The energy transition is continuing in France, and with it, the race to recruit to electrify the country is accelerating. Enedis, a subsidiary of the EDF group, has announced that it is preparing to hire 2,900 people in 2023, 10% more than in 2022, initially mainly to connect renewable energies to the network.
Hiring under permanent contracts and work-study programs
According to Nicolas Marchand, director of human resources at Enedis, the group plans to recruit 1,600 people this year on permanent contracts and 1,300 work-study students, from vocational baccalaureates to engineers, including BTS (“energy professions”). The total number of employees should thus increase by about a thousand by the end of 2023, “not far from 39,000”, taking into account natural departures within the group, he calculates.
A growth in activity
The group currently employs 38,000 people, the “men in blue” who maintain the power lines of 37 million customers in France, a total of 1.4 million kilometers of lines. “We are growing the business and we are going to recruit harder than we did in previous years,” Marchand told AFP.
The development of renewable energies, solar or wind, “is 90% on the distribution network”, explains the manager: “When you install photovoltaic panels, they must be connected to the network. That’s Enedis’ job, to manage the electricity injections, the electrons sent to the network, so that they can then be redistributed. A large part of Enedis’ business development is also focused on the “electrification of uses”, such as the connection of charging stations for electric vehicles.
A communication campaign to promote the professions
Enedis has set up a campaign on social networks to inform about its needs in the 12 regional basins. The group suffers from an image deficit among young people, a problem common to the industry in general. Enedis also plans to collaborate with the French education system to promote its professions as early as the fifth grade.
