Interview with Nathalie Belot

Sylvie Ponlot: Technoflex recently organized round tables bringing together several heads of educational establishments and teaching managers. What happens at these round tables and what issues are involved?

Nathalie Belot: To optimize the cooperation between schools and Technoflex, the educational establishment heads describe their constraints. We present our activity and our products. Technoflex employees provide information on our departments and our professional disciplines. The educational managers are therefore informed of the recruiting process and the jobs where there are insufficient candidates and can better understand our expectations. The dynamics are great and there is a real desire to bring together the industrial world and young people. It is very encouraging!

SP: Which departments and jobs are concerned by these sandwich courses?

NB: All Technoflex’s departments have had at least one student under an apprenticeship contract or a professionalization contract. Over the last 5 years we have integrated 30 young people under such programs and 55 trainees aged from 15 years to university and engineering school level.

SP: What are Technoflex’s commitments with respect to the apprentices and trainees?

NB: Training and accompanying the students in obtaining their diplomas is our primary commitment. The second is to be able to offer them a long-term contract if a job becomes available at the end of the apprenticeship period, and if the student has successfully integrated the company during his block-release training.

SP: How are they integrated into their departments?

NB: The students follow the same onboarding path as all newly recruited employees. It enables them to discover our activity, our procedures (quality, respecting Manufacturing Best Practices), our environment (clean rooms) and all the associated requirements.

SP: Are you looking for people with specific profiles? What advice would you give to a candidate on a sandwich course program?

NB: We regularly look for plastics process technicians and engineers, and maintenance or IT technicians, but also for the future engineering project managers who will develop tomorrow’s products. My advice? You have to show that you are keen to work in an innovative company and successfully integrate. And above all, you have to like team work!