While not every child in the world wants to be a vet or a fireman, as we grow up we all gradually develop a desire for a profession, a sought-after environment or privileged working conditions. Working with children, creating objects by hand, making numbers talk...
When it comes to choosing a course of higher education, the road that will lead to that vocation shaped by time, it's all about finding the right path, i.e. the one that will lead to the career you're aiming for and the working environment you want.
And this is not always easy. While some study programmes lead in an obvious way to certain targeted jobs, others are more 'complex' to decipher and need to be looked at closely.
Some professions are regulated, i.e. subject to specific conditions. Take the example of lawyers: this profession requires you to go through an EDA (école d'avocat) in France, so a generalist school offering law courses will not be able to lead its students to the profession.
So what can you do to avoid choosing the wrong path? How can you be sure that you are building the right foundations for your career plan?
Step 1: Find out about the job you're interested in and identify the training pathway
The first thing you need to do is find out more about your target career, its advantages and disadvantages, working conditions, expected pay and so on. Numerous websites offer catalogues of occupations that can be accessed free of charge.
Onisep, the French government agency responsible for producing and distributing all the information on training and careers, offers an ultra-complete and well-documented platform: www.onisep.fr/.
Using a search engine, you can quickly find information on the occupations that appeal to you, and even discover occupations that match your tastes and interests using quizzes and other aids. For each job description, a "studies" section gives you information on the training options available to achieve it.
Stage 2: once you've chosen your programme, check the job opportunities
Once you have decided on your target career or sector and chosen the course you wish to apply for, a second check must be made to ensure that your study plan and career plan are consistent.
Almost all higher education institutions have a section on their website dedicated to career opportunities, i.e. the jobs and activities that can be accessed on completion of the course. This information can be found in the description of the training programme, on a page dedicated to job opportunities or in an accompanying guide that can be downloaded. For the MediaSchool group, a "careers" section on each school's website sets out the various careers that can be accessed directly after the courses offered.
The most reliable tool for carrying out this check is the Répertoire National de la Certification Professionnelle. This lists all French vocational diplomas and titles conferring an official level of qualification. Each diploma is assigned a file number (communicated on the institutions' websites), and in each file there is a section entitled "Sector of activity and type of employment", which gives a precise and compulsory description of the opportunities to which the training pathway gives access. Searching for records is free and easy on the website:
Stage 3: Familiarise yourself with the programme and the profession
Once all the indicators are green and your project is 'on track', all that remains is to convince the school to admit you to the programme you have chosen. To convince them, you'll need to provide proof that the two previous stages have been completed:
- That you have done your homework on the career you are aiming for
- That you have checked that your course of study is compatible with your career plan.
How can you prove this? Quite simply by having in mind the main elements of the profession (main activities, context and conditions of implementation, etc.) as well as the main skills taught in the course.
And it wasn't me who said it, but Alexander Graham Bell: "Preparation is the key to success”. It's up to you!
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