The “Manoeuvre your next generation” program was launched in Geneva. Resulting from a public-private partnership, the project of Réalise and the General Hospice aims to train candidates with little or no qualifications in structural work.
February 2022, twelve candidates embark on the pilot project of “Manoeuvre your successor”. On this first batch, two thirds passed the initiation to site work. 50% of them are migrants with a work permit.
In this program, each candidate follows four months of initiation to structural work, then continues with an improvement in a partner company. No diploma or previous experience is required during the recruitment process. “The key element is desire,” confides Jérôme Despont, member of Réalise’s management.
Social at the heart of the project
The limited number of candidates will not solve the labor shortage in the construction sector. But the business side is satisfied with the pilot project. Above all, it is the social dimension that takes precedence. This is what Jean-Baptiste Brun, director of Belloni SA, says: “It’s more of a social value than a real recruitment of labour.”
For the next few months, the objective is first of all to sustain the project. Then, the model could be extended to other economic sectors.