Why pursue postgraduate studies

Postgraduate studies are increasingly essential for improving the professional integration of young graduates. Until recently, a managerial position in a company was accessible with a four-year degree; increasingly, some companies reserve these positions for those with a five-year degree.

Postgraduate studies must be carefully chosen: you must ensure consistency in your academic path and between your professional goals and the choice of postgraduate program.

Before choosing your postgraduate program, you need to prepare your professional project and plan your academic path. It is essential to ask yourself the right questions to understand your real needs and motivations.

What are my current skills?

It is useful to take stock of the skills acquired during your academic career and through pre-professional (internships) and professional experiences.

Conduct your reflection along the following lines:

• What do I know? (your knowledge)
• What can I do? (your skills)
• Do I have managerial skills? (ability to manage others)
• How do I interact with my colleagues and contacts? (soft skills)

This reflection will allow you to better understand yourself, to synthesize your past in order to better understand your professional future.

Try to identify your achievements, what you have already accomplished, what you know how to do, what you hate doing, your successes, your areas of expertise, your failures, and your limitations. This step requires real reflection on yourself and your past. If you find it difficult to draw up this assessment, think about writing down some of your accomplishments or the responsibilities that have been entrusted to you and then identify those that seem most important.

What is the professional goal I have set for myself? (Goals and Motivations)

You want to direct your professional career towards a specific field, you want to improve, perfect one of your skills, you want to develop new skills… Define your goals and desires to develop your action plan. Project yourself into the future and try to identify what is important to you (workplace; work environment; working alone or in a team; your personal life compared to your professional life…). Ask yourself in which sector you want to work? Is the economic situation favorable to this sector? What is the ideal position you aspire to? Be careful with the wildest dreams, be realistic nonetheless without neglecting your ambition! Do not hesitate to meet professionals who can tell you about their jobs.

Thus, if there is a mismatch between your current skills and your professional goal, you may need to bridge this gap with postgraduate studies.

Students who are still hesitant about their future have other alternatives. It can be just as enriching to complete a long-term internship to become familiar with the entrepreneurial world and better define your professional goals, or to go abroad for a while to improve your level of proficiency in a foreign language and open yourself to new cultures. This type of experience will allow you to refine your motivations and ensure the foundations of your professional project. Sometimes, it is useful to take the necessary time for reflection before jumping headfirst into a professional path.

If you decide to pursue postgraduate studies, it is important to choose wisely. Seek information from professionals, from advisors at your university or school, from advisors at the Information and Guidance Centers (C.I.O), from National Resource Centers, from ONISEP and, of course, by attending the various trade shows and forums offered each year.

Source: Profil Culture