The V.I.E. (International Intern in a Company) carries out his/her assignment in a French company operating overseas.
Interns can work in a variety domains e.g. sales, technology or science.
Definition
The V.I.E. (international intern in a company) carries out his/her assignment in a French company operating overseas.
Interns can work in a variety of domains e.g. sales, technology or science.
Applicants can find assignments by consulting offers on: www.civiweb.com
Company interns are managed by Business France, which takes cares of any formalities and manages the V.I.E.
On November 30th 2015, 8, 953 V.I.E. interns found assignments in 1, 877 companies.
REMEMBER
If you decide to become a V.I.E., it is up to you to find an assignment; you can also consult offers on corporate websites. Assignments are between 6 and 24 months renewable up to a limit of 24 months. The current average length of a V.I.E. assignment is 18 months.
A few figures:
The leading assignment countries (data from September 2015)
Countries (changes vs. July. 2015) NB V.I.E
1. USA 999
2. Belgium 967
3. Germany 856
4. UK 725
5. China and Hong Kong 597
6. Canada 321
7. Singapore 255
8. Italy 208
9. Spain 208
10. Brazil 198
- First and foremost, companies are looking for skills (mainly in technical and sales domains). In certain cases, dual qualifications (engineer + 3rd cycle) are sought-after.
The most requested areas of expertise are in:
Management control, Accounting, Finance
International Trade, Sales
Mechanics, Civil Engineering, Chemistry
Electronics, IT, Telecommunications
- 7 % of assignments are for people who have completed their baccalaureat and have two years or more of higher education notably in: Public works logistics, IT, plastics, catering, etc.
For applicants: How did they find their assignment?
- 30% of company internships are found via offers posted on the CIVI website,
- 25% following unsolicited applications,
- 24% following an internship,
- 6% via the Internet (corporate websites),
- 5% via a recruitment forum,
- 5% thanks to a personal network,
- 3% via links between schools and companies and 2% via a job.
How long did it take them to find an assignment?
- 8% found their assignment in less than a month,
- 36% between 1 and 3 months,
- 6% between 4 and 5 months,
- 16% in 6 months,
- 9% between 6 and 9 months,
- 6% between 10 and 11 months,
- 9% in 1 year,
- and 4% in over 1 year.
Companies are not limited as to the number of interns they can recruit. A company that has never previously participated in this programme can take part by writing to Business France in order to obtain accreditation.
Companies are free to renew - or not - the assignment.
Certain areas (notably HR, law and languages) are less sought after as these posistions can be filled locally.
If you are interested in one of these domains, don’t despair just make sure you prepare your arguments carefully to convince the recruiter of the relevancy of your application.
In addition to the company’s benefits from participating in the programme, insist on the new challenges that export countries are facing or will have to face i.e. the increasing internationalisation of exchanges, combating counterfeit products, industrial property, managing expatriated staff, translating contacts, business relations requiring a good knowledge of the country and its languages, etc.
If you are able to present a strong project and demonstrate that your profile perfectly fits with the project, you will have a greater chance of being successful. Don’t hesitate to ‘think out of the box’ e.g. by approaching small- and medium-sized companies in your region, which may not receive many applications of this sort.