“I made airplane parts, armament parts, parts that went into space. Ideas on paper are given shape. It’s the real pleasure of the job. Medhy Addad, professional trainer, is passionate about welding. An originality when you know that his profession struggles to arouse vocations. It is even one of the most stressed French professions, according to employment center. Nearly 7,000 welding positions are currently unfilled in companies, particularly in aeronautics, shipbuilding, renewable energies. The fault is a lack of image and, above all, a “misunderstanding of what a welder really is”.
It is to counter these handicaps and “highlight a profession essential to our industry”, that Medhy Addad co-founded in 2021 the French welding championship. The regional selections for the second edition of this competition open to all have just begun. In Vertou, in the Nantes suburbs, around forty candidates participated on Friday to the tests before a jury of professionals. The best rated among them will join the national final on May 26 in Vierzon, with the public.
“You have to be meticulous, rigorous, calm”
“There is still this idea that someone who is not good at school will go into welding. But the job of welder requires a lot of knowledge. The missions are very varied, you have to adapt to complex environments, sometimes with a lot of challenges,” explains the co-organizer. “A good welder must have patience, dexterity, good eyesight too,” says Adade Ekue, 16 years of experience. “You have to be meticulous, rigorous, calm”, confirms Gurvan Cadiou, best apprentice in France in 2022, after presenting a locomotive requiring complex welding. Aged 21, this Nantes native fell into welding “a bit by chance” after a reorientation in Bac pro. He does not regret. “I have a permanent contract with EDF, I do a lot of traveling, on interesting sites requiring specific qualifications”, he appreciates. His beginner’s salary is a little higher than the minimum wage, “not including bonuses”.
“No one in my family knew what the job was about. I get asked a lot of questions all of a sudden, ”smiles the young man. “France has massively deindustrialized since the 1970s and that has left its mark. It is rare for a teenager to say at 14 that he wants to be a welder. The parents do not push in this direction”, observes Marjorie Hazeveld, responsible for the “welding plan” in the industrial direction ofEDF.
“We do not derogate with security”
Like Mehdy and Adade, Gurvan is well aware that the profession also has a bad reputation: dangerous, dirty, painful… “These are false preconceived ideas, affirms Mehdy Addad. The industry has changed a lot. When I started, it is true that we were sometimes exposed. But today, there are a lot of devices to protect employees. “” We do not derogate with safety, it is the priority, insists Adade Ekue. But it’s true that it’s a sometimes thankless job, which requires being in good shape. To weld certain parts, we have to twist ourselves in funny positions. “When we work on a production line, we do the same welding all day. It’s repetitive,” adds Gurvan Cadiou. “Anyway, if the working conditions are bad, the employee will look elsewhere. He is spoiled for choice given the needs,” Mehdy Addad points out.
The shortage is such that companies are forced to be attractive to attract candidates. Even if it means engaging in a certain “one-upmanship” on salary or benefits. “It’s very easy to find a permanent contract or to change companies by working as a temporary worker. We are in a strong position. Me, for example, I like to choose according to the proposed missions”, adds Adade Ekue. Same chance of success for the youngest. “Whoever did not find an employer at the end of his training, it is really that he did not seek”, assures the co-organizer of the French championship.
Recruitment needs should not weaken in the coming years. At EDF, a thousand positions will, for example, be sought by 2030 in the nuclear field alone.