FAQ
Internship, Apprenticeship, International Volunteer Placement
- What types of internship can I do with an elementary certificate of competence, a technical school certificate or a vocational secondary school leaving certificate?
In our lines of work in building, public works and civil engineering, you can find out about the activity and organisation of a construction site through a “site worker” internship. You will be part of a team of site workers and form setters and monitored by an experienced tutor. If you are interested in mechanical technology and engineering, we also provide some “site worker” internship in workshops. Depending on your aptitudes, you can move into tracing or land surveying.
In our electrical trades, you can find out about installing utilities and industrial and tertiary sector maintenance.
- Do you provide apprenticeship contracts?
Apprenticeship is well established in Bouygues Construction. In 1997, we founded the CFA Gustave Eiffel apprentice training centre which trains people in traditional building and civil engineering trades. Since then, apprenticeship has developed greatly, and is included in higher education training. In 2005, we decided to develop apprenticeship further by signing the Apprenticeship Charter. We are committed to increasing the number of apprentices by 20%. We advise you to submit an application of your own accord. We will direct it as well as possible, according to the frequency and duration of your apprenticeship.
- Do you provide International Volunteer Placements?
Yes, every year, we propose 50 to 60 International Volunteer Placements. The destinations change according to the projects that we develop abroad. These International Volunteer Placements can be carried out in different lines of work, such as works supervision, finance management, studies and design, methods, or purchasing. In Bouygues Construction, International Volunteer Placements are reserved for qualified young people, and they cannot be carried out during studies.
- Do you recruit your former trainees?
Yes, a trainee internship is definitely the best way to obtain a first job. In recruiting new staff, we give priority to our former trainees, who represent two-thirds of qualified young people who are recruited. As Human Resources Managers, we do all we can to find jobs for trainees who have proven their abilities. Firstly, we check the possibilities of employment in the same environment and the same entity as the internship, and then look in the other entities of the Bouygues Group. Trainees themselves can express the desire to change to different but related lines of work in the company, in which case their applications are supported and forwarded to the entity concerned. If trainees wish to continue studying, we usually keep in contact with a view to offering them a job at the end of their course.
Jobs, Lines of work, Training
- Is Bouygues Construction currently recruiting new people?
Yes, we are hiring new people in all the company’s lines of work, within all of our operational entities. In 2008, we will hire 7,000 new employees, of which 4,500 will be in France, including 1,500 engineers and executive staff. We particularly need people in technical fields (60% of recruitments are in construction work, and 15 to 20% of new executives are hired for our design departments). The building, public works and civil engineering sector is very buoyant and, in the next few years, we will need to renew a lot of our staff. We are recruiting qualified young people, from the elementary certificate of competence to postgraduate level, but also more experienced candidates who have already worked in building, public works and civil engineering.
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What can I do with a Higher Technician’s Diploma or a Bachelor’s Degree?
It all depends on your field of specialisation. We mainly recruit candidates who have a Higher Technician’s Diploma or a Bachelor’s Degree in the following fields:
– civil engineering and quantity surveying, for jobs in construction work, cost estimation, and technical studies/design;
– management, for jobs as managers in functional support or on construction sites.
Find out about our lines of work.
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What qualifications are needed to work as a construction equipment driver/operator or a crane driver?
No professional diploma or qualification is required to work as a construction equipment driver/operator. A construction equipment driver/operator must have a certificate of aptitude for safe driving (the CACES certificate in France). A specific certificate of aptitude is required for driving each type of mobile construction equipment (compactor, hydraulic digger, grader, scraper, etc.) There are 8 different CACES certificates in France. The CACES certificate only certifies the candidate’s knowledge and know-how for safely driving and operating such equipment. It is issued by certified test organisations, and it must be renewed every 5 or 10 years.
To work as a crane driver, you must obtain the crane driver’s vocational training certificate, but note that a crane driver’s skill is acquired through experience.
There are also technical school courses in driving and operating civil engineering and construction machinery and equipment, which provide training for these jobs.
See videos of first-hand accounts.
- Are you looking for manual workers?
Yes, we are always looking for manual workers for all our lines of work: building, public works and civil engineering, and electrical contracting. In Bouygues Construction, manual workers are called “site workers”. This term refers to the values of “compagnonnage” (the journeyman trade tradition): the taste for a job well done, handing on know-how, and teamwork. It shows the company’s desire to recognize the merits of this line of work.
Find out about our lines of work.
