In a strained economic context, NEOMA has intensified its efforts to prepare students for their entry into the job market. Professors and alumni offer workshops, conferences and learning sessions. Isabelle Chevalier, director of Talent & Careers, explains it all.

How does NEOMA prepare students for their upcoming professional integration in the current economic context? What are the specific actions set up to assist and reassure them?

Students have mandatory “Shape Your Career” credit courses. The content has been adapted. There is now greater focus on the sectors that are currently recruiting. Through our internship and job platform, we have identified the professions most affected by a drop off in offers: tourism and hospitality, communications and events planning and recruitment. For students who are aiming towards these fields, we are helping them to expand their short-term professional projects. By reworking, for example, a CV to focus more on their cross-functional skills and less on their experience is specific sectors.

At the same time, we have enhanced workshops on personal branding and the elements that they need to develop concerning personal distinction, individual and group interview simulation workshops and individual meetings with our career consultants.

Salary negotiation is also an expanded subject, particularly for women. This type of workshop was extended to all students at the end of their programmes.

The question of salary negotiation is a thorny issue, even more so in a time of crisis. What advice would you give to students?

It’s obviously a complicated subject this year. Given the increased competition on the job market and restrained company budgets, wage levels are dropping. Our role is to develop the students’ perception and discuss with them positions and salaries that sometimes fall short of their initial ambitions. The 2008 crisis had quite an effect on the wages of young graduates, and that generation needed several years to make up for that setback. We hope that this time the economic recovery will allow for a quicker rebound.

NEOMA can use its alumni network to help students.

Yes. We have called on it to increase our internship and employment offers specific to NEOMA and to participate in conferences and additional workshops (initially only open to graduates) for our Master 2 students who are getting ready to enter the job market. Some alumni actively assist students in their search. The NEOMA alumni network has even set up an older/younger graduate mentoring system to support these recent graduates in their professional projects.