As part of the 2024 campaign for mandatory second-year internships, the Personal Finance & Mobility Foundation, with the support of the For Youth Endowment Fund, has decided to transform this legal obligation into an opportunity to strengthen the school-business link and offer all students, especially those in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and rural areas, a real immersion in the professional world. 90 young people were welcomed by the company and supported throughout their internship by 50 employees who mobilised and volunteered.
For the first time this year, 560,000 students in general and technological secondary education, including about 200,000 from Priority Education Networks (REP), REP+ and rural areas, must complete an internship in a company, association or public service. This immersion in the professional world aims, on the one hand, to discover professions beyond the school setting and, on the other hand, to better define their future orientation.
Faced with this major challenge, Personal Finance & Mobility, with the support of the For Youth Endowment Fund, whose ambition is to support the employability and equal opportunities of young people in their access to employment, has set up three mechanisms to welcome the 90 high school students who were, for the most part, their first immersion in the world of work. More than 50 employees have thus committed themselves and mobilised alongside the teams of the Human Resources Department and the Citizen Engagement Department to welcome them and accompany them in this discovery of the company.
“One for One”With this innovative system, which is deployed in all regions, Personal Finance & Mobility is committed to two levels: the company opens its doors to observation courses for all the children of employees who request it and, for each child of employee requesting an internship, a mission is proposed to an internship applicant from priority neighbourhoods. This initiative gives the opportunity to a young person from a REP, REP+ or rural area looking for an internship, to join the company in tandem with the first intern.
“Entrepreneurship to learn”As part of the “Entreprendre pour apprendre” programme, fifteen second-year students were welcomed for two weeks on the Roubaix site with the aim of creating a mini-business. They were thus led to observe, imagine and design a solution by transforming an idea into a project. The programme combines company discovery, creativity, teamwork and above all awareness of their potential. Throughout their project, they were accompanied by a facilitator and also by employees of Personal Finance & Mobility as mentors.
“All in internship”The “Tous en Internship” programme allows young people to discover different sectors of activity and their trades but also to develop their knowledge around workshops and conferences. During the two-week internship, high school students benefited from a course combining organised visits to partner companies, team building days, conferences, educational workshops around business creation and HR coaching days. Personal Finance & Mobility, as a partner of the programme, welcomed two groups of 25 young people to Massy on June 19 and 26 for a discovery of the company.