Take Advantage of Your Right to Receive Training

It’s not easy to comprehend the compte professionnel de formation [CPF, or professional training account]. The system was extensively modified by the Law of September 5, 2018. Patricia Le Lay, Marketing Director of the HEC Paris Executive Education program, shares some insights and offers some useful advice about how to make the most of your right to receive professional training.

Define Your Goal

The CPF can be used to achieve various objectives: to become more qualified by learning more skills, to fulfill your company’s needs, to make a career change and train for something new, to find a new job, to improve or maintain your employability….Whatever your aims, it’s essential to evaluate your current career, either from your own perspective or by completing a skills assessment.

Choose Your Training

You are completely free to choose a training program, with no need for your employer’s authorization. The CPF is an individual right. You can choose a training program that you have long wanted to take part in, or find out about programs that might interest you, always making sure that you understand the length and nature of each program. Since it’s not always easy to know what to do, don’t hesitate to call on a counselor or training coach. They often provide administrative support as well, and can help candidates put together a financing package. If your goal is to advance in your company, it might be a good idea to ask the advice of your human-resources director.

Find Out What Your Rights Are

The website www.mon-compte-formation.fr, set up by the government, gives detailed information about the CPF. It lists all the eligible types of professional training, and you can even select a training program and pay for it online with your CPF! It’s really practical. And, by setting up an account on the site www.moncompteformation.gouv.fr (all you need is your social-security number), anyone (employees, heads of companies, people looking for a job) can check the budget he or she is entitled to.

Set Up a Financing Plan

The full costs of a short-term professional training program can often be covered through the CPF. If you are looking for a long-term program, however, the costs may total more than the cumulative 5,000-euro maximum in your account. To finance the remainder, you could request support from your employer, who might provide assistance. Also check out the advantages available to alumni. For example, the HEC Paris Alumni Association offers the chance to enroll for life in the Infinity Pass. With this pass, you can obtain a 30% discount on the costs of a variety of training programs the school offers. In the case of a long and expensive training program, costs might be shared among the person seeking training, the employer, and the alumni association through the 30% discount.

Patricia Le Lay
Over the past 10 years, she held several positions in the HEC Executive Education program (serving as the head of direct marketing and CRM, international advertising, and business-performance marketing), before becoming the Marketing Director. In 2017, she completed a training program in marketing and commercial strategies at HEC Paris.