A permanent employee for eight years receives a freelance assignment proposal in a field he is passionate about. Accepting means leaving his job, giving up his health insurance, and losing his unemployment rights. Refusing means being stuck. This dilemma summarizes the situation of most workers considering a career change: they want to change careers, but the financial risk paralyzes them.
The good news is that the transition is no longer an all-or-nothing situation. Several recent or reformed programs allow individuals to test a new profession, validate skills, and build a solid project without resigning.
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Shared time in the company: test a job without leaving your position
Since 2023-2024, several large French companies have been experimenting with dual-role pathways. The principle: an employee shares their time between their current position and an internal project or target job, with the agreement of their management.
Feedback shows a positive effect on the retention of executives seeking change, and a decrease in so-called “cold” resignations, those taken on a whim due to lack of alternatives. For the employer, it is a retention tool. For the employee, it is a real-life laboratory.
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You can also learn more about jumpboostpro.fr, which structures this type of approach for individuals wishing to advance in their professional transition while keeping their job.
This shared time format is not reserved for large organizations. SMEs are beginning to adopt it, sometimes in the form of temporary secondments to a partner or subsidiary. The employee retains their salary and rights, which eliminates the main barrier to retraining.
New VAE: certify your skills without long training
The reform of the VAE, which came into effect in 2024 (law of December 21, 2022, and application decrees 2023-2024), changes the game for individuals in transition. Two major developments are worth noting.
The VAE becomes continuously accessible. One is no longer dependent on annual sessions or juries spaced several months apart. The pathways are shorter, and enhanced support is funded by France Travail.
The benefit for an employee in position: transform their current tasks into certified skill blocks. A logistics manager who already manages teams and budgets can have these skills officially recognized, then complete with one or two targeted modules. No need to resume a full-time twelve-month training program.
What the reformed VAE concretely allows
- Validate a diploma or professional title based on experience gained in position, without interruption of contract
- Break down the pathway into skill blocks, avoiding the need to complete everything at once and allowing progress at one’s own pace
- Benefit from funded support, including for private sector employees who do not go through Transitions Pro
Feedback varies on the actual duration of these pathways depending on the certifiers, but the legal framework is significantly more flexible than before 2024.
Micro-enterprise alongside a permanent contract: the side project as a retraining test
Since 2022, there has been a rise in paid side projects used as a laboratory for gradual retraining. An increasing share of micro-enterprise creators are already in permanent or fixed-term contracts at the time of creation, according to INSEE data on business creators in 2023.
Some retain their initial position for several months, sometimes over a year, before fully transitioning to their new activity, or deciding not to transition at all. It serves as a financial and psychological safety net.
Points of caution before starting as a self-employed entrepreneur
- Check the exclusivity or non-competition clause in your employment contract, as some prohibit any parallel activity in the same sector
- Anticipate tax accumulation: micro-enterprise income is added to salary for income tax calculation
- Plan a realistic hourly volume, as an ill-calibrated side project drains energy instead of freeing it
- Test actual demand before investing: offering services to two or three concrete clients is better than six months of theoretical business planning
The self-employed status remains the simplest way to start. Creation is free, charges are proportional to turnover, and one can close without costs if the project does not hold.
Professional transition project: the program funded by Transitions Pro
The Professional Transition Project (PTP), managed by Transitions Pro associations in the region, remains the only program that maintains salary during retraining. The employee undergoes certified training while receiving their salary, and their position is preserved.
To access it, one must justify a minimum seniority as an employee and submit a file that demonstrates the coherence of the project. The regional joint commission evaluates the relevance of the pathway, the job prospects of the targeted profession, and the candidate’s motivation.
What makes a difference in a PTP file
A solid file does not just tick administrative boxes. Commissions appreciate candidates who have already done exploratory work: interviews with professionals in the target profession, short immersion, prior skills assessment. Showing that one has tested before requesting funding significantly strengthens the chances of acceptance.
The combination of several tools works better than a single pathway. An individual who has first validated a few blocks via the VAE, tested their project in a micro-enterprise on weekends, then submitted a PTP file with these concrete proofs presents a much more credible profile than a candidate starting from scratch.
Changing careers in 2025 no longer requires jumping into the void. With shared time, the reformed VAE, the side project in micro-enterprise, and the PTP, individuals have an arsenal that allows them to build their transition step by step, without losing income or social protection.