Job hunters 'have to change career'
A Pôle Emploi survey has found that 37% of people looking for work in France have to change career paths
MORE than a third of job hunters in France switch careers in order to improve their prospects, a Pôle Emploi study has found.
Of the 37% of jobseekers who change career paths to find employment, most do so only out of necessity. According to the report, 58% cited the need for money and a lack of opportunities in their preferred sector as the main reasons for entering a different profession.
Women, in particular, are “more likely than men to explain ‘job mobility’ in terms of personal constraints or the urgent need to find work.”
Those under the age of 25 are more likely to change intended career paths in order to find work because, the study says, they are “less qualified, less experienced and / or less ‘settled’ in the professional field they have chosen”.
The study also found that those who have been out of work for more than two years can encounter “considerable difficulties finding a job, let alone one in their field.”
A change of career is often the only option, the report said.
It also noted marked regional differences, with people living in Ile-de-France less likely to have to change careers than those living elsewhere in the country as there are “more numerous and more varied employment opportunities”.
The report is based on two surveys of 13,000 and 30,000 registered job hunters whose career prospects were followed over a 12-month period.
