How to recruit full-time after graduation in France?

I'm currently studying at one of the top 3 French business schools and was wondering if anyone could share some insights on how to recruit for full-time jobs when you follow the French system?

In the UK, people would usually do a summer internship during their penultimate year and ideally get a return offer or apply for graduate programs. But in France people usually take a gap year between their first and second year during their master to do two 6 months internships and go back to school afterwards.

Apart from applying to UK summer and graduate from France, I would like to know if anyone could share their experience with recruiting when you're not going through the summer/graduate program process in the UK? Do people just apply for FT jobs in Europe/UK when they go back to school to complete their last year? You would basically have 1 year of internship experience at that point but not sure if that's enough to apply directly to FT positions. I've also heard some people do an "end of studies internship" here which has a higher chance to lead to return offers than "gap year internships"

Would be grateful if anyone could give some insight on this!

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Interesting, I didn't know that this was conventional. I don't think any of my friends managed to get a return after their second internships so I thought it wasn't common... Heard that if there is a chance to convert, the conversion rate is still extremely low but don't have many sources to confirm that

So I guess if your second internship doesn't convert then the only choice left is to just apply for FT analyst roles?

 
Most Helpful

The usual route for French students is to use the final “stage de fin d’études” as the real pipeline into full time roles. Banks in Paris treat that internship almost like the UK summer program, and conversion rates are higher than for gap year internships. With one year of internships you are already competitive enough to apply directly to FT roles in Europe and the UK, especially if one of those internships is a strong six month placement. Some people also finish their last year, do the end of studies internship, and recruit off that if they do not convert, so both paths stay open.

 

Does the optional gap year that I’ve seen included in French programs form part of the usual route for French students?

 

yes everyone takes the gap year because normally when you come from prépa you don't have work experience and you need a certain amount to graduate (literally part of your programme requirements)

 

Thank you for helping!

Do you know if the timeline for full-time roles is about the same as for internships? It looks like most internships start recruiting about 4 months before the start dates in France so I was wondering if it would be about the same for full-time roles. In that case that would mean a student in their last year with two 6m internships could apply for both end of studies and full-time roles during the same period (4-5 months before the end of their studies)

 

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