What really is the Bachelor worth on the job market in the face of the license and the goal?

Originally, the Bachelor is there for that. Train young professionals ready to work, without having had to engage in endless studies. However, a majority considers it wiser to extend their formation up to Bac +5, fearing that the lower level is not enough to win good opportunities or slows down their evolution later.

Recruited before the diploma

Eugenie is the incarnation of the contrary. “After my Bachelor, I did not hesitate long. I was too thirsty to work, ”recalls this young graduate from the Troyes Higher School of Tourism (Aube). After all, a bachelor always leads students to do internships in order to prepare them for the reality of their future profession. “My case is a bit special … In reality, I was hired directly on permanent contracts (indefinite contract) instead of carrying out an internship as part of an agreement between the school and the company,” explains Eugenie.

Those who feared that a simple bachelor does not allow them to evolve can blow. “As director, I do not feel any lack of having prolonged my studies. I find it difficult to see what a master’s degree would have brought me better than my field experience, ”continues Eugenie. Which rather envisages short and targeted training in the future: to master a new tool, acquire a specific competence, etc. Proven “professional development depends above all on the involvement and personality of the employee”, agrees Pierre Mage, Managing Partner de Selescope, recruitment firm specializing in the employment of executives in various sectors (distribution, advice, food, industry, IT, etc.).

However, he does not deny it: the level of diploma conditions the departure post. “For a sales function, a bac +3 is enough if the product for sale already exists, that it does not have too complex added value. On the other hand, if it is very technical or requires to be tailor -made for a customer, employers will prefer a bac +5, ”explains the recruiter. Same observation on marketing functions, where a graduate can completely become product manager, but more rarely be hired to build a launch strategy, for example.

Banks and insurances appreciate the profile of Bac +3 in business, whose training they themselves complete on the regulatory issues that are specific to them. “In this sector, companies seek to recruit and do not hesitate to make it known,” says Mélissa. After a first experience in the sale which was not to her liking, the young woman joined in 3rd year the Bachelor of the Esbanque, in Saintes (Charente-Maritime).

By finding an alternation without difficulty at LCL, she realizes just as quickly as the company would like to keep it, once her diploma has been obtained. “Of course, I could have continued my studies, but I had a job, colleagues I love, a job that makes me want to get up in the morning,” Lists Mélissa. She is therefore today on permanent contracts as a customer advisor. “It is a job that I like because human contact with our customers is not artificial. We are talking about their house, their children, fundamental things for them. It is not a question of selling as much as possible, ”rejoices the graduate of the Esbanque.

SMEs open their arms

“A Bac +3 Sied perfectly at a career start. Companies mainly need agile, operational and resourceful people, ”says Thomas Vié, Occitanie commercial director of Igensia Education. Small structures are all the more interested in applications that they communicate little and lack notoriety with students. “Their presence is also more fragmented geographically.

This is an asset as much as a constraint: the candidate who wants to have the best professional opportunities must be ready to move, ”he underlines. SMEs (small and medium -sized enterprises) and large groups have a different approach. The former are looking for a lot of commercial profiles and various project managers. “A bac +3 can quite suit, then progress in the company. In large groups, missions are more partitioned. Some functions are inaccessible if one does not justify a master’s degree, ”notes Thomas Vié.

A beautiful rating outside France

The Managing Partner of Selescope does not dispute this distinction. “A kind of snobbery remains in the largest structures, which swear by the recruitment of Bac +5. A state of mind that we do not find in SMEs, ”abounds Pierre Mage, who has many times had the opportunity to observe that this was a French cultural specificity. Outside our borders, in fact, recruiters embarrass less with the original diploma than with the motivation of the candidate and his ability to adapt.

This is what Jérémy felt. Released from ESDES Lyon in 2021 and little tempted by a master’s degree, he headed for Luxembourg, where employers are less attentive to the academic level, according to him. “They study your experiences in internship or work -study, your ability to work in English, your personality,” explains the young man from Metz (Moselle), who knows his lifelong neighbors well. “In France, many companies hire bac +5 for positions that do not require such a high level. They do not offer them the corresponding salary, ”he believes.

Recruited as a customer officer in a company providing accounting solutions and SME advice, Jérémy stayed two years in this position. Today, the young man has gone responsible for large accounts. A logical evolution with regard to its performance, in a very reasonable time. According to several schools interviewed, around a quarter of Bachelor graduates start their career abroad.