Published on Sep. 08 2025
Every year, the Conférence des Grandes Écoles (CGE) publishes its national survey on the integration of young graduates. For the class of 2024, Centrale Lyon's general engineering students, this survey provides a clear picture of their career paths: 256 respondents out of 390 were contacted, representing a rate of 65.6%, of which 79% were men and 21% women.
Fast integration into the job market
- Net employment rate: 89.6% of Centrale Lyon graduates are employed, slightly above the average for engineering schools (88.1%).
- Employment before graduation: 71% of graduates find a position before completing their studies, compared to 68.9% nationally.
- Average search time: Graduates take an average of 3 weeks to land their first job, compared to 1.1 months for engineering schools overall.
- Recruitment via end-of-study internship: 35.5% of graduates are recruited directly after their internship.
These figures confirm the strong employability of Centrale Lyon graduates.
Stable contracts and positions of responsibility
Among graduates in professional activity:
- 89.7% are in CDI,
- 96.5% benefit from the executive status,
- nearly 50% already hold project management positions.
Competitive salaries from first job
Payments testify to the quality of professional integration:
- Median salary in France: €43,000 (excluding bonuses).
- Internationally: €50,500.
- With bonuses: overall median reaches €48,000.
A pay gap persists, however:
- Men: €44,172 (excluding bonuses) / €48,000 (with bonuses).
- Women: €41,598 (excluding bonuses) / €43,698 (with bonuses).
High job satisfaction
- Average rating: 4.1/5 (vs. 4.0/5 nationally).
- 81% say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their first job.
The most represented sectors and functions
Top 7 business sectors
- Consulting / engineering (37.2%)
- ICT services (15.1%)
- Energy (10.5%)
- Finance & insurance (9.9%)
- Industrial transport (5.2%)
- ICT industry (2.9%)
- Other industry, R&D or administration (~2.3% each)
Top 7 functions performed
- Studies - Consulting and expertise (28.8%)
- Scientific/technical R&D excluding IT (16.0%)
- Information systems studies and development (12,8%)
- Industrial and technical IT (11.5%)
- Purchasing / logistics (7.1%)
- Production - Operations (4.5%)
- Administration / management / finance (3.8%)
Companies and CSR
General engineers at Centrale Lyon work mainly in large organizations:
- Large companies (≥ 5000 employees): 36.4%
- ETI : 26.6%
- SMEs: 34.1%
- Micro-companies: 2.9%
Social responsibility is becoming increasingly important:
- 37.6% of graduates say that CSR is integrated into their missions.
- 77.8% feel that their employer takes ecological transition into account.
Further information
Discover the full results of the CGE's 2025 national survey on the professional integration of 2024 graduates of Centrale Lyon's Ingénieur Généraliste curriculum.
Read the report
