Louise Sallé // Credits: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP 9:29 a.m., March 27, 2024

From Monday, 500,000 general and technological secondary school students must find a two-week internship to be completed at the end of June. Young interns will have to complete their company stints at the same time. Unfortunately for them, companies receive a lot of requests compared to available places. 

More than 500,000 general and technological secondary school students must find a two-week internship to complete at the end of June. Unlike the 3rd year internship, high school students must all complete it at the same time. Will there be enough places in companies to accommodate them all?

The measure was announced late, last September, for entry into force this year. When he was Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal had promised no less than 200,000 internship offers available, but the government platform "1 young person 1 solution", which has been listing internship offers since Monday, only includes a few. thousands. The closer the date gets, the more the high school students panic. 

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“Most have a lot of requests and not enough space”

Charlotte, a second year high school student in Paris, only has three months left to find an internship. She multiplies the requests, but for the moment only receives refusals. “I have difficulty finding one because all the places I contacted do not take interns,” she regrets. “And most have a lot of demands and not enough space.” 

The use of “pistons” 

“I sent lots of cover letters, around fifteen I think,” explains Victor. “I got five responses, only refusals,” he continues. “I ended up having to get help from my parents, via their contacts,” laments the high school student. “I found an internship at the town hall... It’s not what I would have chosen, but hey, there are worse things.” Rémi, who precisely wants to avoid parental pressure, consulted the offers on the government platform on the day it opened, Monday. “I went there quite early in the day, and there weren’t many, only around fifteen,” reports Rémi. “But right after that, there were a lot more.” 

On this site, the proposals are quite unevenly distributed across the country: around a hundred in Paris compared to three in Saint-Etienne, for example, were posted this Tuesday. It is in any case very far from the 200,000 offers promised by Gabriel Attal. Furthermore, for this internship, no oral or report is required from the student at the end of the two weeks of observation. Some companies are therefore afraid of providing daycare.