The GEIQs: when employers take action to promote integration

The GEIQs: a network of associations in constant development

Established over 30 years ago, the GEIQs, a network of associations in constant development, now comprise 208 branches and 378 locations.

While ‘the level of activity within Geiqs is increasing, quality is also improving, with extremely high qualification success rates and an equally significant employment rate across all sectors’.

A significant presence where the economy is hiring

Occitanie is home to 24 GEIQs and 37 branches across a wide range of sectors (construction, industry, transport & logistics, viticulture, home care, hospitality, digital, green spaces, etc.) and across 11 of the region’s 13 departments (Ariège, Aude, Aveyron, Gard, Haute-Garonne, Hérault, Lozère, Pyrénées-Orientales, Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne).  By developing ‘close partnerships with businesses, training organisations and local authorities’, the Geiq also collaborates with ‘government departments such as the DREETS Occitanie, France Travail, the Occitanie Region and other employment and integration partners’.

Work-study schemes: a powerful tool

Ideal for learning a trade, gaining professional skills or retraining, work-study schemes are a flagship tool of the network. The Geiqs use this tool as a genuine lever for professional development and ‘social performance’, focusing above all ‘on potential rather than CVs, matching the skills of candidates available in their region with the structural recruitment needs of their member employers’.

The GEIQs do not simply ‘search for profiles: they build them. By running these non-profit associations themselves, business leaders take back control of their HR strategy. They turn work-study schemes into a precision tool, capable of transforming individual motivation into solid, certified professional expertise”.

In Occitanie, as in other regions of France, the model has proved a resounding success: “By removing social barriers and providing tailored educational support, the Geiqs of Occitanie are now achieving exemplary results: a 91% pass rate in exams and nearly 80% of graduates moving into employment.’

The GEIQ model

Work-study contracts (professional training contracts or apprenticeship contracts lasting from 6 to 24 months) are structured around ‘training pathways tailored to the needs of member companies and the profiles of available candidates who are motivated to join a sector of activity’.

Working ‘in close collaboration with industry sectors and OPCOs (skills operators for local businesses—including crafts, local services, community services and the liberal professions), the Geiqs are also subject to an annual quality audit based on 14 stringent criteria in order to obtain and retain the Geiq designation, which guarantees the quality of their work’.

Work-study students at the end of their training period are set to ‘secure long-term positions within member companies or associations’. In Occitanie alone, where companies operate in sectors such as Agriculture, Personal Care, Construction, Green Spaces, Outdoor Accommodation, Industry, Logistics, Multi-sector, Cleaning, Transport, Digital and Sport/Leisure/Entertainment, the figures speak for themselves: In 2024, the Geiq Occitanie network comprised more than 650 employers participating in the scheme, employing nearly 1,400 staff, 97% of whom were from priority groups on work-study programmes (89% under professional training contracts, 10% under apprenticeship contracts and 1% under non-work-study contracts).

GEIQs, a driving force for educational innovation

To develop training programmes that are closely aligned with employers’ needs and employees’ profiles, GEIQs pool the requirements of their member companies, thereby harnessing the strength of the collective. GEIQs can then call upon ‘various training organisations experimenting with new teaching methods (AFEST (Work-based Training), experimental contracts, modular training programmes, etc.) and adapt work-study schedules to the realities of the professions’.

To tap into new talent pools, GEIQs also strive to broaden traditional recruitment channels by engaging with other professional partners – ‘traditional recruitment channels, such as local community organisations, sports clubs, etc.’ – and to carry out initiatives to ‘promote the professions and sectors of activity of their member employers’.

In-company mentoring and support from Geiq

‘In-company mentoring, aimed at passing on professional know-how and skills’, supports and promotes the role of companies within the network. This mentoring is largely supported by ‘support from the Geiq, which offers professional guidance (mediation between work-study students, companies and training organisations, educational monitoring, support for skills development, funding for additional initiatives such as FLE (French as a Foreign Language) for foreign employees, etc.)’.

Many thanks to Cécile Fuentes, Delegate to the Occitanie Regional GEIQ Committee, for her collaboration with UzEssentiel and the documentation provided.

The right address (and for further information): GEIQ Occitanie, Contact. Where to find a GEIQ, GEIQs in Occitanie. The GEIQ testimonials playlist: Testimonials from GEIQ work-study students. To find out how to obtain the GEIQ label, created in 2005. Find GEIQ Occitanie on Instagram.

Did you know? GEIQ also publishes a magazine called ‘La plus belle façon d’embaucher’ (The best way to recruit).