasts two years and who are expected to complete their diploma in June.
"These began their training at the same time as the Covid-19 swept over France and will have been prevented from finding an internship for the duration of their CAP", warns Pascal Vivier, secretary of Snetaa-FO, majority union vocational education.
To deal with this situation, the government reduced, as in 2020, the compulsory duration of the internship allowing the validation of exams to 5 weeks in CAP (compared to 12 to 14 weeks previously) and to 10 weeks for the professional bac (compared to 12 in 28 weeks).
The decree was published on Tuesday February 16.
For their part, SMEs and large groups are also invited by the government to make efforts.
"I tell companies to continue to welcome interns", hammered a few days ago on the antenna of France Info the Minister of Labor, Elisabeth Borne.
But those who continue to offer it sometimes do so without having the impression of integrating the young person well.
“In the end, no one is happy: neither the young people, nor the teachers, nor the companies!
»Launches Franck, a hotel teacher in the Paris region.
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Teachers bend over backwards to help their students and occupy those, idle and without a network, who have no solution.
From this arise atypical situations of “true-false” internships offered by schools.
“The workshop teachers compensate with practice.
In terms of know-how, in the end there is no real gap, believes Sigrid Gérardin, spokesperson for Snuep-FSU.
But immersion in a company is an incomparable experience ”.
And to hope that the young people of the “Covid generation” will not be stigmatized for all that.
"The devaluation of the diploma will be especially on the image that companies can have of it," she summarizes.
Our 4 tips for finding an internship
As opportunities in companies dry up, how can you put the best possible chances on your side to find an internship?
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Adapt your CV to telework.
"If the activity of the company you are targeting is conducive to teleworking, do not hesitate to indicate in your CV that you are autonomous and master certain IT tools used in the context of telework", advises Valérie Deflandre, advisor of orientation at CIDJ.
Otherwise, it is anyway necessary to adapt your CV to the targeted company.
“Looking for an internship is like looking for a job.
You may well have a different resume for each job, ”she continues.
Broaden your search.
Are you sending emails in spades and not getting any feedback?
Do not despair.
"If you cannot find directly in your field, it is good to consider a plan B in an annex sector", assures the advisor.
Clearly, do not hesitate to broaden your search.
Think about spontaneous applications.
It may be useful, for example, to send unsolicited applications by referring to the emails that you find on the websites of the companies you want to join.
Currently, some disorganized companies need interns but do not take the step of recruiting.
Don't forget the network!
There is also the LinkedIn site, where former classmates or friends of your parents may be found.
In any job or internship search, the network is decisive.
"Do not neglect what is called the hidden market either," warns Valérie Deflandre.
Through word of mouth you sometimes find interesting opportunities.
"
