Candidate profiles

Become A Trainee analysed the typical candidate profiles for young talent programmes. Through our research we came to the conclusion that 49% of the participants of a young talent programme graduated in Economic Sciences or Science in Engineering. From the total population of our survey, 10% did not answer when we asked for their graduation degree. The remaining 41% have an MBA/General Management degree (19%), a Marketing degree (8%), a Social Sciences degree (7%) and to a lower extent Law, Psychology, Exact Sciences and a Medical degree.

The ideal candidate for a young talent programme is a university student with one or more master degrees. Most recruiters look for a mix of analytical and leadership competences. The most popular profiles are masters in science in engineering and masters in Economic Sciences. When you do not have these qualifications, you might consider the opportunity to acquire a master in general management or business administration from an accredited Business School.

An exception must be made for UK young talent programmes. Due to a different recruiting culture, UK based companies tend to hire graduates with a bachelor degree. Most high potentials that start a master programme have a working experience of 1 to 3 years.

One third of the participants of a young talent programme are women whereas two third are men. In general both man and woman agree that a young talent programme has an added value for their career.

However, women are slightly less satisfied when following a young talent programme compared to men. The mean reason for a lower satisfaction from the female population is the lack of a good view on the content, timing and expectations of projects before they start. On the contrary, in the survey results men tend to agree to have a good view on the project's content, timing and expectations in advance. Overall, Become A Trainee concludes that gender does not make a difference with regard to the profile of a young talent programme candidate. If you want to have a jump start as a high potential in a company, these programmes are an important asset.

A general trend is to go for more and more diversity in management. Become A Trainee expects a gradual shift to more female trainees in the coming years. Our next research will focus on the HR managers, Talent managers and Young Talent programme managers. We will analyse amongst others which profiles will be the most popular from the employer's standpoint now and in the near future. Register here if you want to know more on our next research and results or if you want to receive our newsletter.