"We use PfPI and DAT™ Next Generation to ensure the reliability of our recruitment process and to guarantee a common foundation for professional development for all employees in the company."
Jérémy Bouleux,
Recruitment, Integration, and Employer Brand Manager, Human Resources Department, Caisse d’Epargne Normandie.
Jérémy Bouleux is the Recruitment, Integration, and Employer Brand Manager in the Human Resources Department of Caisse d’Epargne Normandie (Groupe BPCE). He shares his experience using the PfPI a personality inventory and the DAT™ Next Generation an intellectual aptitude test in the internal and external recruitment of future collaborators.
Having graduated with a master’s degree in psychology (specializing in psychopathology and clinical psychology), I initially worked for three years in social and vocational integration before joining the Adecco Group as a Recruitment Consultant, eventually becoming the Recruitment Project Manager for Groupe Renault. It was during this time that I was trained and certified in the use of psychometric tools (PfPI and DAT™ Next Generation) from Pearson TalentLens (formerly ECPA).
I later took on roles as a cross-functional manager and team director at Adecco Onsite. In 2018, I joined Caisse d’Epargne Normandie as an HR Development Officer focusing on careers and recruitment, progressing to my current role as Recruitment, Integration, and Employer Brand Manager. I lead a team of seven HR Development Officers specializing in recruitment and integration. Our scope encompasses all employees of Caisse d’Epargne Normandie (including interns, apprentices, fixed-term and permanent staff, and temporary workers) until they complete their probationary period in permanent positions.
An Apprenticeship Training Centre (CFA) to prepare its future employees for permanent positions
A Cooperative, Supportive, and Engaged Bank entirely based in Normandy, Caisse d’Epargne Normandie (CEN) is part of the BPCE Group, the second largest banking group in France, with 1700 employees. To promote the training and professional integration of young people, Caisse d’Epargne Normandie has established its Apprenticeship Training Center (CFA) in Caen and Rouen. Its goal is to build a pool of skilled future employees who will be hired on permanent contracts. Each year, the recruitment policy of Caisse d’Epargne Normandie results in approximately 200 permanent hires and 100 apprenticeships.
Supporting employees throughout their professional journey
The challenges faced by Caisse d’Epargne Normandie reflect those of many contemporary businesses: attracting talent, integrating them effectively, and fostering their loyalty to ensure a high-quality service for our clients.
Within the Human Resources Department, our goal is to accompany our employees throughout their careers by providing them with the means to advance in their current roles and progress towards other positions within Caisse d’Epargne Normandie or the broader BPCE Group.
We offer over 150 different professions and an equal number of potential career paths. Depending on their motivations and profile, employees can participate in qualifying training programs to develop their expertise and progress into specialist roles (such as wealth management, private banking, and business advisory), management positions, or leadership roles.
We prioritize work-life balance and quality of work environment. Each employee is supported by their manager within a small team setting and receives guidance from a dedicated career advisor who assists them at every pivotal stage of their professional life.
The use of psychometric tests to standardize our internal and external recruitments
We employ psychometric tests for both our internal and external recruitments.
We utilize the DAT™ Next Generation an intellectual aptitude test to standardize our recruitments and ensure a common foundation for all employees within the company.
- The verbal section of DAT™ Next Generation assesses a candidate's ability to comprehend and articulate messages in a formal language appropriate for our internal and external clients.
- The numerical section evaluates the candidate's capacity to manipulate numerical data.
- The non-verbal section allows us to evaluate reasoning potential regarding abstract concepts and the ability to conceptualize requests from our internal and external clients.
This common set of tests enables us to identify potential for advancement. We aim for all our employees to have the opportunity to progress through various career paths offered, and at a minimum, to keep pace with the rapid evolution of their roles."
The PfPI a personality inventory, in turn, helps us objectify our perceptions and articulate what we observe during HR interviews. It assists candidates in expressing themselves, verbalizing who they are, and how they operate in a professional setting. This tool facilitates better integration through insights into candidates' personality, their approach and their specific needs. Understanding their operational style greatly aids future managers in adapting their management approach accordingly.
While test performance is not an absolute guarantee of successful recruitment, we have observed that struggling employees often scored lower on psychometric tests. Therefore, these tests serve as valuable indicators that significantly support our recruitment, integration activities and the development of our bankers!