Your optician’s diploma: the key to entering the optical professions
The optical professions – a promising sector
Opticianry is a leading economic sector where technology and design have taken on a prominent role. French expertise, innovation and quality are recognised worldwide and are a source of many career opportunities. Screens and their daily use will have a long-term impact on the population, and increasing life expectancies mean that sight impairment will become a new social issue. Finally, the latest government decrees placing opticians at the centre of visual health will place more emphasis on their role and expertise. Not to mention a new synergy between the market for hearing aids and the optical market. These are unique opportunities that ISO is transforming into educational content, post-BTS (Advanced Vocational Diploma) training courses, contacts with its alumni network and relationships with stakeholders in the optical industry.
Optician, a high-precision profession
Above all a manual and technical role, the profession of optician demands precision. Handling lenses, frames, fitting and adjusting, the optician uses highly advanced machines that require all of his or her skill. This manual and technical dimension confers a very special aura on this profession.
Reputable and multi-faceted professions
While the optician’s job has retained its DNA as a local artisan trade, the other optical professions require just as much attention to detail and also have their own special characteristics. Divided into five main areas of activity, these professions offer a whole host of career opportunities:
- Retail (in an independent shop, franchise or cooperative) lets you give free rein to your sales talent and transform a sight problem into a positive personality trait
- Visual health (at an ophthalmologist’s clinic or sight and hearing centre) cultivates a taste for the paramedical sector and helping others
- The optical industry (lens manufacturers, contactology laboratories) and its biological imperative is ideal for the more science-minded
- Spectacle manufacturing (designers, manufacturers, augmented reality businesses) is stimulating for designers and fashion enthusiasts
- Teaching and training (at a university, training centre or HR department) inspires those with an interest in education.
The Diploma in Opticianry and Spectacle Manufacturing, the key to the optical professions
To open the door to the optical professions, there’s only one key: the BTS (Advanced Vocational Diploma) in Opticianry and Spectacle Manufacturing. A real passport into the industry, this course is recognised all over the world as one of the best available, and combines practice with theory. The twelve tests of the BTS OL, as demanding as they are varied, require flawless preparation to achieve the desired level and enter the highly coveted circle of elite optical professionals.
Post-BTS courses for the most advanced optical professions
Although there are many bridges between the various optical professions, the post-BTS OL specialisations provided by ISO are sought-after and greatly appreciated. These include the Vocational Degree in Opticianry (in partnership with Paris-Sud University) and the Bachelor’s in Optical Management (BMO), Vision Sciences (BSV) and Spectacle Manufacturing and Design (BLC) for the Bac+3 level, and from September 2014, the MBA in Marketing and Commercial Strategies for the Optical Sector for the Bac+5 level.