The benefits of volunteering

PostED ON OCTOBER 9

Jérôme Rieux, Managing Director of the Adéquat Group, which specialises in temporary employment and recruitment, explains how the Lumière festival became the focus of an innovative action.

What is the significance of your partnership with the Lumière festival?

It's a strong link that has existed since 2014, at the initiative of the two founders, Jean-Marc Brun on Adéquat's side and Thierry Frémaux on behalf of the Lumière festival. Basically, it's the simple story of two founders who share common values and want to ensure that their city shines. Lyon is the place where everything began for Adéquat, and it's the same for the cinema!

What is your particular involvement?

We have been able to evolve from financial sponsorship to skill-based sponsorship. Today, we offer our know-how to all the volunteers of the festival, I think there are a little more than 600 of them. Perhaps some of them are looking for a job or would like advice on changing jobs. We decided to help them to better communicate and put all their assets to their advantage. We set up a job dating event, a half-day exchange where recruiters come to explain their professions and where candidates can talk about their concerns. It is a way of breaking down the stereotype of the job interview. Between 10 and 20% of the volunteers want to take advantage of this opportunity to share our skills, and we learn a lot from them.

Does volunteering look good on a CV?

Yes, it shows a level of personal commitment, a sense of sharing. Today in a company, personal skills are as important as professional skills. But you also have to know how to explain the meaning behind the volunteering experience and what you learnt from it.

What is your favourite memory of the Lumière festival?

It is constantly evolving: Adéquat is a partner of sports clubs, such as OL, ASVEl, sport is often a vector of communication for companies, and more rarely for culture. But when we are lucky enough to offer our employees or clients these moments of cultural exchange such as the Lumière screenings, when we attend a premiere, where the director or actors come to talk to us about the film, it's indescribable. We make our employees and clients actors in the experience and it's a rare chance to be able to talk with a creator.

Interview by A. F.