2023 will be a “ record year for Thales, the group announced. At least on the recruitment front: 12,000 positions are to be filled worldwide, including 5,500 in France. Among these 12,000 positions, a third, or 4,000, are creations, underlined the group’s human resources director, Clément de Villepin. Hirings are broken down into all the group’s business sectors, including the aeronautics sector, whose activity had been damaged during the health crisis due to Covid-19.
« Our activities – defense and security, aeronautics and space, identity and digital security, including cybersecurity – are all growing, which explains our significant recruitment needs, especially for young talents. “, underlined for his part the CEO of Thales, Patrice Caine, in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche.
Hiring in all territories in France
France, the main country of establishment of the tricolor group, concentrates nearly half of the planned recruitments (5,500) and distributed throughout the territory. The movement is similar in the major areas where Thales is established: 3,350 recruitments in the rest of Europe (including 1,050 in the United Kingdom), 730 in Asia, mainly in Singapore, 730 in North America, more than 600 in Australia and 550 in India, where the group has an aeronautics design office and engineering activities dedicated to digital security.
« This growth dynamic has existed for many years, since 2015 we recruit at least 5,000 people per year “, Observed Clément de Villepin in front of some journalists. In 2022, 11,500 people were hired, 32% of whom were women, bringing the workforce to 77,000 employees (not counting the 4,500 in its Land Transport division being sold).
The group had not laid off during the pandemic, in particular having switched to other activities of employees working in the aeronautics sector.
Actively sought technical and support profiles
More than 40% of planned hires relate to research and development activities (artificial intelligence, cyber, algorithms, systems engineers, etc.), i.e. 5,500 people, including 2,200 in France. It is ” the sap of what makes the development of Thales “, according to the company.
Support functions also represent 40% of recruitment, with the remaining 20% being industrial production and logistics activities. Like all companies in the sector, Thales says it faces recruitment difficulties but has so far achieved its objectives. ” There are significantly more open positions than young graduates leaving school “, he argued.
In a press release, Thales also says it wants to recruit nearly 4,000 apprentices and trainees in 2023, in addition to the 5,500 hires planned in France. ” For these young students, it is a real springboard to employment: each year, in France, around 40% of interns and work-study students are recruited on fixed-term or permanent contracts in engineering. “argues the group.