Is the Haulotte Group looking for young talent? How do you help young people carve out their future careers? And why sponsor JOB ACCESS?

For the Haulotte Group, internal job training is a priority in developing our human resources. A training agreement signed in 2006 with the trade unions serves as the basis for our career-management policy. Representing over 5,000 hours of training per year, it makes it possible to prioritize support for new job entrants.

As a result of our increased production capacities, in the past two years we have made production functions a priority. The issue lies in our ability to pass on and increase skills in the assembly, industrial painting and logistics disciplines, because the quality of our machines also depends on our operators' job knowledge. This means that we have to establish individualized career paths and must manage our skills rigorously, which pays off in the long run. This philosophy of establishing a career path for production personnel also applies to technicians and management within the group.

Training courses, validated either by our industry (CQPM certification in metallurgy or work experience contracts) or the State (apprenticeships), enable us to boost our group’s skills base and increase our personnel’s employability via the diplomas they acquire.

The Haulotte Group is something of a trailblazer in this respect, although - like many companies in the metallurgy sector - we do encounter some difficulties when it comes to recruitment. Our strong commitment to training is a means of compensating for the shortage of young people wanting to work in our industry. Our duty is thus to promote our activities to this audience by explaining all the certificate courses available to them and, of course, all the fields to which they would therefore have access.

It should also be stressed that most of our disciplines are open to women (forklift truck operation, logistics, quality, control), because not many of them are looking for a career in our industry sector.

These are all reasons why we were keen to associate ourselves with JOB ACCESS, to show young men and women that our careers offer a future and real prospects for professional and personal development.

Portrait of Severine Renault: a highly capable woman

It is a question we would like to ask any woman working in a traditionally male industrial environment: "Isn't it hard working on a production line where you can count the number of women on one hand?" As is so often the case, the response of Severine Renault, a finishing operator in Rheims, is incisive: "And why should it be? Being a woman doesn't mean that I am less capable than a man, even in a highly physical job." She goes further: "To be honest, it's easier at Haulotte than it was in my previous job as a manufacturing agent with Valeo, where I worked with more women." When you're barely 36 and have spent 15 years in the industry, it's a character-building experience! "But it wasn't easy to get back in the saddle when I arrived in Rheims three years ago after six years of parental leave," she admits. With five or six cages for Star 6-12s to her credit every day, which she finishes and labels before the final check, her manager Alexandre Cuvillier appreciates her diligence and consistency: "Workers like her are the best!"

Portrait of Helene Lambert: production control suits her well

At 31, and after taking a 10-year break to raise her children, Helene Lambert is happy in her job. She has a BTS Productique diploma, has always wanted to follow a career in this field, and her wish is about to come true, thanks to Haulotte. "Ten years ago, it was very difficult to find a post in methods, planning or layout. I often got through to the final selection stage, but the male candidates were always the ones chosen."
Attitudes have changed, and when a few months ago she heard about "a large industrial company recruiting at Le Creusot," she headed for reception straightaway to hand in her CV. She believed that the position itself wasn’t that important; the main thing was to get her foot in the door. On 21 December 2005, she was taken on as a temp, to work as a fitter. "That gave me the chance to prove myself and get to know the production line." After that, everything happened very quickly: she was given a permanent contract on 17 April 2006, and has recently been promised the new post of checking machines as they come off the production line. She is delighted: "I didn't think things would happen so quickly. Haulotte has put me back on track and given me a chance. I can never thank them enough."