The Return of Humanities Graduates to Business
5 September 2014
Read by 3081 persons
Are humanities graduates doomed to become teachers or civil servants? Not at all, according to Jeanne Bordeau, linguist and founder of the Institute for the Quality of Expression, a consulting firm specializing in written and oral language. To strengthen their digital reputation, businesses need writing professionals.
Capital.fr: According to the latest study by the Center for Studies and Research on Qualifications (Céreq), available on the subject summarizing the professional integration of graduates in Literature and Human Sciences in 2007, only 81% had a job three years after the end of their studies, many in precarious contracts and in positions below their qualifications. Is this trend reversing?
Jeanne Bordeau: Yes, that's what I'm seeing with all my clients, because digital technology has broadened the use of writing. On social networks, in advertising brochures, in sales pitches... discourse now needs to be organized. Many companies are creating real internal editorial teams, often called "newsrooms," for example at La Poste. They are made up of writers who know how to write well and find the right words, editorial secretaries who are experts in spelling and grammar, and video experts for joint production of image and text. All writing is drafted, reviewed, corrected, and verified. Increasingly, linguists are being added, capable of studying customer conversations, analyzing the words used to transform them into marketable data. With digital technology, language has become a strategic resource.
Capital.fr: Do you have any concrete examples of companies that value writing?
Jeanne Bordeau: Some large groups are launching internal writing schools, for example at Renault, Randstad, Crédit Agricole. At SNCF, we created an online language school, and in a large bank, an editorial studio. Prada has installed a conversation theater in New York modeled on literary salons. Vuitton has set up a writing salon and published a collection of short stories entitled "La Malle." Each Monoprix package is the subject of linguistic creation. The Institute for the Quality of Expression filed "the Semantic Charter" with the INPI in 2004, and now many are implementing semantic charters to define coherent communication within the group.
Capital.fr: Are higher education institutions creating specific training programs?
Jeanne Bordeau: The University of Bordeaux has created a training program "understanding transmedia storytelling," the Sorbonne has a communication and media institute specializing in semiotics, and CELSA trains its students in the proper use of writing. The University of Reims has created the "multilingual information management" program. The Faculty of Poitiers has inaugurated a web editorial master's degree. At Paris V, I teach in a Master's degree dedicated to Language Sciences entitled "expertise in semiotics and communication."
Capital.fr: What profiles are most sought after?
Jeanne Bordeau: Graduates in literature (especially in LEA), philosophy, and human sciences. They have a solid general culture, real synthesis and analysis skills, but above all a human sensitivity and creativity that may be lacking in more scientific minds. Large groups like Allianz have understood this and are starting to recruit Normaliens. Others (editor's note: AXA, HSBC, Coca-Cola Enterprises, L'Oréal, Leroy Merlin, Danone, La BRED, Helpline, the French Navy, PwC, Leroy Merlin, and Vinci) participate every year in Operation Phoenix, since its creation in 2007. The principle: 180 young students in LSHS (editor's note: Literature, Human and Social Sciences) are hired as executives with permanent contracts. They simultaneously follow a professional master's degree "Business Professions" at the Sorbonne (Paris 4). This program allows them to familiarize themselves with the business world, which is still too often distant from these university courses. This mastery of the workings of the company is all the more important as they are competing with graduates from HEC or other grandes écoles, who also know how to handle written and oral language very well. These are the ones who will know how to unite and climb the hierarchy faster. You need to have a quick wit, be able to write well-crafted emails very quickly... All positions and hierarchical levels are concerned by this evolution. You have to be concise, clear, and fast!
Capital.fr: Isn't this enthusiasm for French expert profiles surprising, given that English is invading all professions?
Jeanne Bordeau: Globbish English does not allow for subtleties; good French is essential. Above all, the public reacts better when you give them emotions, including in writing, which is not given to everyone. Top management is finally becoming aware of the impact of written language; digital technology has greatly helped with this, we write constantly. Today, companies write continuously: institutional writing, brand writing, digital writing, creative content, conversations on social networks, customer relationship writing... It has become essential to establish an editorial line to avoid a cacophony of messages. The reign of humanities graduates has begun!
