Could you introduce yourself?
First of all, my name is Maxime Piot and I’ve been a student at Inseec for two years now. Before joining the Grande Ecole programme in M1 Management, I obtained a bachelor’s degree in international trade.
I’m doing the Grande Ecole work-study programme and I’m in charge of development for a company specialising in B-to-C energy renovation (Oxygène Rénovation).
How did you hear about ENSOA?
I found out about ENSOA through the brochure presenting the grande école programme. From an early age, I’ve been attracted to the French Army. However, I had often remained distant from it in terms of my professional goals. When I heard that the Grande Ecole programme offered the opportunity to spend a week in a military training centre, supervised by non-commissioned officers and officers, I jumped at the chance without hesitation!
ENSOA, a unique partnership
For over 15 years now, INSEEC Grande École and the French Army have been working together on cross-disciplinary projects.
Programmes have been developed to enable students to benefit from work placements and recruitment courses to discover military life and the values of management and authority.
Since 2007, INSEEC Grande École has had a partnership with the École nationale des sous-officiers d’active (ENSOA), the army’s initial training school for non-commissioned officers. Every year, this partnership enables around 40 volunteers to experience total immersion at Saint-Maixent-l’École near Niort.
Was this a reason to join INSEEC Grande École?
Although my primary motivation for joining the Grande Ecole Programme was to follow the second year of the Management curriculum and finish with the Entrepreneurship specialisation, the possibility of joining ENSOA for military preparation was also a motivating factor. I knew that if I worked hard and gave myself the means, I’d have a great chance of being selected to take part in this course.
What did ENSOA bring you?
It’s quite complicated to put into words what it’s done for me in concrete terms, because it’s quite profound. I had no idea how efficient the army and its way of working were.
Physically, I’ve learnt a lot about myself. I was a swimmer and then a triathlete for many years. I do bivouacs of several dozen, even hundreds of kilometres on foot and by bike in total autonomy, but I didn’t know that I could push my body so far.
Apart from the physical aspect, there is of course the psychological aspect. We learn to structure the way we work, to analyse, to reflect and to deliver work even when we’re tired. These are skills that can only be acquired during preparation of this kind, and they serve me enormously in my day-to-day work, both in the classroom and, above all, in my company.
It’s important to stress that ENSOA trains the non-commissioned officers of tomorrow and that a non-commissioned officer must be capable of managing and directing a dozen men in hostile places and situations. So we quickly learnt to know how to lead, in other words how to make people listen to us, but above all how to make people understand us. This was put into practice in simulated situations where a person had to lead a group under fatigue, stress, duress and so on.
This military preparation also helps us to relearn how to live together and to regain respect for the hierarchy and our superiors, which is being lost more and more these days.
Would you recommend this experience to other students ?
I would recommend this experience 2000%, whether it’s for sports enthusiasts who want to push themselves to the limit, for people who are interested in the military sector but have never dared to take the plunge, or for people who are reserved by nature, because this military preparation reveals hidden aspects of oneself that some people don’t know about and can be a springboard for everyday life, whether on a personal or professional level.
It’s also important to note that this constitutes a solid reference on a CV, which employers take seriously. Finally, I’d like to stress that it’s a human adventure where you meet people from different backgrounds, and that the army is a highly structured, respected and respectful institution.