This archive report was first published on 11 August 2019.
Published on August 11, 2019, French industrial firms are taking their pitches straight to the summer crowds with a roadshow aimed at drumming up an interest in factory work, as they struggle to attract young workers.
Since mid-July, the French Fab Tour has travelled along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, showcasing state-of-the-art sites offering solid pay and prospects to young people.
Magali Kueny, a recruitment specialist, knows firsthand the need to inject a bit of glamour into an industry's image. "There are very few qualified candidates," she said. "Sometimes we'll have just one candidate for four or five posts."
The tour, which will have visited 18 seaside resorts when it wraps up on Wednesday, mixes work and play. Amid the basketball hoops and programmable remote-controlled toy cars is a LinkedIn stand, where people get prints of would-be profile pictures. There's also an escape game and the day ends with a free outdoor concert featuring several bands and DJs.
"Encouraging people means reaching out, by going straight to families and young people, because a career decision is something you make within the family," said Patrice Begay of BPI France, the state-run investment bank that organised the tour.
President Emmanuel Macron's pledge to make France more competitive and lower the chronic unemployment, especially among young people, is a key part of the effort. Macron has vowed to return the country to "full employment" by 2025, a rate most economists would peg at around 4.5 percent.
However, the challenge remains daunting: placement agency Adecco said in June that French firms overall have 3.5 million posts to fill this year, but half expect to struggle to find suitable candidates.