Sandrine Chauvin
Capital.fr
Posted online September 5, 2014.
Capital.fr: According to the latest study by the Center for Studies and Research on Qualifications (Céreq), available on the subject summarizing the professional integration of graduates in Literature and Human Sciences in 2007, only 81% had a job three years after the end of their studies, many in precarious contracts and in positions below their qualifications. Is this trend reversing?
Jeanne Bordeau: Yes, that's what I'm seeing with all my clients, because digital technology has broadened the use of writing. On social networks, in advertising brochures, in sales pitches... discourse now needs to be organized. Many companies are creating real internal editorial teams, often called "newsrooms," for example at La Poste. They are made up of writers who know how to write well and find the right words, editorial secretaries who are experts in spelling and grammar, and video experts for joint production of image and text. All writing is drafted, reviewed, corrected, and verified. Increasingly, linguists are being added, capable of studying customer conversations, analyzing the words used to transform them into marketable data. With digital technology, language has become a strategic resource.
Capital.fr: Do you have any concrete examples of companies that value writing?
Jeanne Bordeau: Some large groups are launching internal writing schools, for example at Renault, Randstad, Crédit Agricole. At SNCF, we created an online language school, and in a large bank, an editorial studio. Prada has installed a conversation theater in New York modeled on literary salons. Vuitton has set up a writing salon and published a collection of short stories entitled "La Malle." Each Monoprix package is the subject of linguistic creation. The Institute for the Quality of Expression filed "the Semantic Charter" with the INPI in 2004, and now many are implementing semantic charters to define coherent communication within the group.
Capital.fr: Are higher education institutions creating specific training programs?
Jeanne Bordeau: The University of Bordeaux has created a training program "understanding transmedia storytelling," the Sorbonne has a communication and media institute specializing in semiotics, and CELSA trains its students in the proper use of writing. The University of Reims has created the "multilingual information management" program. The Faculty of Poitiers has inaugurated a web editorial master's degree. At Paris V, I teach in a Master's degree dedicated to Language Sciences entitled "expertise in semiotics and communication."
Capital.fr: What profiles are most sought after?
Jeanne Bordeau: Graduates in literature (especially in LEA), philosophy, and human sciences. They have a solid general culture, real synthesis and analysis skills, but above all a human sensitivity and creativity that may be lacking in more scientific minds. Large groups like Allianz have understood this and are starting to recruit Normaliens. Others (editor's note: AXA, HSBC, Coca-Cola Enterprises, L'Oréal, Leroy Merlin, Danone, La BRED, Helpline, the French Navy, PwC, Leroy Merlin, and Vinci) participate every year in Operation Phoenix, since its creation in 2007. The principle: 180 young students in LSHS (editor's note: Literature, Human and Social Sciences) are hired as executives with permanent contracts. They simultaneously follow a professional master's degree "Business Professions" at the Sorbonne (Paris 4). This program allows them to familiarize themselves with the business world, which is still too often distant from these university courses. This mastery of the workings of the company is all the more important as they are competing with graduates from HEC or other grandes écoles, who also know how to handle written and oral language very well. These are the ones who will know how to unite and climb the hierarchy faster. You need to have a quick wit, be able to write well-crafted emails very quickly... All positions and hierarchical levels are concerned by this evolution. You have to be concise, clear, and fast!
Capital.fr: Isn't this enthusiasm for French expert profiles surprising, given that English is invading all professions?
Jeanne Bordeau: Globbish English does not allow for subtleties; good French is essential. Above all, the public reacts better when you give them emotions, including in writing, which is not given to everyone. Top management is finally becoming aware of the impact of written language; digital technology has greatly helped with this, we write constantly. Today, companies write continuously: institutional writing, brand writing, digital writing, creative content, conversations on social networks, customer relationship writing... It has become essential to establish an editorial line to avoid a cacophony of messages. The reign of humanities graduates has begun!
Sandrine Chauvin
Capital.fr
Posted online September 5, 2014.
