Volunteer work: volunteers pave the way

The VIE (Volunteers for International Experience) programme fell short of its 2005 goal of 4,000 international volunteers. “At 31 August 2005, over 700 businesses had 3,130 Volunteers for International Experience posted abroad, primarily in Europe (47%), the United States, and China - which this year became the second most popular destination for VIE assignments in the world,” according to the report published by UbiFrance, the French agency for international business development. Many recent graduates dream of trying out professional life abroad on attractive terms, but very few attain their goal. Close to 47,000 CVs are available on the CIVI (International Volunteers Information Centre) web site, but as criteria are particularly strict, only a limited number are chosen.

The positions available are largely reserved for candidates who have completed five years of higher education: 82% of volunteers are graduates of engineering and business schools and post-graduate university programmes. Figures in the UbiFrance report for 2005 indicate that recruitment is dominated by the automobile and banking industries, with 441 and 402 VIEs posted in 2005 respectively, followed by the oil and gas sectors (155 volunteers), retailing (138), engineering, consulting and auditing (136), telecommunications (70), aeronautics (66), agro-business (65), the chemical industry (61) and the pharmaceutical industry (59). The VIE programme, created in 2001 soon after compulsory military service was abolished in France, offers French companies many advantages, including easy terms for set-up (see box) and tax benefits.

An even more flexible tool
It is all the more attractive since the government relaxed the rules on VIE accreditation. Volunteers, who must be between 18 and 28 years of age, can now cover several countries, work for several companies in the course of the same volunteer period, and spend more time in France (up to 165 days a year). The goal is to continue attracting companies to this tool, which is useful not only to the host structure but also to the volunteer, who stands to gain a great deal from experience abroad coupled with professional responsibilities, a protected public status, and - in 70% of cases - a job offer from the host company. All of which go far to explain the profusion of applications, both unsolicited and on civiweb.com. According to UbiFrance, “95% of former VIEs consider that this experience facilitated their professional integration.”

The French government has set up specific measures for small and medium-sized businesses in the form of support devices. A government foreign trade advisor, for example, can become a sponsor and provide local follow up; young volunteers can avail themselves of the infrastructures and local experience of the French CCI in the foreign country, a major French group, or the French Economic Mission; and volunteers can divide their time among several companies. To promote this tool to SMEs, UbiFrance has signed agreements with the MEDEF, the employers’ group, with the CGPME, the union of SMEs, and with organisations representing chambers of commerce. The government’s ideal would be to achieve export results on a par with those of certain European neighbours. Nearly 200,000 German SMEs export their products, for instance - twice as many as in France, according to the Ministry of the Economy.