HR Development & Internal Communication Manager at HAROPA PORT
What is your best memory?
My best memory is when I applied to the Student Office list, it was really great and it brings a lot of things: building a project from A to Z, working in a team, taking responsibility, finding sponsors, etc. It is a rich and complete experience. Our list was called "ToutEros", in the effigy of the god of love, and had a little pig as a mascot. For the covered street day we had a pig running around the school! Good memories :)
What did EM Normandie bring you?
It gave me a great opening with a complete education. It was the human resources courses that motivated my choice of career.
Today you are in charge of human resources development and internal communication at HAROPA PORT. How did you get to this position?
I did a 10-month internship at the autonomous port of Le Havre, which is now called HAROPA PORT. I graduated and signed my contract with the port at the same time. I wanted to delve into the field of HR but at the time the school did not have a master's degree in this sector. That's why I did a course in psychology in parallel with my job. For 6 years I was on a study/work contract to get a degree in psychology. In 2011, I took full responsibility for the development of human resources and in 2012 I was also in charge of internal communication.
What are your tasks?
I work on human resources development, in other words the implementation of forward-looking skills management. To do this, I work with all the departments to help them improve their performance. I also deal with internal and external recruitment. We have a very ambitious training plan of 40,000 hours. I also support our employees in their projects and career changes. At the same time, I sit on the Transport and Services OPCA as a representative of our employer branch.
As for internal communication, this involves organising events for our employees, taking care of the in-house TV news and the quarterly magazine, drawing up newsletters, etc. Of course, I don't do all this on my own; I have a team of 12 people with me.
What qualities do you need for your job?
For the HR part, we need to have specific knowledge of the business and the organisation in order to give advice that is adapted to the social context in which we work. The interest and difficulty of the job is to constantly navigate between the general interests of the company and the specific interests of the different entities.
For the internal communication part, you need to have a detailed knowledge of the social body in order to be able to give good advice to the general management on the messages to be passed on and on the way to do it, in order to achieve the set objective.
What professional experience has marked you the most?
Working in a public institution, although not a civil servant, politics is extremely important to us. There are strong interventions by the State, especially when it decides to reform the ports. For example, the reform of 2008, which is just coming to an end in 2016, had a big impact on me. 200 people who worked for our company left to work elsewhere. These changes have important corollaries: what to do with the functions associated with these operating functions, how to refocus employees on other functions knowing that their initial mission no longer exists. This affected people who had always worked in the port and whose reconversion was not easy to support.
What does the Network mean to you?
When I was a student, the Network was very active but lacked closeness to the students. Today, it has become powerful and is a great opportunity with over 14,000 members on board. It allows us to promote the school, the degree we obtain and the students. It is a real added value.
The Network must be alive and the students must make it grow alongside the graduates!
How would you like to contribute?
I sit on the Board of Directors of the association and work more specifically on the EquiLibre Network.
The EquiLibre Network, launched by the school's Alumni Network, is a think tank and influence circle designed to promote female talent, encourage gender diversity in companies, break the "glass ceiling" and make everyone aware that we all have something to gain by working together.
We are currently working with young female graduates and students so that they stop putting up barriers and dare to assert themselves!
Do you have any advice for students who want to follow the same path?
The most important thing is to do what you want to do and to choose your job and the type of organisation in which you want to do it.
The parable of the stonecutter is very interesting to understand. I don't feel like I'm cutting stones but rather building a cathedral by working for the first port in France, which is a driving force in the regional and national economy. My work and the company in which I have decided to invest myself drive me and have meaning for me.
The other advice I would give is to open up the field of possibilities as much as possible and to diversify your experiences. For my part, beyond my salaried activity, this desire led to the creation with my husband of the company Miloé. Its objective is to market top-of-the-range delicatessen products (caviar, salmon, exceptional dishes, champagnes, etc.) at affordable prices to individuals and professionals.
