Meljac, which has been recognised as a “Living Heritage Company” since 2015, is one of France's leading luxury manufacturers of electronic equipment. As a partner of renowned properties such as the Georges V, La Réserve and the Royal Mansour in Morocco, Meljac is also committed to training its future talent, recruiting work-study students since 2018. There are now 10 of them, spread across several departments: sales, production, communication, etc.
 

Journal des Palaces met Florence Bousquet, co-founder of the brand, who spoke about the importance of integrating these students into Meljac's production process. For the company, it is above all a way of training potential future employees, who learn production techniques directly in the field.
 

Erneste Tusamba joined Meljac on two work placements as part of a technical baccalaureate. He chose to continue his BTS and professional degree within the company, with a sandwich course, as a technician on numerically controlled machines and programmer on Mastercam.
 

Erneste was won over by the space given to work-study students in his department: “One of the reasons why I then agreed to do my work-study BTS at Meljac was the autonomy I was given. My tutors and colleagues were really helpful, and I was soon able to machine parts on my own. Whether you're a trainee, a work-study student or a recruit, the integration process and the time devoted to training recruits are the same”.Erneste Tusamba hopes to join the company permanently at the end of his studies to “deepen my knowledge as customer orders come in, and why not train work experience students in my turn!”
 

In the sales department, Alexis Bailleul, a Masters student in international trade, also appreciates the autonomy given to him by his tutors: “Meljac gives me a degree of flexibility in my assignments and more responsibility. For example, I can follow a project from A to Z, with the support of my manager if necessary”. Although he hopes to be able to discover other sectors of international trade at the end of his studies, Alexis also envisages, in the long term, “joining Meljac on a permanent contract and bringing new skills with me”.
 

Jean-Michel Lagarde, Managing Director at Meljac since 2015, who shares and encourages this trust placed in students still in training, would even like to develop it further, as he revealed to Journal des Palaces.

Jean-Michel Lagarde: We recruited our first work-study student in 2018 and, in six years, the number has steadily increased, and our approach has been extended to new departments. So the results are very positive, with nine apprentices already hired on permanent contracts.

We've noticed that young people are genuinely interested in learning about the world of work, and are highly motivated. We invest a lot of time in their training, so they are quickly up and running. What's more, the work-linked training format, which lasts a minimum of one year, means we can discover some real nuggets! I'd add that it's an opportunity to sweep away some criticisms about 'young people' and their attitude to work: at Meljac, they carry out their duties with commitment and curiosity.

Some choose to do an apprenticeship so that they can start their career as early as possible. This is particularly the case in our production department, where expertise is highly specialised and highly valued.

We've set up partnerships with several technical colleges who know that we regularly take on young people in training and give them interesting assignments. It's become a virtuous circle: the school offers us serious, motivated profiles and those who come through during their work-study period at Meljac are almost certain to be taken on.

To promote apprenticeships, one of these schools asked audiovisual students to produce a video featuring the testimonies of three Meljac apprentices. They explained their tasks and the qualities required for the job. We're delighted to have been chosen to illustrate this course!

Meljac currently has 10 work-study students in various departments within the company: machining, engraving, varnishing, sales and communications. They represent 10% of the company's workforce.

Our approach, which began six years ago, is now an integral part of our corporate policy. We want to systematise it across all our surface treatment businesses (polishing, bathing, and varnishing) because it enables us to pass on and perpetuate our know-how. We even plan to extend it to new training profiles such as support functions (HR, finance, etc.).

See the video on Youtube