DCL and CLOÉ: Overlooked French Language Tests for Professionals

There are a mind-boggling amount of French fluency exams out there. The major ones like DELF/DALF and TEF/TCF have been pretty well covered, like in this post here, but I don't see a lot of coverage on professional French language proficiency exams like the DCL or the CLOÉ.

People see C1 on a job posting and assume sitting for the DALF is the only way to prove it -- not true!

Professional & Specialized Certifications

DCL (Diplôme de Compétence en Langue)

A test created in 1995 to specifically measure professional competency that now covers 13 different certifications including French Sign Language, German, Chinese, etc.

• Administered by: French Ministry of Education 
• Levels: A1–C1
• Test Format: In person
• Topics: Creating presentations, navigating a disagreement with a co-worker, etc.
• Validity: Lifetime

 

CLOÉ (Certification d’aptitude en Langue Française Professionnelle)

A modern, digital test available since 2018 designed to measure professional competency

• Administered by: Network of CCI language centers in France 
• Levels: A2–C2
• Test Format: Online, proctored
• Topics: Simulations on everyday professional tasks or topics
• Validity: Varies — institution‑dependent

FWIW, the CCI has started to publish certification #s starting in 2019 and it looks like there was an uneven, initial period of growth. I'm curious whether the numbers in recent years have stalled or grown.