Home>Continuous Learning: A Springboard for Career Change
09.09.2025
Continuous Learning: A Springboard for Career Change
With a view to embarking on a career change, many professionals turn to the programmes run by Sciences Po Executive Education. They provide a means to acquire new skills, strengthen professional networks and offer a broader perspective on chosen career paths. Feedback on the benefits of these programmes from two alumni whose participation in long courses affirmed their desire for change.
Programmes for Career Change and Renewal
A job change? This is the career goal of 31% of executives, according to an APEC (French executive employment and career development association) study published in December 2022. The desire for a career change is therefore a goal shared by many French employees. But many of these individuals find it difficult to identify the drivers that could make this happen. Through its array of programmes, Sciences Po Executive Education offers a tailored means for such professionals seeking career development to realise their goal. Each year, several participants benefit from their time spent at the institution, giving them the impetus they need to transition into new fields.
This is the case, for example, of Audrey Dugal who, after 15 years spent in managerial positions within a large French energy group, was looking for a career boost. Her attendance of the Territorial Governance and Urban Development Executive Masters in 2021-2022 “came at just the right time”, she explains. “It offered a new perspective, helping me to challenge my chosen career path and ultimately confirm the career change direction I wanted to follow”. This is how the programmes foster participants’ consideration of the meaning behind the work they do, drawing in particular on the social sciences field, which allows them to refine their career goals.
Sharpened Knowledge for Tackling New Career Paths
Aiming to prepare participants for their career change, Sciences Po Executive Education programmes give them the knowledge that will serve them in their future field of work. With an interest in the principles of local and regional governance, Audrey Dugal explains that the programme she followed provided her with the means to “consolidate the technical knowledge [she needed], specifically on the topics of public finances, public procurement, as well as the skills required by the various public sector organisations and the principle of subsidiarity”. She maintains that this input was “highly beneficial during [her] career change”, seeing her appointed to the position of deputy managing director of the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area six months after her thesis defence.
Frédérique San Marco-Sion also benefited from her time invested at Sciences Po Executive Education to expand her field of knowledge”. After working for 23 years within a large automobile group, she was looking to start a new chapter in her career. “I had an interest in HR”, she explains. “I’d already worked in this field at my company, but I had learned a great deal on the job, and my skills were limited to a specific business sector. That’s where my desire for the Human Resource Executive Masters came in, and, consequently, my aim to gain greater expertise in the subject and, by extension, to legitimise it”.
Skills that she was able to put into practice quickly: Frédérique San Marco-Sion assumed - in 2024, and even before completing her own course, the K-WAY France PME - the position of human resources director. The lessons given specifically provided her with tools she could use in the field (analysis grids on varied topics, including social relations, employee integration and corporate culture, among others). Resources she intends to draw for many years to come: “I’m currently building a long-term HR strategy”, she explains. “Certain challenges such as a working hours policy will be developed gradually, and it’s highly reassuring to know that I now have the tools I need to handle them when the time comes”.
A Strengthened Network to Catalyse Career Growth
Programmes followed at Sciences Po Executive Education also allow class members to share their knowledge and experience. “I’ve worked with very different types of people”, explains Audrey Dugal. “I studied alongside many, from urban planners to architects, officials and executives of large corporations. Such profile diversity was a highly enriching experience”. Frédérique San Marco-Sion was also able to draw on these encounters to boost her knowledge. “Some participants had significant HR experience, and were able to give me advice once I’d taken up the position”, she claims. “The inputs were very varied, including suggestions on good disciplinary management and recommendations for effective service providers.”
In this way, the participants embarking on new career paths could build their network over the long term. “Discussions with class members continued after the programme ended”, stated Audrey Dugal. This was also the case with the teaching body. “For example, I sought advice from certain teachers when the opportunity to take over as managing director of a mixed economy company, Bordeaux Métropole Energies, arose a few months ago.” Apart from those you work with on the programme, candidates also join the Sciences Po network. “Alumni offer conferences and events... clearly another benefit of this career journey”, notes Audrey Dugal.
Reaching Out to Executive Education Alumni
Have any questions about the Sciences Po Executive Education programme offering? “Feel free to contact the institution”, says Audrey Dugal. “I attended the open days and had discussions with the director of the Masters programme I wanted to join. I also had discussions with former programme participants”. This gave her more information on the outlines of the long courses and its effective organisation. “I also learned that the institution favoured an open approach to applicant selection, favouring the diversity of profiles within classes”, she continues. “This gave me the assurance that the programme was aligned with my profile, and I applied”.
