Machin

Hello all,

My wife and I moved to Paris about 5 months ago when she secured a post out here with her company. I've spent the last few months learning French but have now finished my course and am looking to continue my career. I worked in sales and marketing in the private sector for 4 years and most recently have spent 2 years as a Corporate Partnerships Manager for a charity. Turns out the charity sector in France is a lot less developed than back in the UK and I'm finding it difficult to find any jobs that I have the skills for or any interest in doing! My French isn't wonderful but I can get by, can any of you suggest good resources for a job-seeker, or offer any advice on possible courses of action?

Thanks a lot.

Jazzy n Lol

Hello and welcome

Good luck, we are in the same position looking for work. I was a pharmaceutical rep, and at the moment I am resigned to taking pretty much anything.

Have you registered with www.anpe.fr?

It's not specialized, but they can point you in the right direction.

Good luck!

Bel de la bourre

I take it you check Fusac? That's the only place I've ever seen charity sector jobs with an expat angle...and not many as you point out....
Bon courage,
Bel

Machin

Hi,

I found a website that has quite a few pharma rep jobs on it so it might be useful for you? The main area of the jobs seem to be in Paris but the site caters for other areas of France as well so you never know... Thought it might be handy for you anyway. http://www.jobsinparis.fr/

Cheers

Mark

Jazzy n Lol

Wow! Great find, thanks a lot. I will keep my eye on it, presently nothing here, but the marketing jobs in Paris sure are tempting...

G-J-B

I moved to Paris 1 week and 2 days ago... It seems some things in Paris are more advanced, and other aspects are way behind the UK. I wish I could help you, but my own situation is different, and I work for myself, mainly dealing with English speaking customers around the globe. Hope the links provided by others help.

cheekyfarkinmonkey

cheekyfarkinmonkey!!! i'm back in blighty!!!!
dear o dear- i do actually have that lemon sucking expression on my face when i see all you lot looking for work in france- especially paris...
i've just arrived back in good ol blighty, after spending 20 years in paris---farkin idiot, what a total waste of time on the work front..i really do wish you all the best, and just as a passing statement, i would say that "you have more chance of hearing the queen fart, than getting reasonable employment in france"
--and you can quote me on that...
and i jeste you not chappies...
ive only been back in the uk since september, and its sooooo easy compared to france- really, i wonder why i stayed for so long, whereas i can get easy credit, good paid jobs( better than yer smic) and you dont need 15 a levels to get a reasonable job here
(jai bac plus 30, ca deverait suffir non?)
oh dear o dear, i'm lost for words really, although the old credit crunch is biting in france aswell... well rodgered......
well, nice to be back on the forum again- hi to all who i've chatted to before!!

yeah france is ok if you--
1)dont have to work for 'em.
2)can earn yer cash elsewhere
3) can stand getting refused for jobs, and being classed in the same catagory as yer immigrant from algeria, or congo...cos in their eyes you arent no better(exept yer white)..
even recently, some people(frenchies) where whining on how all the property prices have taken a hike'cos all the brits are paying silly money for their leftovers...i had that thown in my face on my last escapade in france...
listen guys 70 percent of frenchies HATE the brits....its no exaggeration..
i'm laughing since iv e been back in blighty...
and i live in henley on thames.... cfm

val50

Wondered how you were doing - glad to know all is going well for you back in UK - have missed your ramblings

cheekyfarkinmonkey

he he he home truths mateys!!!!
good luck for finding work guys...
especially in paris...
25 percent unemployment, housing impossible to find,even to rent..
you cant even buy anything anymore there...
try holland - much better, and they speak english, and are polite aswell...

Jazzy n Lol

Hello and welcome back cheekyfarkinmonkey!


Just to throw a spanner in your works of doom and gloom, Lol trotted off to the local school to volunteer some help in the maths classes and promptly got given 3 classes a week for now, with a salary to come in September, and more classes later if he likes them! Teaching maths and english to 5ieme! I am waiting for an interview at the local pharmacy as a preparatrice, where they covet my english and nod blankly at my french, so although jobs are indeed rare, they DO happen!

So Neh!


p.s My sis has worked for Parisbas for the last 10 years too in Paris

L'Acajou

Welcome back, cheekyfairkinmonkey, glad things are going well for you!
We need your opinion and experiences to balance out those wanabees (and there seem to be many) with totally unrealistic ideas of life over here, jobs especially.
We feel fortunate that farming seems to be one of the only easily-transferable skills, we do what we did in the UK only under much better conditions.

Of the non-retirees we know over here, one family have just gone back to the UK and are already both employed, and another family seem to be clinging on by the skin of their teeth, I think it is only a matter of time before they give up and go back to the UK. Another woman is going back in the summer.
Friends with gîtes/chambre d'hotes are struggling in a saturated market, the exchange rate and credit crunch is making things far worse. I know several Brits who can't get work even as cleaners or washing-up. Cheaper to employ school- leavers.

One family, with a good, secure UK income have the best of both worlds.

So from the people I know, you are spot on with your analysis!

cheekyfarkinmonkey

hmm charity in france means you work for free , dunnit??
definatley a smicard there mateys..
you could try the samu social... but you have got to have a strong stomach..

cheekyfarkinmonkey

yup, unfortunatly, france is going through what the uk did in the 80's- but worse...
its sad to say , but france is knackered- 25 years of socialism etc, i chat with the frenchies all the time here- and they are glad to be working in the uk- double their bosses pay aswell..
i had had enough of struggling in france- its just not worth it- you can go on hols there, and live in the uk- at least you wont be homeless, or picking up spuds on a farm!!!
it is saturated in france- everyone wants to get a gite and make some wedge--- but, france is only good for part time tourism, it dont manufacture any thing anymore- too much, tax etc..
and you are a brit( them who ve been knocking up the property prices)
you aint gonna get reasonable employment in france , cos even the frenchies are bailing out- to blighty!!!
theres stacks of em here!!!

cheekyfarkinmonkey

yeah, i had some bird trying to rent my flat in paris-she worked in a bank , and was nearly dossing in the office, as the wages where too low to be able to pay for lodgings....

cheekyfarkinmonkey

and do you have french teaching qualifications???
if not, they ll find someone who does- and its the door...
my o.h. is a schoolteacher in a small village- job fer life, but if you dont have THEIR qualifs, you aint gonna be in a job fer long...
been there , done that- i'm not being smug, but i've been through the scenario for the last 15 years...
they promise you a job in august/july, then sept. come around and its rmi..
it sucks, but i wish you luck..