Future Career Guide through Forum ICP- Enterprises – Noura Charrak

Future Career Guide through Forum ICP- Enterprises

    To build a bright future, one must find the right appropriate job which is almost impossible if we do not follow the advice of experts in career guidance. There are a lot of articles on the internet which give a multitude of tips to beginners and jobseekers. This gives us a chance to learn about our future career. However, the problem is that, if we want to ask about a specific thing, there is no tangible contact between the experts and us. That is why ICP found a solution organizing conferences specialized in guidance and orientation  for students called the Forum ICP-Enterprises; it is a yearly conference in order to give the students an opportunity to meet professionals, to discuss and debate, to be well-oriented and prepared for a professional future. As a student, I participated in this conference. I attended six activities and one speed meeting at the end of the conference.

    The Forum ICP-Enterprises is a full day dedicated to the orientation and professional insertion of students from the Catholic University of Paris. The day included a multitude of activities animated by about 200 professionals. These professionals come every year to fulfil their duties as experts and advise ICP students. The conference was on 7th December 2016 and I chose the following activities:

    The first activity was “Special Skills Educator/Early Childhood Educator” presented by Philippe Poirier, Director of the EFPP. He outlined how we would learn about children’s education from birth to the age of seven, and about fostering their development in the absence of their parents. To succeed in this mission, the educator has to love the children and achieve the following missions: animate, educate and transmit.

    The following activity was presented by Audrey Poirier, a secondary school teacher. Throughout this activity, she gave us a presentation about teaching and the tasks involved. To succeed in this job we have to accompany and listen to pupils. According to her, it is highly important to be proud of our profession, to love and cherish what we do. She also gave us some examples from her own experience as a teacher and how she reacted in certain cases. She narrated one of her stories with pupils that required delicate care with handicapped children. I was absolutely fascinated by her warmth and professionalism. In addition to that, she told us about the university courses that could give us clear futuristic views. Lastly, she gave us the opportunity to ask questions.

    The next activity was about schoolteaching presented by Laura Jan, a teacher at the school Saint Germain de Charonne. She gave us a presentation about the reality in schools from her own experience and what we need to know to embody this profession. She said that we have to be hard workers especially in the first year. She informed us that we have to be well prepared,  patient, organized and work as a team with the pupils. Finally, she stated that it is a routine job so before thinking about it, it must be generated out of love. Doing things that we love on a daily basis can save us from getting bored.

    These three activities were classified in Education, Teaching and Social Intervention within the  Conference. The experts spoke about their professional experiences and answered directly to our questions. The following two activities were included within the Occupational Integration section. Two experts gave us advice about how to develop our professional projects, enhance our competences and prepare for our internships.

    The first exercise was called “I have an effective CV to get a job interview or internship” presented by Ana Fernandez, a manager and graduate coach at Energy-Coaching. She divided her presentation into two parts. The theoretical part was on  advice and techniques on how to write our CV. She stated that our CV must typed on one page. It must be simple, readable and without columns. Then, she moved to the practical side by asking some volunteers to give her their CV. She tried to correct them in terms of form and content, and I was one of these volunteers. Fortunately, she gave me positive remarks.

     The second exercise was presented by Ludovic Martin, the founder of “Mister Bilingue” and it was about how foreigners can find a job. During this hour, the expert divided his presentation into three parts:

– the CV: he said that our CV must be well-organized, color-coded and readable in order to draw attention. He added that he would not read a CV if it is in black and white as the form of the CV indirectly reflects the personality of the jobseeker.

– looking for a job: he gave us several websites where we can look for a job.

– the job interview: in this part he said that, if we are in front of a jury, we have to be self-confident, convince them that this job is made for us, try to ask questions because it shows that you are interested in the job and finally he asserted that we must not ask for money or holidays at first as it may convey a bad impression.

The last activity was in the area of Orientation and Pursuit of Studies. The experts gave us guidance about the appropriate jobs and studies to pursue in order to gain access to the trade concerned. It was presented by two experts: Veronique Hamayon, a counselor and Eric Rerri, a general inspector in the French administration. Their presentation was about the ENA, how to prepare the competition exam and what the career prospects are? These two experts stated the benefits of being a student at the ENA. They gave us a methodology to prepare for the entrance exam and finally talked about future positions and career diversity.

     After the six activities, we had to choose one speed meeting; meaning that professionals  and  experts  received  students  in  twenty-minute   individual meetings, read and corrected our CV if needed. Personally, I met an expert that corrected some mistakes I made, she read my motivation letter which she liked, and finally she gave me pieces of advice and techniques on how to behave at a job interview.

     Forum ICP-Enterprises was a new experience in which I had the chance to learn several methods, techniques and procedures. It gave me the chance to be well-oriented, to think precisely  about my professional project, to discover new jobs and especially ask myself useful questions about my future. It was also an opportunity for me to meet professionals who passed on their knowledge as they shared their experiences in order to benefit from their valuable professional advice. The only thing I could  criticize is having, in some cases, contradictory ideas. Concerning the form of the CV, in the first activity, the expert said that the CV must be simple without using colors while in the second one, another expert said he would never read a CV which is organized in black and white.

I really enjoyed all the activities at this conference except the one of the ENA which was a bad choice for me. After attending this activity, I discovered that it was not my domain at all. It was a great pleasure to attend all the other presentations.

After a few days, I received an e-mail from the direction of Professional Insertion stating that I had participated in the Forum ICP-Enterprises and they thanked me. In addition to that, the first feedback from their professional partners was very positive: my seriousness, my quality of listening and my motivation had been unanimously welcomed. Finally, to prepare for their next edition, they needed to know our impressions and comments by answering a short questionnaire. So I was satisfied by both the benefits gained from this conference and the positive remarks given to me, today I find myself looking forward to attending the next Forum ICP-Enterprises.

Noura Charrak

Master 1 Anglais