- Do you train manual workers?
At the annual assessment interview, together with the site manager, the employee identifies the training courses that will enable him to perfect his work, to find out about a new job, or to move into a different area of work. These training courses are provided in-house or externally. They concern reading drawings, first aid at work, safety, placing reinforcement bars, the quality concrete casting, driving/operating civil engineering and construction machinery and equipment, etc. Some courses lead to qualifications and are recognized in the profession.
- Do you recruit architects?
Occasionally, we recruit experienced architects (minimum 3 years of necessary experiment) for our design departments or to provide support for our property development staff. The role of these architects is to check architectural schemes proposed by external contributors and to lead assignments for improving them. On some medium-scale projects, they may take charge of and direct in-house architectural design work.
- Where is it preferable to start: in the design department or in construction work?
Some experience of construction work is important for an operational career. However, there is no “standard” career path. Get into a job or a project that motivates you. We will be able to recognize your skills and assess your commitment and performance.
See videos of first-hand accounts.
- Do you recruit project managers?
Yes, at Bouygues Construction, we work in project teams at all levels. By its very nature, our work in building and civil engineering is project-based. We have project managers for studies, design, methods, construction work, etc. However, they are not called project managers, but design engineers, methods engineers or works engineers.
- I want to do commercial/sales work, etc.
We mainly recruit commercial/sales staff, both beginners and experienced, who have had initial technical training (engineering degree, university bachelor’s degree or a Master degree in science). This initial technical training is an asset for starting work or for changing one’s line of work. A very wide range of jobs are available in contract management, commercial/sales or development. In some of our entities, it is recommended that initial experience in construction work, methods or cost estimation be acquired before switching to commercial/sales work and coming into direct contact with the client. Young business school graduates can aim at property development.
Find out about our lines of work.
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What are the opportunities in finance?
Finance is a very wide field. At Bouygues Construction, finance staff are involved in providing support for our business activities (financial control and cash flow management) and in project development (finance engineering). Nowadays, we become involved in projects at increasingly early stages, and our added value is on both a technical level and a financial level. For many years, we have been working in infrastructure concessions and, recently, we entered the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) market in the United Kingdom and in France. A PPP contract can entail a 20-year business plan with a contract for several billion euros. Bouygues Construction is looking for talented financiers.
Find out about our lines of work.
- What is financial control in Bouygues Construction?
Bouygues Construction recruits and trains young graduates in financial control, particularly for projects. The financial controller is the key partner of the person in charge of a project or an operational entity. He/she contributes to ensuring the reliability of financial information and to anticipating and controlling risks. The financial controller also has the task of optimising management in order to contribute to the constant improvement of the company’s performance. He/she also is also responsible for contractual management of relations with third parties (clients, suppliers, subcontractors, etc.).
At Bouygues Construction, the financial controller is highly operational. He/she is a responsive, on-the-ground person, and is actively involved with construction work teams in the construction of a structure. A young financial controller is in charge of one to five or six projects. His/her career path leads to taking responsibility for larger projects, both in France and abroad, and to becoming involved on the management side. Find out about our lines of work.
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Can I move to a different job?
Yes, there are bridges for moving between the different operational lines of work: construction work, methods, design department, cost estimation, commercial/sales works, etc. It is possible to move to a different job within operational or support teams.
- I have work experience, but never worked in building and civil engineering, so would you be interested in someone like me?
We advise you to send your application to our in-house recruitment unit: Job Search.
The Company, Business activities
- What does Bouygues Construction do about environmental issues?
We are committed to protect the environment in the exercise of our activities.
First of all, for the design of buildings or other constructions, we provide advice on the choice of techniques and materials to be used, based on the application of a life cycle analysis. We organise research projects on sustainable construction (on subjects such as energy efficiency of buildings, overall cost, environmental integration of construction works, etc.), and develop high environmental quality construction works when we are their designers.
Then, in carrying out construction work, we do everything possible to reduce and recycle the waste produced by our work, to control and limit energy use, and to save natural resources. We are also committed to developing consultation and feedback with local residents to limit the nuisance caused by construction sites.
- What does Bouygues Construction do about safety?
Construction is inherently risky. There are many risk factors that must be identified and controlled, such as the simultaneous work of numerous people, the sequencing of tasks within a limited time and space, and the movement of large machines and equipment. We are committed to providing physical protection for our personnel and for external contractors, etc., through a proactive safety policy. Safety is a state of mind, and we award “safety trophies” every year. The results obtained are encouraging. In addition, by applying an ergonomic approach, we involve all our personnel in more comprehensive thinking on working conditions. By observing people at work, we can better identify risk situations (which can cause work accidents and occupational illnesses or diseases) and improve the design of machines and operational methods.
