Professional retraining guide

How to properly organize your resignation for a professional retraining?

According to a recent Odoxa poll, 85% of French people say they are in favor of professional retraining. Although not all of them succeed in their desire to reorient themselves professionally, there is nevertheless a significant increase in workers who have changed jobs or are in the process of retraining. The main reasons for these professional reversals are in particular the search for meaning and weariness.

But then, for those who are seriously considering retraining, how do you properly organize your resignation for a professional retraining? Period of reflection and doubt, preparation of the retraining project, financing, warning from the employer… We explain everything to you, step by step.

Do not rush your professional retraining

Take the time to think about your future professional activity

Who has never thought of quitting their job? To escape the pressure or to put an end to a professional activity that seems meaningless to us… Professional retraining can indeed be an attractive option to breathe new life into your career and regain motivation.

However, you don't leave your CDI on a whim (at least most people do). It is indeed preferable to think carefully about your professional future before embarking on a new professional life totally different from the current one.

If you recognize yourself in this situation, a period of reflection can allow you to help you do some introspection. It is indeed essential to know your needs, to assess your skills and above all to have a clear vision of what you are looking for for the rest of your career.

Weigh the pros and cons before quitting your current job

Reasons for resigning

  • You've done your job
  • You don't thrive anymore
  • You are no longer motivated
  • You would like to develop new skills
  • You are no longer in phase with the values ​​of your box
  • Your work is not recognized at its fair value
  • The desire to get involved in a cause that is close to your heart

Reasons that might hold you back

  • The fear of failure
  • The fear of the Unknown
  • Financial instability
  • The judgments of those around you

Prepare well for your retraining to limit the risks

Wherever you are in your thinking, there is no right or wrong choice. It's up to you to decide what is best to do regarding your private life and your professional life (one does not go without the other).

However, know that if you really want to retrain despite the various fears you face, anything is possible!

You will never be alone with your retraining project. Many professionals will be happy to help you find a new job in the sector of activity that interests you.

We can advise you to do a skills assessment. At jobs_that_makesense, we selected several skills assessment to help you in your purpose-driven carreer.

There is also a large catalog of training to follow before starting your job search in your new profession. As a specialist in professional retraining in impact, we can guide you through training as diverse as it is varied, but always of high quality!

  • Impact jobs are mostly looking for profiles with strong behavioral skills. You can thus follow a short training to develop soft skills such as non-violent communication, listening, facilitation...
  • In terms of training, you can also choose to acquire new skills related to ecological and social transition: reducing companies' carbon emissions, learning to manage energy transformation, adopting responsible and inclusive communication...
  • Finally, who says professional retraining also says exploring new horizons. Why not let go of your employee status and become your own boss in one of the key transition jobs? There are thematic training courses in crafts, organic farming, energy renovation of buildings, etc.

You can finance this training in various ways (CPF, Professional Transition Project, etc.) and even benefit from unemployment insurance during the first months of your retraining.

Build your professional retraining project thanks to unemployment benefit

Previously, article L.5422-1 of the Labor Code specified that only employees involuntarily deprived of employment could benefit from unemployment benefits. The resignation being considered as a voluntary breach of contract by the resigning employee, no right to unemployment was therefore open to him.

Since November 1, 2019, a new reform has made resignation compatible with obtaining unemployment benefit rights. The purpose of this financial boost is to encourage the French to professional mobility. Here are the steps to follow to resign and receive unemployment as help in returning to work.

The criteria to be met to benefit from the resignation scheme for professional retraining

The evolution of the rights of employees within the Labor Code obviously assumes that certain conditions are met. For a resigning employee to have the possibility of benefiting from unemployment, he must, among other things:

  • Be able to justify 5 years of continuous salaried activity during the 60 months preceding the resignation, i.e. 1300 days of work. Unpaid leave, sabbaticals or periods of availability are not counted.
  • Hold a permanent contract within a private law company, full-time or part-time. On the other hand, this is not valid if the worker terminates his temporary contract or his fixed-term contract. The same applies to self-employed non-salaried workers, public sector employees.

Receive professional development advice

This is a preliminary and mandatory step to open rights as a resigning employee in search of a new job.

The purpose of professional development advice (CEP) is to be well guided in developing your professional reorientation project. Thanks to this personalized support, it is possible to study new horizons hitherto unknown, but also to examine the alternative options to resignation in relation to your professional and personal objectives.

The CEP is an essential service offered by professionals from APEC, CAP Emploi or other regional operators specializing in professional retraining.

Validate your professional retraining project

Once all the avenues have been studied, the person wishing to resign for a professional retraining must present his professional project to a regional joint interprofessional committee. This commission will report on the real and serious nature of the project:

  • Is the chosen training relevant to the future position sought?
  • Are there job opportunities in the area?
  • Will the retraining project lead to a job?
  • Is the ambition to create or take over a business viable financially, humanly...?

Submit the benefit application to Pôle Emploi

Once the commission has validated the retraining project, it gives the employee a certificate. The latter can then file his resignation with his company and register with Pôle emploi to apply for unemployment benefit. This last step must be completed within 6 months of the delivery of the certificate.

Inform your company of your resignation for professional retraining

One of the crucial stages of your professional retraining will go through the development of your situation with your company.

Indeed, to leave your company on a sound basis and not find yourself in a rut before starting your new professional life, there are a few practices to respect.

  • Inform their employer of their intention to leave the company to change careers. In this way, you prevent possible rumors and gossip from spreading without your knowledge. In addition, you thus retain the confidence of your superiors
  • To warn your superiors, it is often advisable to inform your employer of your development wishes during a face-to-face meeting. It is only after this interview that you can send them your letter of resignation. It will make it possible to formalize your breach of contract and to establish a precise timetable for your future departure according to the length of the notice.
  • During your discussions with your employer, you can mention the reasons for your departure from the company. He may encourage you to follow the new professional path that awaits you. However, there really is no obligation on this. It depends on the relationships you've had since taking up the job.
  • Remain neutral and professional until the last day. Even if it was the missions devoid of interest, the bad management or the stressful work environment that opened your eyes to your need to change jobs for a professional activity with more meaning.

What if you didn't need to quit to get the job that inspires you?

Your need to give meaning to your working days is completely legitimate. However, do your commitment and values ​​have to force you to quit?

Before taking the leap into the unknown, it can be ingenious to check if there is not the possibility of evolving in your job or in your company without leaving it.

It would perhaps be a question of bringing a new environmental and social dynamic within your company by changing your missions.

In most large companies there are departments dedicated to CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) to move the lines and improve certain internal processes.

If you have a position in an SME, it is also possible to promote your ideas and create change!

First of all, you can explore this path. If that doesn't work, then you'll know it's time to prepare your resignation to completely retrain!

On that day, jobs_that_makesense will be there to support you and offer you professional opportunities that suit you thanks to our impact job offers.

"Real novelty always comes from going back to basics" - Edgar Morin.

For further

👉 16 steps for your professional transition

👉 How to make a professional retraining when you are on long-term-contract ?

👉 How to finance your professionnal retraining ?

👉 Professional retraining: who can support me?

👉How to explain my professional retraining ?

👉The letter of resignation for professional retraining

Take action

👉 Find a purpose-driven job

👉 Training in the professions of ecological and social transition