What companies offer the best careers in France?

Out of the billion LinkedIn users in over 200 countries, France registers about 30 million! Relying on this solid base, LinkedIn generated this ranking using exclusive data from its platform, which analysed the careers of the French depending on the companies they work in. To draw up this ranking, the network assessed companies using eight criteria boosting professional careers: career prospects, skills development, career stability, external opportunities, in-house networking, women-men equality, training level and localisation of employees in the country.

Industry, finance and consultancy: the most appealing sectors

 For the ninth consecutive year, the LinkedIn Top Companies ranking highlights “the 25 best companies to boost your career in France”. In the wake of the Top 3 including Crédit Agricole, Schneider Electric and Capgemini, three sectors appear to be the most buoyant:

• industry is for the second time the best represented in the ranking. No less than ten companies are present, including Schneider Electric, a group present in over 100 countries that exists since 1836, but also Sanofi, first French pharmaceutical company or Airbus, first airplanes builder in the world before Boeing. This sector also includes: Safran, French group specialised in aeronautics, defence and space, andTotalEnergies, major player in the energy sector, present in more than 130 countries with 100,000 employees, including about 25% in France;
• finance also holds a leading place in the ranking. This year again, the “major French banks” are put forward. This is the case of Crédit Agricole group planning 15,000 recruitments in 2025, BNP Paribas, prsent in 63 countries with 56,000 employees in France, i.e. 30% of its staff worldwide, or Société Générale, one of the oldest banks in Europe, “French leader in online banking through its branch BoursoBank”;
• consulting and audit. The breakthrough from consulting and audit is the most notable news, says LinkedIn. These sectors include: Capgemini, “French giant of digital services and major player in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and cybersecurity”, Forvis Mazars, formed from the merger of French firm Mazars and US firm Forvis, which specialises in accountancy and business consulting and is “one of the ten largest audit firms in the world”. Other leading firms in this sector include Datadog, SLB, PwC, Boston Consulting Group and EY.

Foreseeable trends

 The strong presence of consulting firms among the most cutting-edge companies on the job market is, according to LinkedIn, a sign of an “acceleration in the transformation needs of companies”. The network concludes its ranking by stating that the data collected reveals that “70% of professional skills will change over the next five years”.

Against this backdrop, says LinkedIn, “more than half of working people say they are ready to move on to a new job or a new sector”, and 25% “plan to develop new skills to do so”. For job seekers, the aim is no longer just to get a job, but also to find a company that encourages “long-term career development”.

Major trends in the French labour market

 Two studies published almost at the same time present the labour market trends in France.

The first, a survey by INSEE (French national bureau of statistics) providing an overview of the French labour market in 2024, was published in late March. The study shows that with an average of 68.8% of people aged between 15 and 64 in employment in 2024, the employment rate in France has reached its highest level since it was first measured (1975). The changes of this rate is diverse depending on the age range. Indeed, employment rate for young people (aged 15-24), which had risen over the previous three years thanks in particular to the boom in work-study contracts, is slightly falling back (by 0.6 points) to 34.4%, still 5.6 points above its previous low point in 2020. The overall unemployment rate, at an average of 7.4%, is stable (up 0.1 point in 2023).

The second study, slightly less optimistic, is the annual survey from Apec (an association for executives’ employment) focuses exclusively on employment for this category of employees in 2025. If this forward-looking survey is to be believed, “the outlook for executive recruitment is darkening, due to the economic downturn”. The study is based on an annual survey of a sample of 8,000 companies, representative of private sector employees in France by region, size and sector of activity. According to the study, young graduates would be the most impacted, with less employment or an inferior status. According to Apec, recruitment of junior executives (under one year of experience) would be especially targeted by this downturn. Nevertheless, the study does not rule out a possible rebound, and concludes saying that “the 2025 economic vintage looks particularly uncertain”.

Explore more

- the full LinkedIn Top Companies 2025 ranking

- stories from ranked companies