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 Going
from the obscurity of shipbuilding to a larger endeavour: that was the
turnaround effected during the last few years through DCNS Group's recruitment
strategy involving a new brand image, new communication areas, and student-centred
actions reflecting the company's values. Quatre Vents has supported DCNS for
three years, deploying and running this innovative HR marketing strategy. Sophie
Normand is the Deputy HR Director for the naval defence group. Here she revisits
its successful change of direction, step by step.What issues does DCNS' recruitment policy currently have to address? Our main recruitment issue today is our increasingly young workforce. Our challenge is to attract and gain the loyalty of recent graduates in technical business lines. New engineers rarely turn towards our business lines. Yet, these business lines require a stable dedication to the job: it takes about ten years for naval architects to perfect their craft. That pace doesn't always agree with the young generation that "zaps" very quickly from job to job. In addition, several of our sites are not located in major cities, and because of the Group's international activities, employees are not likely to head for New York, London or Tokyo, but rather Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or Malaysia! What approaches did you choose with Quatre Vents to boost your recruitment strategy?  There
are many advantages to a career at DCNS. We have a wide range of business lines,
from architecture to management to marketing to embedded systems. We also have a
powerful attraction, which is the passion that unites the Group's employees and
leaves an imprint on their careers and minds. Obviously, the sea accounts for a
great deal of that attraction, just as space is for the aerospace industry. DCNS'
shift from being a public to a private company, followed by its recent
cooperation with Thalès, also opened new possibilities for human resource
management. The two major Groups formed ties. In an industry governed by
confidentiality and defence secrets, DCNS was venturing into greater openness
and mobility. You could say it was taking the sea as its model. We developed our
employer image through a revisited communication strategy focusing on the sea
and the values it transmits: passion and commitment. The strategy's main feature
has been the Trophée Poséidon DCNS. Since 2005 thousands of students have
participated in this quiz.What are your HR marketing priorities for the months to come? The student actions we perform with the support of Quatre Vents also involve staff. For example, the Trophée Poséidon is an intervarsity competition that puts students in touch with employees. That is the dimension that we want to expand. We want to encourage this culture of openness in Group employees. That was the purpose of our most recently launched programme: Filières du Talent. This work placement aimed to make our Group's strength, know-how transfer, appeal to younger audiences. 
And that is exactly what it did. Once again, preparation started within before
moving outside the company. Skills transfer was one of the company's strengths,
just as cadets are trained in seamanship by a more experienced sailor. This
centuries-long tradition was firmly anchored in our corporate culture until our
last schools for naval workers closed about fifteen years ago. This was harmful
for the company, since it deprived us of an effective sourcing measure in the
labour pools where we operate. There are two aspects to the Filières du Talent
programme. First, DCNS employees transfer their skills to young apprentices for
prepare them for life in the company and to help them find work. Second,
employees transmit their passion for the sea to young skippers to prepare them
for a race on the high seas. Through the programme, 1,000 students will have
short work placements at the Group. The most eager of those will then follow an
on-the-job training programme at DCNS, under the mentorship of Group employees.
We wanted our employees to get truly involved, and not just stay on the
sidelines. This type of action helps bring DCNS' public image in line with its
in-house reality.
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