the essential
The agri-food sector offers numerous positions and real career opportunities in the department. But suffering from a poor brand image, often unknown, its professions struggle to recruit.
From November 4 to 8, Agri-Food Careers Week took place. In the Gers, companies encounter great difficulty in attracting their future employees.
“Before Covid, we had classes of 24 or 25, for the BTS Bio Qualim. Today, it has fallen to 7 or 8.” This disillusioned observation by the director of the Beaulieu Lavacant vocational high school in Auch, Vincent Labart, is an echo of the situation of agri-food companies, at the other end of the spectrum. .
Disaffection
The establishment offers training from CAP to BTS. He maintains close contacts with agri-food companies and demand is very strong. “We could have triple the number of apprentices or students, they would all find a job. »
Why such disaffection? For Vincent Labart, it is first and foremost a problem of the sector's image. “When we talk about the agri-food industry, we only talk about the negative aspects: working conditions, health scandals, etc. But these are still very large companies, while the sector is made up of 95% SMEs. And they make very big efforts on working conditions. »
Ève Piquemal, human resources manager at Val de Gascogne, regrets the lack of initial training in certain professions, which depend on professional certifications. “We recruit all types of profiles, but not everyone stays. These are indeed sometimes complicated jobs. For example, collections from June to mid-July are intensive periods, when we cannot take time off. Some employees work 60 hours per week, by derogation from the Labor Inspectorate. For some, this is a problem. »
Lack of knowledge
According to the manager, the first difficulty lies in “the lack of knowledge of the agri-food professions everywhere”, according to her. The Gers cooperative collaborates with educational establishments, employment or training forums, to present its activities and offers. “It’s about showing what exists before young people have made their choice of orientation. You have to be proactive! But time is often lacking. »
The complexity of work organizations doesn't help. There are many, many positions, many of which change from company to company. During a meeting around this sector, Thursday at Ciné 32, many students expressed their lack of knowledge of this sector. “By entering the IUT,” confides Julie, a student, “I discovered careers that I hadn’t thought of at all when choosing this course! There is a lack of information on the positions that exist. »
“When you go to an SME like Jambons d’Auch, Fumaison Occitane or a foie gras specialist, you have completely different jobs,” underlines the director of the Beaulieu Lavacant high school. And what's more, you often change positions within the company itself. » The other side (a positive one) of the coin: progress in the agri-food industry is rapid. “There are real career opportunities. »
“Out of 20 candidates, 5 stayed”
Fumaison Occitane, a smoked fish specialist in Auch, looks for seasonal workers each year for the end of the year, its busiest period. Recently, the company organized a meeting with the local Mission to offer positions. “We show a video, then we exchange frankly. There were around twenty young people, and 5 stayed to discuss and present CVs. »
Laure Thomas, the head of this Scic, no longer recruits without a visit to the premises, and clear, if not direct, explanations. “We explain clearly that we work standing up, in the cold, with schedules. I announce the constraints from the start, to avoid resignations in peak season. One year, I had to recruit 14 candidates for 7 places. » The work is there, however. One of the SME's employees has been there for 2 years, after one season. “We now have to go look for people. Many do not know our company. »
