Employability of graduates from French "Grandes Ecoles": sharp recovery after the health crisis

The 2022 edition highlights the end of the health crisis and shows, according to the CGE, a true recovery capability of the French model of Grandes Ecoles. For the 2021 graduates, the net employment rate is sharply increasing: with a 89,8% rate, it increased 10 points to reach pre-crisis levels. Record level over two decades, according to the Conference.
For 30 years, the Conférence des grandes écoles (CGE) has been publishing a yearly survey on the professional insertion of graduates from the schools it represents. As the President of the Conference said: “it’s in our institutions, with their diversity and richness of the grandes écoles model, that the men and women who will truly make the world of tomorrow are trained today”.

A situation far from the health crisis
According to the CGE, the general economic context is today “more favourable to recruitment of young graduates”. The survey indeed shows that for all graduates of the 2021 promotion, “the net employment rate for 2022 is recovering and even increasing more than it had dropped last year”. With an exact percentage of 89.8%, it increases by 10.7 points. It is thus back to “the high levels reached during the pre-crisis years” and “even marks a record level for two decades”.

The CGE points out that while this rebound is common to all types of schools, engineers register the highest net employment rate (91.1%, up 11.7 points). They are followed by students in management (88.6%) and graduates of other schools (85.9%). Regarding recruitment methods, the CGE notes that recruitment occurs “soon after graduation for all types of schools, and for both women and men”. Thus, more than eight out of ten graduates in employment (83.6%) were recruited in less than two months. And the CGE adds that for a large proportion of graduates, the contract was signed before graduation.

Few changes in the choices of lines of businesses
Regarding the lines of business, the CGE notes few changes between the two surveys, even though preferences are clearer:

Engineer students prefer consulting firms, engineering companies and study firms (25.1%), and IT businesses (22.2%). Construction keeps its 3rd rank with 7.3% of jobs, followed by transports (5.4%) and energy (4%). Overall, says the CGE, industry stands for 22.1% of engineer jobs, which is about the same as last year;
Regarding graduates from management schools, more than one student out of three (34.7%) chooses council firms, while 16.1% of them choose IT businesses. Banking and insurance are in 3rd position (14.8% of recruitments) and business activities keep their 4th position (9.5% of jobs).
To be noted that almost 12% of graduates work in a job abroad, but this figure is decreasing for all graduates except managers and graduates from other “grandes écoles”.

Good recruitment conditions, but not so much for women’s salary
On a qualitative note, the CGE survey shows that satisfaction of graduates with their job is high. Almost all the young graduates currently working (90.1%) declare working in a job meeting their level of qualification.

Overall, recruitment conditions are really good, to the point that 86.1% of graduates currently working have the status of “cadres” (roughly equivalent to senior executive), and the share of open-ended contract reached pre-crisis levels, increasing “from 4 to 7 points to reach 81.8% for all graduates, whatever the school”.

And the survey notes that wages exceed their pre-crisis levels. For graduates working in France, the average yearly gross salary increased by 3,1% in one year. According to the CGE, the only “cloud in the sky” is still the gap between men and women’s salary. In 2022, the last promotion working in France, “wage gap between men and women continues (+5% for men), even though they decreased compared to the previous survey”.

To know more: 

- Survey on the professional insertion of graduates 2022

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