Companies & recruitment difficulties: what if your raison d'être replaced your employer brand?

Against a backdrop of talent shortages, young graduates have never been so sought after, across all sectors, functions, sizes and types of organisation (Enquête insertion de la CGE 2023). This unprecedented situation, which is set to last until 2030 given the demographics, is reinforced by a profound change in the career aspirations of young graduates and their relationship to work.

All sectors have major recruitment needs (Bulletin de la Banque de France n°245) and sometimes a shortage of applicants in terms of volume and diversity. At the same time, young people's career ambitions are taking on more varied forms: civic engagement and entrepreneurship are now just as important as a traditional career.

The career goals of young graduates have changed. Driven by a stronger quest for meaning and fulfilment, they want to develop professionally, but also personally, and make a useful contribution to society ("NewGen NewJob, les nouvelles ambitions professionnelles des jeunes diplômés" - EDHEC NewGen Talent Centre, 2022).

Deconstructing preconceptions: the case of the audit profession

Many companies feel powerless, even though they have a great deal to offer young people, with missions and no doubt representations that need to be deconstructed.

The auditing profession never leaves anyone indifferent and triggers strong - and often fantasised - opinions, even among those who have never worked in it. Pressure, boredom, social irrelevance, salary: the audit profession remains poorly known, despite the sector's considerable investment in employer branding ("Mythes et réalités des métiers de l'audit" - EDHEC NewGen Talent Centre, 2023).

The firms report major recruitment difficulties, despite the fact that 93% of young employees recommend the sector as a first experience and 75% see it as a career accelerator.

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