By the end of June 2024, approximately 560,000 students in general and technical secondary education must complete a mandatory observation internship. Now that the deadline is approaching, the government is launching a platform to optimize research.
– A platform to help high school students find a second-year internship, opened on Monday, March 25, 2024.
Before they can enjoy their summer vacation, second-year students must complete a mandatory two-week internship, from June 17 to 28, 2024. While their first- and last-year classmates will work on the baccalaureate exams, second-year high school general and technological students will work in a company, being in an association or a public service.
And as the deadline approaches, the government has set up a platform to support second-year students who have not yet managed to sign their internship agreement. Entitled”1young1solution» Through this platform, students can look for an internship and companies or governments can submit offers.
For those who haven’t found an internship yet, don’t panic. According to Sophie Toundoh, 3rd to 12th grade guidance counselor at OFP Conseils: “one of the first pieces of advice we give is to make your network work. Another important point is to contact the company directly to propose your request.»
To maximize your chances of success with this application, several elements must be taken into account, according to the expert. First of all, it’s rare for a company to ask for a resume at this level of experience, so it’s critical to focus on the cover letter. Above all, it is necessary to emphasize “your project ideas and your motivation to explore the professional field“. All this must of course be expressed with “clear language, coherent letter structure and no spelling errors», underlines the advisor of OFP Conseils.
If you use the “1jeune1solution” platform, it is advisable to multiply requests and not limit yourself to a single offer. To facilitate your professional immersion, you may also consider, under certain conditions, combining two internships of one week each. These two-week observation periods should ideally take place at the same reception location. However, the educational institution may agree to divide the internship into two phases”to give students the opportunity to discover different fields or two different professional environments in the same field“. It will then be necessary to justify this double experience in relation to your professional project.
Towards a future revision of this second course?
If some second-year students are concerned about not finding a place to stay, the government indicates that the student will be welcomed to their high school during these two weeks. During this time he will benefit from this “online solutions for discovering professional environments” during the performance “documentary research to clarify or perfect your orientation project», adds the website of the Ministry of National Education.
However, the reform surrounding this internship raises some questions. According to OFP Conseils guidance counselor: “This second-year internship threatens to pose a problem because all students in the same geographical area will start research at the same time.” Because no fewer than 560,000 students are affected by this measure. Additional difficulty, “At the end of the year, second-year students enter into ‘competition’ with students who are doing an internship in the same period. But companies prefer student internships.” underlines Sophie Toundoh.
There is also a question about the date set for this internship. However, the Ministry of National Education speaks of an operation “to recapture the month of June”, for Sophie Toundoh “this internship comes too late in the school year. The choice of specializations or sector for the first and last year is validated before this observation period. The ideal would have been to do this internship in the second trimester, so that the young people could think about their projects.”