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What are the working conditions?
- Our personnel works in good conditions with:
- recent, high-performance equipment;
- personal safety equipment (shoes/boots, helmet, etc.);
- a parka and 3 sets of working clothes that are supplied and washed every week;
- site huts with changing rooms, canteens, showers, etc.).
- Our personnel works in good conditions with:
- What does “building” mean?
The term “building” covers all types of premises required for human activities: detached homes and collective apartments; private facilities (that is, a facility built for a private legal entity, e.g., the head offices of a company, etc.) or public facilities (that is, a facility built for a public client, such as a local government authority or a public administration body, e.g., a hospital, museum, secondary school, etc.); and structures or facilities for the tertiary sector or for industry.
See our areas of expertise.
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What does “public works” mean?
The term “public works” is often associated with the terms “civil engineering” and ”(civil) engineering structures”. It applies to road, rail, river, port and airport infrastructures. It also covers the construction of structures that are directly related to these infrastructures, such as bridges, wharves, etc. Some definitions:
– bridge: a civil engineering structure that enables people, cars, trains, canals and technical facilities to pass over a drop in ground level or over an obstacle (such as a watercourse, sea inlet, railway, or road). In a bridge, the deck carries the circulation/traffic surface (such as a roadway, railway, etc.), the abutments support the ends of the deck, and the piers support the deck between the abutments. A span is the space between two bearing points.
– viaduct: a very high and/or long bridge.
– cable-stayed bridge: a bridge whose deck is supported by cable-stays that are attached to towers. The cable-stays are inclined or straight, and may be arranged in parallel with each other (harp cable-staying) or may arranged radially from the tower heads (fan cable-staying).
– suspension bridge: a bridge suspended by two large load-bearing cables that are anchored to either end of the structure.
– tunnel: an underground structure that allows passage of a circulation/traffic route or the transportation of fluids.
See our areas of expertise.
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What does “earthworks” mean?
See our areas of expertise.
- What is prestressing?
Prestressing is a technique that improves the mechanical properties of concrete by adding a high-performance steel cable that is incorporated in the construction and then tensioned. For the same loading, prestressing opens up new perspectives beyond the usual applications of reinforced concrete for construction works such as tunnels, barges, water reservoirs or bridges. Construction works designed in this way carry large loads, they are stiffer and lighter, and require less concrete and steel. Cables can be tensioned before concreting a beam (prestressing), or afterwards (post-tensioning).
See our areas of expertise.
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Is there a risk that your business activities will be relocated?
Due to the very nature of our construction works, there is very little risk that building and civil engineering activities will be relocated in the future. However, as a protection against this potential risk, we can offer a long-term career within the Bouygues Group.
- What are public – private partnerships?
After first appearing in the United Kingdom in the form of Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs), “public-private partnerships” (PPPs) provide an alternative to the traditional mechanisms for commissioning projects by public bodies. Partners from the private sector construct and maintain buildings and/or infrastructures, which are made available to the public sector in return for a fixed rental/lease payment. In a context of high public debt, the PPP relieves the public finances of local government bodies, etc., by spreading the cost over time through a rental/lease payment.
In France, the flourishing development of public-private partnerships has resulted in a whole series of legal arrangements with various names: partnership contracts, bail emphytéotique administratif (BEA) [administrative long-term lease conferring a right in rem], location avec option d’achat (LOA) [renting/leasing with option to buy], autorisation d’occupation temporaire (AOT) [authorisation for temporary occupation], etc. These expressions refer to all long-term contracts whereby, in return for a rental/lease payment, a private company is appointed to design or construct a building, structure or infrastructure, and/or to manage services. The principles are quite similar to those of concessions, but PPPs do not involve an income risk because the rental/lease payments are fixed in advance and do not depend on the frequency of use of the building, structure or infrastructure.
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What is an invitation to bid?
Issuing an invitation to bid (also called invitation to tender, or call to bid) consists in placing potential external service providers (or contractors) in competition with each other for obtaining a contract. The invitation to bid defines the requirements of the organisation or company that issues it, as well as the precise features and characteristics to be complied with by a bid or proposal. There are different types of invitation to bid:
– selective (or restricted) invitation to bid (open to competitive bidding, but bids may only be submitted by a limited number of preselected potential contractors);
– open invitation to bid (open to competitive bidding without prior selection after publication in the press).
