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Career planning and professional development are important for two reasons: we all want to find fulfilment in our work, while at the same time improving our future employability.

This is true at all stages in our working lives, from choosing a career and starting our first job to proving our abilities, taking on new responsibilities, gaining recognition and building on our experience and maturity to move into new areas.

Thales social policy is based on the principle that we are all personally responsible for our own professional lives. THALES attaches great importance to the expectations of its employees.

But we do more than just listening to our staff - we are actively committed to the professional development of our people and to providing a positive learning environment. We always have been. This commitment led to the founding of the Thales Université in 1988. Today, with the Group's broader international dimension and the new business models that are required, career structures are changing, and this affects all of us. Finding out more about the Group's job families, how they are changing and how people can move between them is vitally important - both for putting together a career plan, and for turning that plan into reality. Professional Development Discussions with management, Career Reviews, Thales Université training courses and the Job Marketplace the tools of Thales social policy designed to support this process.
Moving between job families is important and is always one of the hallmarks of a successful career. However, the formalisation of each of these job families, while entirely necessary, can limit mobility and even lead to a form of protectionism that hampers career development and teamwork. This approach is a first step towards breaking down these barriers and promoting diversity. Being mobile does not mean moving around senselessly or without direction.

Building a successful career depends on maintaining and developing a specialisation and a set of skills as guarantees of future employability. This is why continuous professional training is so important. And this training is now available right up until normal retirement age, as Thales, like many other groups, is ceasing to offer early retirement schemes.
Careers today are longer and more demanding than ever before. In return, Thales is totally committed to the professional development of its people.

Yves Barou
Senior Vice-President, Human Resources