Four routes cover most people: your CPF account, France Travail funding, an apprenticeship contract that pays you a salary, or a professionalization contract. Here's how each works and where to start.
Best for: anyone who has worked in France. Every employee accumulates training credit in euros each year in a personal account, spendable on state-certified courses — including trade certifications (CAP, titres professionnels). You browse and book directly at moncompteformation.gouv.fr. If your balance doesn't cover the full course, employers, France Travail, or regions can top it up.
Best for: registered job seekers. Your France Travail adviser can approve individual training aid when a course leads to a real hiring prospect — and trades on the "métiers en tension" shortage list are the strongest case you can make. Training toward a shortage trade can also maintain your unemployment benefits while you study. Start with your adviser or at francetravail.fr.
Best for: ages 16–29 (older with exceptions, including recognized disability or business-creation projects). You split time between a CFA training center and a paying employer, earning a percentage of the SMIC that rises with age and year of training. Tuition is covered — apprentices don't pay for their training. State hiring incentives have made employers eager: French apprenticeship enrollment has roughly tripled since 2018. Find openings through CFAs, alternance.emploi.gouv.fr, or our live job search.
Best for: career changers and job seekers 26+. The apprenticeship's adult sibling — a work contract combining employment and certified training, paid at a percentage of the SMIC or the sector minimum. It's the standard reconversion route into trades like electrical work, HVAC, and welding for adults who aged out of the apprenticeship system.
Regions run their own training programs on top of the national system, often targeting local shortage trades — check your conseil régional. And the demand backdrop is real: MaPrimeRénov' targets 700,000 building renovations a year, which is why heating engineers, insulation specialists, and electricians keep topping the shortage lists.