Graduate
testimony

Jules Ponsolle - Managing Consultant Recruitment, Hays

Discovering the World

After my baccalaureate, I left my family cocoon for the first time to come to La Rochelle. From the outset, I chose this School for the experiences and expatriations it offered such as the Humacité© project and internships. I was eager to go abroad, to discover other environments, other cultures. I knew it would make a huge difference at the end of my studies when I would be in direct competition with other job candidates. And I was right! In four years, in addition to improving my language ability and acquiring technical knowledge, I also learned to have faith in my abilities, to adapt to different environments and to understand different management and learning methods, all of which were a far cry from what I had been used to.

I particularly enjoyed my academic year for my double-degree which was spent in Helsinki, with its very different education system, and my house-sharing experience with two young Turks (one from Istanbul and the other from Ankara) who have remained friends. From Finland, there are many countries close by to discover (Norway, Sweden, Russia, Lapland, the Baltics...) which all helped make this a magic year for me.

I carried out my Humacité© project in Belgium with an association helping those with disabilities and my first international internship was in Spain, in the quality management department of a luxury hotel.

A study path easily understood by recruiters

As I had expected, all my international experiences were decisive when securing my end-of-studies internship. In such competitive situations, recruiters are definitely looking for those important extras you have on your CV compared to other candidates.

As I mentioned before, what really caught the attention of my employer was the experience I had accumulated during my years in higher education, through my internships, and also the international dimension of this experience.

I have been working for the same company now for 3 years, where I have been able to progress to a managerial position as Recruitment Consultant at Hays Recruitment in Luxembourg. I specialise in candidates with a Supply Chain profile.

With more than 150 nationalities, the market in which I work is very cosmopolitan where heightened emotional intelligence is essential, and this is one of the many things that the programme taught me.

In addition, a sense of open-mindedness and the ability to adapt, assimilated during my studies (by experiencing new cultures and working methods) helped me to integrate into the team upon my arrival and also continue to assist me in my new position.