They witness :
- Pierre Girault, president of France Qualité, a network that brings together 1,950 quality players
- Philippe Belot, industrial quality transformation manager at Michelin
- David Gbedemah, educational manager at ESQESE Paris
- Armand Castel, work-study in professional retraining at MMG
Quality creates executive jobs
There quality approach is experiencing a real take-off, which directly benefits executive profiles. +28% job offers published between 2021 and 2022, according to Apec. On Cadremploi, nearly 400 job offers in the quality sector are published each month by companies and public actors.
” Now that the majority of companies have undertaken transformation projects, they need to rely on methodologies that are mastered by quality professionals », explains Pierre Girault, president of the association France Qualité, which brings together nearly 2,000 members. The weight of regulatory and normative requirements combined with the globalization of the quality approach mean that executives specializing in quality therefore have good cards to play.
What is new compared to the post-Covid period is companies are stopping outsourcing their quality function. Today, they preferred to recruit teams internally.
Pierre Girault, president of the France Qualité association
Around 12,000 offers were published in 2022 in order to fill quality management positions.
More than a third concerned the post of Quality Manager and more than a quarter of that quality engineer. Two executive profiles that are still in the crosshairs of recruiters today, just like that of continuous improvement manager. For several years, the QHSSE manager (Quality, health, safety, security, environment are also among the most prominent profiles. Responsible for dealing with the (many) changes in standards in the health and pharmaceutical sectors, regulatory affairs managers are also at the heart of company recruitments in 2023.
At Michelin, two other profiles stand out. ” Our recruitments focus on two engineering executive positions: process technician And industrialization technician », illustrates Philippe Belot, responsible for the transformation of industrial quality at Michelin
Increasingly strategic positions
Before, quality professionals were seen as troublemakers. Today, they are the guardians of the simplification of the company and participate in its performance.
Philippe Belot, industrial quality transformation manager at Michelin.
Result: the quality functions and general management are finally working hand in hand. The lack of support from management, which was cited in 2008 as the main obstacle to the quality approach, has dropped to 5th place in 2022, according to the Barometer of the performance of organizations by France Qualité and its partners. In addition, 47% of companies say that their management takes part in the orientation of the quality approach. Proof that this trend is already at work: ” More and more quality experts sit on the Codir »confirms Pierre Girault.
Skills recruiters crave
For the past three years, the scope of intervention of quality professionals has been expanding more and more.
David Gbedemah
To the areas traditionally covered (processes, certifications, tools, methods, etc.) are now added the risk management in order, in particular, identify points of failure within the company says David Gbedemah, head of education at ESQESE Paris. An openness that allows executives to address topics such as hygiene, environment, health, occupational safety, cybersecurity…
Logically, the range of skills sought in managers is changing. ” The latter are no longer solely in compliance, in writing procedures. Companies also expect them to master financial analysisTHE management control and accounting in order to participate in the overall performance of the company “, he illustrates.
CSR, THE skill to be valued in 2023
Quality managers with a strong appetite for CSR topics have an interesting card to play in 2023.
A quality manager with a strong sensitivity for CSR subjects is hired within the hour.
Pierre Girault, President of France Quality
Even if they have to perform part of this function, quality managers must ” develop new skills on the very social aspects, which contribute to CSR: quality of life at work, well-being, civic engagement… says the Organizational Performance Barometer. ” A good CSR approach based on the pillar of quality, safety and the environment, managers must now know how to carry out a carbon assessment, formalize a CSR policy, carry out an action plan for the life cycle of a product, identify less polluting raw materials… “, illustrates Philippe Belot.
Cross-functional soft skills
” The quality function having an increasingly holistic vision, it requires skills related to interpersonal skills », explains Pierre Girault. Now that he deals with different interlocutors (field operators, logisticians, HR experts, financiers…), “ the quality manager must have a solid transversal approach “, illustrates David Gbedemah. The spirit of initiative must, moreover, be a second nature. ” We forge in our students their entrepreneurial skills so that they are able to create solutions themselves that will respond to the anomalies or risks they have identified. “, he adds.
There problems solving, a subject on which companies have enormous expectations, is thus a key skill. “ It’s hard to learn at school, and that’s why profiles who have completed their studies on a work-study basis are favored by companies. “says Philippe Belot.
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Quality and CSR: a binomial or a duplication?
On paper, the quality and CSR departments of companies have common missions. Are they enemies for all that? ” They are not in competition within companies “, However, assures Pierre Girault. Depending on the organization, the two departments are integrated or separated. ” In the first case, quality managers are called “health, safety and environment managers” and take into account the CSR dimension in their position. In the second, the two services are split, often for historical and cultural reasons, and they work hand in hand. “, he summarizes.
For Philippe Belot, however, it is not excluded that these two directions will come closer together in the future. ” 5 years ago, quality was detached from internal audit. Since then, the two professions have been merged. Everything is therefore possible between quality and CSR “, he believes.
Testimonial from a convert: “My experience and my maturity were decisive in my hiring”
Armand Castel
After having been a research technician in the pharmaceutical sector, Armand Castel is now piloting a quality approach in a small business with 9 employees. An increasingly representative trajectory in the quality sector, which opens up to reconverted profiles.
“I worked for 16 years in a multinational in the pharmaceutical sector, as a research technician. When in 2020, the research division was abolished, I left the company with the intention of moving towards the quality sector.
Thanks to the validation of acquired experience (VAE), I was able to integrate the Master 1 of the IEQT of Vichy, at the age of 40. I did this 2-year training on a work-study basis, first in a laboratory and then at Magaud Mécanique Générale, a VSE that produces parts for the aeronautics industry. My mission was to support the company in obtaining the cISO 9001 certification in quality management in order to secure its contracts with its client. The challenge was therefore daunting! This certification was obtained in 5 months and the rest of my apprenticeship was dedicated to the deployment of a quality approach. MMG finally recruited me on a permanent contract to pursue this mission.
The fact of having known, in the past, another professional life pleased my employer : my experience and my maturity were strong points. What I appreciate in this reconversion is also to have changed the scale of the company. Today, I have a closeness to the field. Rather than doing documentary reviews on quality, I do progress the teams through awareness. My approach is therefore more pragmatic. »
June 15, 2023: 5th edition of French Quality Day, the meeting place for professionals in the quality sector
Location: ESQESE Paris 6th
- 3 round tables – “CSR versus Sobriety”, “The human being at the heart of the system”, “Transformation, keystone of sustainability”
- Nearly 30 speakers, including Jean Castex, Quality/QSE directors (BOUYGUES Group, MICHELIN Group, THALES, FUNECAP Group, etc.), and winners of the Quality Awards and the France Quality Leader Trophy;
- 9 National Quality Awards given to actors whose approaches, best practices and work have been deemed remarkable.