Alumni
03 Sep 2024
Interview with Valérie Guillemet (S1988), HR Director at Dassault Aviation, new member of the Board of Directors
Valérie Guillemet, ISAE-SUPAERO alumni (S1988), has just joined the ISAE-SUPAERO Board of Directors. She was also the guest of honour of the graduating class of 2023. She talks about her career at Dassault Aviation up to the position of HR Director, the challenge of recruiting women engineers and her commitment to the school.
Could you tell us about your academic and professional background?
Valérie Guillemet: After a science preparatory course at Versailles, I graduated from Supaéro in 1988. I started my career at Dassault Aviation as an aerodynamic synthesis engineer in Saint-Cloud, where I worked on the HERMES space shuttle project.
I then moved into production at Mérignac, where I worked on the integration of weapons systems for the Mirage 2000 and Rafale. After some fifteen years in the military sector, I took over management of the Rafale production unit, followed by the Falcon. I became Production Manager at the Mérignac plant, and then finally Director of the whole site.
I’ve always been highly motivated by the interest of the job, by the new challenges and what they bring: getting out of your comfort zone, having different fields of action, meeting new people.
In 2019, I was appointed Director of Human Resources. This field has little to do with my initial training. But, as my assignments have progressed, I have acquired a very good knowledge of Dassault Aviation’s businesses and have a very pragmatic vision of them. The heart of the company is the men and women who run it. Skills development is at the heart of the HR mission, all the more so in a company with a strong technological dimension. We need successful recruitment, relevant training and career paths that meet both the needs of the company and the aspirations of our employees. These issues are of particular concern to me.
As HR Director, you have had to deal with recruitment issues for young women engineers and scientists. What steps have you been able to take?
V. G. : First of all, I’m deeply convinced that diversity is an asset. Men and women, we each have our glasses, our emotional intelligence, our differences which, paradoxically, bring us closer together, enabling us to be better and more effective together.
The industry as a whole recognises that scientific studies are still too often neglected by women. We need to work upstream, in secondary schools. That’s why we’re working with associations such as “Elles bougent”, which organise events in schools to explain the exceptional careers that are possible in industry and technology, for both men and women. We take part in round tables and career presentations. We’d really like to welcome more female profiles because I’m convinced of the strong contribution women can make. Dassault Aviation is a company where great careers are offered to motivated and competent men and women.
You were recently appointed to the Board of Directors of ISAE-SUPAERO. You are also involved with "ISAELLES" and "Ose l'ISAE-SUPAERO". What does this commitment to the school mean to you?
V. G.: ISAE-SUPAERO is a very important school for Dassault Aviation, given the very high level of the engineers it trains. My appointment to the Board of Directors is a commitment to take part in the life of the school and in the development of its courses and career paths. I try to bring the vision of Dassault Aviation, a major player in the aerospace and defence industry, and my own vision, which comes from a technical and human resources background. By definition, a school is always evolving, it has to adapt to the expectations and needs of both students and companies.
Dassault Aviation’s support for ISAE-SUPAERO also takes other forms: our alumni engineers teach a number of courses in the engineering curriculum; we sponsor student associations; and we provide sponsorship for the school’s cutting-edge research into cognitive air systems(CASAC chair). So we have very strong links with ISAE-SUPAERO. It’s not a new relationship, since Marcel Dassault graduated from the school in 1913!
You are the guest of honour of this year's graduating class. What messages would you like to pass on to our students and alumni?
We live in a rapidly changing world and we have some fundamental challenges ahead of us. They relate to defence, national sovereignty and the environmental transition. In all three of these areas, the aerospace industry offers solutions. I would therefore like to say to students and future engineers or managers that they have a unique opportunity to play a decisive role in the world of today and tomorrow. Their talents, knowledge and intelligence are their responsibility to contribute to the common good. I believe that technology and science are part of the answer, and we need our engineers more than ever.
I would also like to tell them how important it is to be curious, pragmatic and positive in professional life. The challenge is great, the roadmap is demanding, but with passion anything is possible. Above all, let them enjoy what they do!