ach year Areva hires 12,000 people around the world – i.e. one every 45 minutes. Its aim is naturally not only to acquire the human resources it needs to pursue its strong growth in a booming global energy market, but also to preserve and pass on its know-how, as large numbers of senior staff are due to retire. With its age pyramid undergoing profound change, Areva encourages its senior staff members to team up with the young recruits in order to pass on their wealth of experience and hence preserve the company’s unique expertise.

Well-formed minds
Philippe Vivien, Senior Executive
Vice President Human Resource of this group with a workforce of 75,000 across all the continents, prefers well-formed minds to well-filled minds (to use the expression coined by Montaigne): “Many of our young recruits will have to work with colleagues from different cultures and fields. For me, their ability to understand what other people have learnt is just as important as what they have learnt themselves.” So university faculties specialising in nuclear technology churning out generations of ‘ready-to-employ’ technicians and engineers are not Philippe’s dream. In addition to having scientific and technical knowledge, the ideal candidate will speak two or three languages, have worked abroad, be familiar with economics and, lastly, have the general knowledge that will enable him or her to fit into Areva’s world.

Naturally, it is scientific and technical subjects that lead to jobs with high-tech companies. But the fact has to be faced that these subjects are becoming less popular in most European countries. “Although Areva is not having any real difficulty recruiting, we do have an orientation problem,” regrets Philippe. “Science subjects are now required to enter non-scientific jobs, whereas they should be preparing students for scientific careers.” In the case of young women in particular, the statistics speak for themselves: whereas as many girls as boys study sciences in secondary school, only one engineering student in five is a woman.

A bridge to employment
Companies build operational skills on the basis of the knowledge that their employees have acquired during their initial training. The ideal career starts with an apprenticeship, which provides a bridge between education and employment.

“Apprenticeship is the best model – it works perfectly in Germany. Two years of initial work experience is a fantastic advantage for an 18-year-old!” Even better: “it enables youngsters to start with advanced-level training while keeping their options open, enabling them to change direction a few years later,” reckons Areva’s HR VP, who believes the idea should be extended to all levels of qualification. “Apprenticeships would be highly beneficial to engineers, but the concept comes up against cultural resistance.”

Following recruitment, the company’s approach continues with alternating periods of work and training. Areva thus dispenses 1.5 million hours of continuing vocational training each year throughout the world, winning the company an award in France for implementing the latest legislation in this area.

Passing on expertise
If expertise is acquired in-house, senior staff members have it in abundance. Philippe exclaims: “The more I hire young people, the more I have to take care of the senior staff!” Preserving this tremendous amount of know-how built up by the generation that oversaw the major projects of the 1970s and is now about to retire is an important issue. The enzymes that will metabolise this expertise are called référents (“Experts”), generally staff members in their 50s who are renowned for their in-depth experience. France already has 80 référents, and Germany will follow suit in 2009. It is their responsibility to think up and roll out the knowledge transfer process. Philippe explains: “Each of them will have to see whether it is better to pass the reins over to the youngsters and back them up or to keep hold of the reins with the youngsters watching carefully.” The référents are organised in a virtual community and have the tools they need to share their best practices. Better than standardised solutions and traditional schemes, the key to both managing senior staff members and recruiting youngsters lies in having strong networks.
This simultaneously builds employees’ capacities and preserves Areva’s expertise, ensuring that the company continues to attract youngsters with high potential. Once recruited, they will stay loyal to the company (staff turnover is less than 3%) - and later, on reaching their 50s, they will be told that their career is far from being over: “You still have three posts in front of you. Not to mention a senior staff member to assist and a few juniors to train!”