Personal branding and curiosity, “all means are good to stand out” and land the dream internship

by time news

It’s time to look for an end-of-year internship, you have at least thought about your CV and cover letter. This is the classic way to try to land an internship, but others are just as valid. We asked a few questions to Kamel Medjabra, employer brand manager at Decathlon. With 3,000 trainees per year (and 103,000 employees worldwide), he knows a little about recruitment and to help research students, he has reviewed all the stages, from the essential network to the way of see the internship as a trial period.

How do you expect to get an interview?

You have to stand out and work on your personal branding: have a good LinkedIn profile but also posts, publications and commitments. You have to have the ability to stand out: we receive a lot of applications, so go directly to LinkedIn to find your contacts! With a little intelligence, you can find the architecture of the email address quite easily, and send an application directly to avoid the classic flow and go through a circuitous route. It can show a form of malice and curiosity.

Also, be smart, because all means are good to stand out. You can even add the recruiter on LinkedIn. Finally, don’t hesitate to meet people: digital is good, but so is physical! It’s important to be connected, but more than an application, what matters are the points of contact and connection. Recruiters try to be more and more accessible, and for example I have recruited some people through a physical meeting. The exchange was interesting, that’s what made it possible to go further.

Do you also recommend using your network or creating it?

Yes, because there is a saying: we have 5 contacts to activate to be in contact with Obama or Macron! It’s the simplicity of the network and nothing is insurmountable or unattainable. We can reach the right people through our network. But also, this network must be developed and nurtured: no one can say that they are unlucky, because we all know someone who knows someone who knows someone who works in the business from our hearts!

Even knowing someone, trainees rarely have a thousand experiences to show…

No, but the most important thing is to show proof by example. We are not looking for training or experience, but what the trainees know how to do, because everyone has qualities. Apart from professional experience or training, we can enhance our social and environmental commitment, in an association, useful to people or to the planet, as part of our studies or not at all.

It allows you to have a chance of getting an internship… how do you select the interns?

Above all, we value personality! We read the CV from the bottom, first the hobbies, because that’s what allows us to integrate into Decathlon and have fun. And we work with more than 300 schools in France, because for us talent is everywhere. We are not advocating an elitist or level policy. The trainees are young, they have no experience. We make them capitalize on their soft skills.

Once you are in training, what is the right attitude to have?

It’s a way to validate a trial period, so have good behavior, good knowledge or skills. It’s rare for an internship to turn into a job, but you have to have the ability to quickly create your desirability internally with other sectors and other professions. The challenge is not only to succeed in your internship, but to succeed in making yourself known and in the spotlight to have other opportunities.

An intern may have requirements in terms of monitoring his internship, or on a daily basis in the company. What can we ask?

The contract is three-party, so you have to know if the follow-up is good and make regular points with the tutor. It’s a global experience. Also as a tutor, one can set weekly points to ensure that he has all the resources to train. For example, an alternate with us is Friday at school, every Monday morning, we do a synchronization point from 10 to 11 am with the priorities and the elements that she could have missed with her absence. If these points do not exist, they must be provoked! And create them with the student or the school: it’s a common experience, and as a recruiter, you have to learn to work better with the schools and vice versa.

We must make sure that between the beginning and the end of the adventure, we will have allowed him to grow! With young people, we debrief regularly, because it is our role in society: if we want to recruit someone to accelerate the value of the company, we take a permanent contract. We must not forget that the students are there to learn, including labor codes!

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