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Friday, June 9, 2017

Macron Makes a Move to Attract Talent to France

https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/870407981044834304/photo/1
Tim Smith sent me a link today to a new website meant to attract highly-skilled migrants to France. The title of the website is a riff off the US President's slogan "Make America Great Again" and it implies that Trump is a provincial person who doesn't care about the rest of the world and who has abdicated any claims to US leadership in this international fight against global warming. Very deft. Here's the link (and after reading the home page who wouldn't click on it if only out of curiosity).

Make Our Planet Great Again

It's well done.  Very VERY well done.  What makes it so in my eyes?  The first is the impeccable timing.  This is the right moment to strike when Americans are reeling over the US withdrawal from the Paris accord.  I'm amazed that they got it up so fast and coordinated it so well with a social media campaign which says to me that Macron has a very competent and well-organized communication staff.  The personal pitch itself is inspiring:  "We are ONE planet and Together, we can make a difference."  And it extols the virtues of France and positions her as a leader in a winnable fight for the planet. "France has always led fights for human rights. Today, more than ever, we are determined to lead (and win!) this battle on climate change."   And then at the bottom of the page is a big clickable field entitled "I want to make the planet great again."

After  Macron's pitch the site gently guides the potential migrant/expatriate interested in working on climate change though a series of open and closed questions.  I use the word "gentle" because none of the questions are complicated or require detailed information.  They don't ask about degrees or experience.  There's just a drop-down menu on the first page that asks if you are a researcher/teacher, entrepreneur, student, NGO worker, or other. And then a second field that asks what country (and in the case of the US, what state) you come from.

This is followed by open fields where you answer questions like "I'm fighting climate change because...," "I currently work on....," and "My dream is to..."  That's a rare chance for a potential migrant to make his/her pitch in his own words.   Nice.  And the final page takes you straight back to Macron's pitch for France, "Your new Homeland." And finally there is a big clickable button on the bottom of the page that says, "I'm coming to France."

Wow.  Talk about casting a wide net.  Talk about mad communication skills.  The other countries competing for the highly-skilled should take note.  I think it's better than 5 Reasons to Work in Sweden which I already thought was pretty good.

Have a look and tell me what you think.

6 comments:

Inaka Nezumi said...

Wow, that's ballsy. And surprisingly substantive-looking.

I've often thought that as a second career I'd like to work on energy storage, which I see as the biggest hurdle preventing us moving completely away from fossil fuels and nuclear power and into solar and wind. And boom, there he has a list of labs and funding agencies ready to work with on that.

If I were a bit closer to retirement, I might actually be tempted. :-)

Janet said...

Absolutely fantastic. Macron restores my hopes.

LarryC said...

I completed the form and submitted my contact information. Anxious to receive the response! Cannot imagine the US ever providing such initiatives to the world.

Maria said...

Now, if only our Spanish youth would learn English and French well enough to be able to take advantage of the offer. The Spanish government doesn't seem interested in keeping our youth here, and actively seeks out more tourism and tourism jobs, rather than other industries that would offer a well-educated youth decent jobs.

LarryC said...

Ah, well. A week after posting to the survey, I received no response as promised "within three days".

Disappointing.

Victoria FERAUGE said...

Very disappointing, LarryC. I'm sorry to hear it.