This paper deals with the question of French PhDs' career trajectories and especially those that lead to private sector employment. Using quantitative longitudinal survey "Génération" from Céreq, which allows observing professional pathways over the first five years of working life, it shows that for PhDs graduated in 2010, public-sector research remains the main opening. There are few career paths leading to private sector, and PhDs employed in firm found their job at a very early stage in their working life. Data analysis and econometrics methods find that thesis conditions, professional expectations, and early pathways are a key determinant to employment in firms.