Export : The new French scheme of international company voluntary service (VIE) is a good way for young people to further their commercial training abroad. Carlos Varela, working in Dublin for a Bordeaux wine merchant, is one such example.
A training course abroad is, for most young people with commercial qualifications, the main objective. The aim? To master a foreign language (usually English), have first-hand experience of the world market and be in a position to meet potential future employers.
The wine sector, with its international market (a third of French wine production is sold for export), is attracting more and more candidates.
To such an extent that the Bordeaux interprofessional wine board has launched a scheme involving financial subsidies to promote recruting of VIE's (international company service voluntiers). This is a first in France : encouraging wine companies to strengthen their representation on a planetary level.
It has to be said that Bordeaux wine exports were down - 1,5% in volume in early 2008.
The VIE - international company voluntary service - is a scheme enabling a qualified 18 - 28 year old to carry out a market study for a company abroad for a duration of 6 - 24 months with a view to developing the company's exports.
"These voluntiers are our wine ambassadors and provide important back up for our importers' sales departments. Carlos Varela is our fifth VIE in Ireland, an important market purchasing around 600,000 bottles per year," explains Nicolas Gailly, director of Barton & Guestier, well-known wine merchants in Blanquefort near Bordeaux. "The advantage for the VIE is to be part of a company team. The advantage for the company is also financial."
Barton & Guestier are planning similar operations in Canada and Singapore.
Around 25,000 euros per year : Ubifrance, the French agency for company development on an international level, handles the administrative and legal aspects of VIE contracts for companies. This is because the public status of a VIE means that the company which takes a VIE on board is exempt from social security contributions in France.
Salary is calculated, based on a reference scale fixed by Ubifrance, depending on the employer's annual turnover and the job location.
The average annual revenue of a young expat is between 21,000 and 26,000 euros. In the USA (where the majority of French VIE are employed, followed by China and Germany), the salary can exceeed 30,000 euros. The wine company pays the wages but the Bordeaux wine interprofessional board reimburses half the total.
"Bordeaux is a vast vineyard, the organisation of which is difficult to understand : the notion of "château" is less easy to sell than that of a brand. The VIEs can explain and promote these differences," argues Georges Haushalter, who is in charge of the VIE scheme for the Bordeaux wine board.
Collaboration : Carlos Varela, a 25 year-old Franco-Columbian who grew up in Grenoble, has been working with the importers Gilbeys in Dublin since November 2007.
"Most of the time, I'm in the field : restaurants, wholesalers, hotels...to sell and promote the various ranges of wines from Barton & Guestier," says Carlos. "I organise tastings and different public relations operations with marketing back up," explains Carlos, who has previous work experience in China.
He has his work cut out in Ireland this year as, for the first time in 20 years, wine sales are stagnating. The cause being the universal financial and real estate crises. " Less purchase power and new, more restrictive legislation on the sale of alcoholic drinks has not helped", adds Carlos.
The verdict so far on the VIE scheme?
"It's more like a proper job in export than a training course." It is also a good job opportunity : in 70% of cases, the VIE is offered a job by the company at the end of the course.....
César Compadre
doc@sudouest.com
S.O. 30/09/08
Translated by Maxine Colas.