“My clients? Managers are sometimes on the verge of burning out, sometimes the employer thanks them» explains Kirsty Voisin, head of Version Originale, a language teaching and training organisation. Maxime Leprêtre, 43, a former business and marketing analyst at Place du Marché, is one of them. He has been training business English for several weeks (fifty hours), after his dismissal. “Today, job offers require English, a language I did not use in my previous role. I don’t want this gap to prevent me from applying“, he admits.
More and more unemployed managers are entering training
According to Apec, 130,000 managerial job seekers entered training in 2022. In 2021, there were 124,000.Today, 9.6% of those registered in Pôle emploi are managers, and about 13% of training participants are conducted by managers. This socio-professional category is trained more than the others», specifies Maud Venturini, head of the training engineering department at Pôle emploi. Men and women in equal proportions. The goals of these job seekers are different: strengthening their employability in their core activity, researching new skills or even training for a new profession. According to the Apec study, the most popular courses are language learning (13.4%), business management (12.8%), transport (16.2%), personal and professional development (11.9%). “These are generally short training courses – 254 hours on average in 2021 – and aimed at returning to work,” assures Maud Venturini.
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Get support from a professional development advisor
If you want to train while unemployed, there are several options available to you. You will have to follow a well established procedure. First step: There is a catalog available listing a number of courses, but it is quite possible to request the training course you have identified. To help you see things, you can request an appointment with a professional development advisor (CEP) from Apec or Pôle emploi, two organizations that work together. “In general, Apec refers the executive to Pôle emploi for everything related to the management of their compensation, and Pôle emploi refers the executive to Apec for technical support. Apec’s consultants are better trained and specialized in the needs of executives and job offers that may suit them», notes Maud Venturini. Advisors especially appreciate it when you get several offers.
Second step? Have your training project accurately validated by the CEP. This studies the coherence of your professional project, the needs of the labor market in this sector, your ability to be mobile, as well as your family constraints. CEP also checks that the training organization in question has a Qualiopi certificate. Then the CEP from Apec or Pôle emploi confirms (or not) your training request. Please note that not all requests are accepted systematically. Sophie Michalet, a trainer at the Ministry of Agriculture for six years, for example, Pôle emploi refused funding for vocational training.
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How to finance your training
When it comes to financing your training, there are also several options available. The simplest? Let the Pôle emploi take care of it. Otherwise, contact your reference Opco (skills operator who provides training funding). Sophie Michelet’s Pôle emploi adviser referred her to Opco EP, which agreed to cover her training to the tune of €15,000. “It was very simple. I put together a file, wrote a cover letter and received the contract a few weeks later“, she specifies. Now a salaried executive at her tutoring company, she submitted a new application to her Opco for psychotherapy training. Request accepted.
For now, the organization pays 6,700 euros for the first year. The answer is waiting for the second year. As for Maxime Leprêtre, his courses are partially financed by the job protection plan, in the amount of 1,500 euros, and by his personal training account (CPF). According to Apec, CPF is often sought by unemployed executives (57%). The latter also turn to AIF (individual training aid), a financing system that can be mobilized when no other solution can cover the costs (14% of cases). As for the trainings financed by the regional councils, they represent an eighth of the trainings that the managerial job seekers undergo.
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How to secure your pocket money during training
As well as covering the education costs of your course, you will also need to worry about your jobseeker’s allowance during your education. Each situation is individual, but to simplify, let’s identify two scenarios.
If you received a return to work allowance (ARE) paid by the Pôle emploi before you started your training, you will continue to receive it within the limits of your rights if your training lasts less than forty hours. If it exceeds them, you will receive, in addition to ARE, a return-to-work training allowance. If your unemployment benefits stop during your training, you could potentially receive Training Completion Benefit (RFF).
Condition? Whether your training is registered in the National Directory of Vocational Certificates and whether it is funded or co-funded by the Pôle emploi, regional council, Agefiph (Association for the Management of the Vocational Integration Fund for Persons with Disabilities) or your Opco. If you have not received unemployment benefit, you will be able to use the RFF from Pôle emploi during your training within three years if it is financed or co-financed by Pôle emploi. Not easy, but doable!
Kirsty Voisin, founder of the coaching organization
Maxime Leprêtre, unemployed marketing analyst
Sophie Michalet, management trainer for good treatment
Bertrand Abrial, 53 years old, sales manager moved to carpentry
Volvo’s Ile-de-France sales manager, Bertrand Abrial, burned out in 2019.Driving from Monday to Friday, I no longer saw my children, I could no longer withstand the pressure of my work“, he recalls. He then conducts a skills assessment and immediately negotiates a termination. He chose the path of carpentry, his passion. The Transitions Pro Association agrees to finance his one-year education. During this time, he receives compensation from the Pôle emploi. When he opens his business, Pôle emploi continues to pay him for two years. “I earned 10,000 euros a month, today I receive 2,000. I didn’t advance my career, but I restarted my life, and that’s much more important. I am more than happy.»
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