It also specifies the supporting documents that must be presented by the applicant contractors and the selection criteria applicable to the received bids. The contractor which is the best bidder or the lowest bidder may be chosen:
– the “lowest bidding” contractor is that which proposes to carry out the project for the lowest price.
– the “best bidding” contractor is that which proposes to carry out the project in accordance with the highest technical, financial and possibly administrative criteria.
- What is “facility management”?
Facility management (FM) can be defined as the outsourcing of services [i.e., having services provided by an external source]. This covers services concerning organisation or people (or “soft FM”) such as safety, reception and telephone switchboard services, removals and transfers of offices, reprographics, mail service, archiving and filing records, catering, cleaning and maintenance of gardens, greenery, etc. It also covers services concerning space and infrastructure (or “hard FM”) such as maintenance of heating, ventilation and air conditioning, power, lighting and communications electrical installations, telecommunications and telecommunications and radio networks, safety systems, etc. Facility management is destined to develop with the rapid growth of public-private partnerships.
Practical Information - Recruitment
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I don’t have a CV. How can I apply for a job at Bouygues Construction?
Where do you live? Have you noticed a construction site operated by Bouygues Construction or one of its subsidiaries near you? If so, ask to speak to the site manager. He will interview you or put you in touch with his HR manager.
- How can I use the forum to send my CV to all the HR managers?
Any application sent to our HR department or a Bouygues Construction manager via the forum will be kept on file in our candidates’ database for six months. This means it can be consulted by any Group manager who is seeking to recruit.
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I have not found a vacancy that interests me, what should I do?
If you do not find an offer that matches your current search criteria, whether for an internship, apprenticeship or job, you can send us an unsolicited application.
As well as sending an unsolicited application, you can create a “Job Alert” corresponding to your search criteria. You will then receive any new job offers that match your criteria, in real time.
- What happens when I send an unsolicited application?
When you send an unsolicited application it will be forwarded within 24 hours to all Bouygues Construction group managers seeking to recruit.
You will automatically receive confirmation that we have received your application. We will examine your application carefully, taking into account your training and qualifications, professional experience and reasons for wishing to join us. We will then decide whether we wish to take your application further. If we do not select your application, it will nevertheless remain on file and be available for consultation by other Group managers for a period of six months.
You can also use the Candidates’ Corner to file your CVs and letters of application.
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Do you reply to every application?
We try to reply to all applications whenever possible. When you submit your application you will systematically receive an e-mail confirming that we have received your application.
If you respond to a displayed offer, your application will be sent to the relevant manager who will carefully examine your application and reply within three weeks.
If you submit an unsolicited application, we will try to answer within three weeks. We also keep all applications in our data base for six months, where they may be consulted by all Group managers seeking to recruit. This means you may be contacted at any time during the six-month period.
- What is Job Search?
If you already have some professional experience, Job Search is for you.
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Is the personal data I store in the Candidates’ Corner protected?
When you register with the Candidates’ Corner on the Bouygues Construction website you enter the same details you will be asked to provide whenever you submit an application. The Candidates’ Corner means you will save time as you will only have to provide this information once. Data is confidential and will not be disclosed to any third parties. You are the only person who can access it.
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Can I delete my Candidates’ Corner data?
If you no longer wish to use the Candidates’ Corner and wish to delete your personal data, you should send a request by e-mail to: actionsecoles@bouygues-construction.com. Access will be cancelled and data will be deleted within 48 hours, and you will be notified by e-mail.
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How do I cancel a Job Alert?
- I would like my application to be removed from your database. Is this possible?
If you would like to remove your application and all your personal data, please send a request by e-mail or letter sent to the following address:
Bouygues Construction
Direction Centrale des Ressources Humaines
Challenger
1 avenue Eugène Freyssinet, Guyancourt
78061 Saint Quentin en Yvelines cedex - France
The information will be deleted within 48 hours and you will be notified by e-mail or post.
- I have lost my log-in details for Candidates’ Corner, what should I do?
Send an e-mail to the following address: actionsecoles@bouygues-construction.com; we will send you your log-in details within 48 hours.
We advise you to send your application to our in-house recruitment unit: Job Search
FAQ
10 reasons to join us 
You are an educational establishment
The Minorange Guild workers 