LVMH celebrates International Youth Day, spotlighting initiatives in favor of equal access to employment for early career professionals
LVMH
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Guided by a commitment to innovation and leadership, the LVMH Group is proactively engaged to facilitate access to employment for early career professionals. LVMH has for many years deployed a host of initiatives around the world to reduce inequalities related to youth employment and promote equal opportunity. Spotlight on emblematic LVMH youth-oriented actions.
The LVMH Group has for many years welcomed talented youth as a pillar for future development and an essential resource in meeting the challenges of tomorrow. LVMH recognizes that these talents will help the Group continue to spearhead innovation and continually anticipate and engage with trends. Numerous projects create paths for students and early career professionals to join LVMH.
Launched in 2016, the Inside LVMH program invites students from partner schools and interns at LVMH Maisons to better understand the vast choice of skills and careers available in the luxury industry thanks to an immersive online experience. Following the first two editions in Europe, the program was rolled out in China in April 2019. LVMH has long nurtured close relations with some of the world’s most prestigious schools, including ESSEC, HEC Paris, Institut Français de la Mode, Polytechnique and CentraleSupelec in France, Central Saint Martins in the UK and Bocconi University in Italy.
These efforts have had a very positive impact since LVMH figures at the top of the 2019 Universum ranking of most attractive employers among students at business and management schools.
LVMH is also actively engaged in promoting youth employment through several major initiatives. Since 2007 the Group has partnered with the association ‘Nos Quartiers ont des Talents’ (Talent from Our Neighborhoods), enabling youth from underserved neighborhoods or low income families who have earned degrees to be sponsored by an LVMH manager. To date some 640 early career professionals have found jobs after working with an LVMH sponsor. This mentoring approach is also in place at Sciences Po Paris, where LVMH recently renewed its support for a “priority education” program that provides scholarships and sponsorship by LVMH managers for talented youth.
For the past ten years LVMH has partnered with the cities of Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil in the Seine-Saint-Denis region just north of Paris to promote inclusion for youth from underserved neighborhoods, thus contributing to social cohesion. The many actions taken by LVMH include “discovery internships” during which 150 junior high school students were able to get a first-hand look at companies from the inside in 2019.
LVMH support for equal access to employment includes support for youth with disabilities. In 2008 the Group co-founded an association called ARPEJEH which helps youth with disabilities their educational goals. LVMH has since 2012 been represented on the board of the association, which brings together over 80 companies that provide vocational training for early career professionals with special needs. Participating companies include LVMH Maisons Berluti, Christian Dior Couture and Louis Vuitton. LVMH employees are actively involved in these programs as well. In 2019, thirty-one of them took part in the Atelier de Découvertes des Métiers, a skills discovery workshop for the greater Paris region which welcomed 384 students, helping them learn more about available opportunities as they choose a vocational path. Twenty-one of them were coached in how to prepare for recruitment interviews during job search workshops.
The LVMH Group has been very active in supporting students in the United States as well, especially since the lockdown. A series of Live Chats was organized to aid youth from underserved neighborhoods in New York and Miami, bringing together high school students and LVMH Group Executives. Some 15 sessions reached over 1,000 students, including workshops with non profits such as United Way of NYC and Honey Shine, which provide support to students whom families have been hit especially hard by the pandemic. These 60-minute online sessions enabled the students to engage directly with senior leaders at LVMH Maisons and discover the diverse array of careers open to them. They help bolster self-confidence, which is especially important in these challenging times.
In addition, LVMH is a partner of NYC Career Week, created to broaden the professional horizons of students at New York public high schools. During a career discovery day the Group welcomed 40 students to the headquarters of Marc Jacobs, where they were welcomed by Sydney Toledano, a member of the LVMH Executive Committee. Virtual tours and online round tables will be set up in August as LVMH continues its engagement over the summer and all year long.