alex267

Salutations all,

I have been living in Vendee since the end of August last year, I moved in with mes beau-parents and my fiancée. During this time I've concentrated on learing the language as much as I can and while I am certainly no where near fluent (maybe just bordering intermediate) the time has come to make serious headway into navigating the job market.

I completely understand that my language level can only merit something "menail", for want of a better word, and I am hoping if any of you expat experts could garnish me with some advice.

There's a local food factory called Sodebo which I understand to be a good company to work for. I am prepared for something manual and quite possibly fairly repetative. I have also visited 8 different interim agences, in Montaigu, to give my CV and sign up to their services, they told me that my CV would be passed to their clients. Four weeks have gone by and I still haven't received any contact.

Anywho, my intentions for Sodebo is that I am preparing a cover letter to déposée une candidature spontanée via their webite. I also plan to e-mail my contact at each agency with another more general cover letter and CV, as a sort of "Hello, please dont forget me, I'm still looking for work".

Could anyone direct me to any good sources of information for navigating the french job market? How does my plan sound, is it more hopeful than practical? Does anyone know of any good places for advice on des lettres de motivation?

Reading through the forums I do believe thats this I going to be one of my regular stops and I am hoping to contribute in my own capacity as much as I can.

Kind regards,

Alex

Novocastrian

Bienvenue at BE Alex.

Repost this in the main France forum, there are many people who'll offer excellent advice.

EuroTrash

As novo says. Hello, and see you on the main forum for more indepth discussions.

But it has to be said - 4 weeks is no time at all in the average French jobseek...
Also, have you registered as a jobseeker at the pole emploi? You won't be eligible for benefits but they should be able to help you with the lettre de motivation, but more importantly a lot of menial-type jobs are only open to registered job seekers, or at least that used to be the case and I assume it still is (because employers get incentives for taking people off the government statistics).
See you on the discussion forum?

alex267

Thanks guys. When I posted I wondered if what I had to say belonged on this thread, I am a bit foreign to using forums aswell, hehe.

Thats great advice EuroTrash I deffo look into it and post my sucesses.

See you on the main tread.

Lord Plops

Bonjour a tous! just moved to France - arrived two weeks ago - I'm English with a French fiancee and two 'Franglais' children. They are 3 and 6 years-old so we didn't want to leave it any later for them to transition 'smoothly' (he said with crossed fingers!). My partner is working while I brush up my French and look after the kids (we don't want to put too much stress on them straight out the gate, so want me to stay 'on the homefront' so they have some consistency).


We are living in Aubigny Sur Nere and I'm looking to find out if there are any other ex-pats in the area, first post so if I'm not displaying the correct etiquette or am in the wrong place then please let me know.


Merci a tous!

dmu

Et bonjour, and welcome to the forum!
I had to look up Aubigny sur Nère and, for any one else who doesn't know, it's in the Cher.
Post again in a New Thread below, as this is simply for introductions and your post will get swallowed up by the following threads.
I would just say that school is compulsory at 6 years old and, although "home schooling" (which is what you'd be considered doing) is tolerated, you'd have to do everything by the book and inform the Mairie why you aren't enrolling the elder child in the local Primaire. Inspectors will come to make sure that the child is following the French Curriculum for "CP", i.e. can read and write French before he/she can go up to 2nd year.
Your fiancée is working, but you are "inactif" and must take out private healthcare insurance until you are eligible for the French S.S.
I didn't mean to ramble, but it saves saying it in your future New Thread!

Jonasz27

Hi everyone. We arrived in France 3 months ago and would love to find some British expats to socialise with as it would be a little break from having to translate every conversations. We are near Saint Leonard De Noblat. Any suggestions? Cheers

dmu

Hi, and welcome to the forum!
Quite a coincidence, I'd never heard of St Léonard de Noblat, and just after reading your post, I heard it mentioned on France Inter (not in the News, but on a Question Time programme)! A quick search found it in the Huute-Vienne...
Post again in a New Thread in the main section of the forum below, as your post will get swallowed up by the following introduction and may get missed by members in the region.

roddycam

I posted this on the main forum yesterday, and was directed here:

I have had a long love affair with France. Now that I am retired I am thinking of living the dream and moving to France.

However, there are one or two obstacles in the way.

The first is my financial situation. For the first year or so I will be able to rent but not to buy.

Secondly, Brexit will presumably affect the rights of expats in France. This area is a big unknown, so I think it wiser to wait and see.

I speak and read French, I like the culture and way of life, and I don't like Essex where I live now.

I have always liked the Nord - Pas de Calais region, and places like Berck and Wimereux are very appealing, but as summer resorts I'm guessing long-term lets are expensive in the holiday months.

Anyway, glad to have found this Forum, and any advice would be welcome.

cyrian

Welcome to the French forum.
This section is for exactly what you have done - to introduce yourself and say hello.
If you have specific questions then post them as a new thread in the body of the forum.
Good luck

roddycam

Thank you

dmu

Hi again! As suggested, post again in a New Thread (button top left), as those who can advise/help in general or in the area of your choice, may not see your post in the Introduction Thread.

alexb22

Hi All - in our fifteenth year in Brittany and still lovin' it!

Cad

It'll only get better, have been here for 30 years and with all of the problems here in France it's still better than the UK, having just got back from two weeks visiting family and friends over there we are so pleased and relaxed to be home.

alexb22

I know what you mean - even after a week back in the UK I can't wait to get back! Hope I'm still around to celebrate 30 years here.