maylaur

Me and my friend are planning to take a gap year in France next year after we finish our A Levels.
We are starting to look for work but can't find many websites to help...does anyone know any good websites we can look? or recomend any types of work that would be suitable for us because our French wont be amazing.
Any help would be great
Thank you!
Laura.

le plumber

Hi

The job website in France is http://www.anpe.fr/

If you can understand a minimum of French you should be able to find what you want.

Mauricette

Your English is not brilliant either is it? Grammar or spelling. Perhaps you should start by considering what skills you do have. You cannot decide to go into a new country and have a totally new life without taking into account what you can offer to that country. They owe you nothing - start by thinking of what you can offer them.

treskillard

This post is nasty (unless you know the original poster and they deserve it).

Maylaur has quite enough to offer France just be being herself and I hope she doesn't come across more than one person like you as we all need a lesson in controlling our temper.

That being said. Getting a job for a year won't be easy I reckon without good French. Maybe try moving down to areas with seasonal work or move around the country following the work.

Vineyard work, strawberry picking to name two.

Mauricette

Treskillard: My post was not nasty. It was truthful, but sometimes the truth hurts. Too many young people go to a foreign country with no preparation and a cloud cuckoo attitude. They do not consider he realities and the problems they may face and many come to grief.

If I have given them a wake-up call and a reality check before they embark on this adventure then perhaps they will not fall into that category.

treskillard

Too many young people do what? Learn through their mistakes? I hardly think posting a polite question on a message board in the country you want to visit is "no preparation and cloud cuckoo land". What exactly was the point in writing "Your English is not brilliant either is it? Grammar or spelling." They wanted help not an example of pedantry.

scaredycat

Mauricette: What an awful introduction you've given Maylaur to the forum! I hope she doesn't think we're all so judgemental.

Maylaur: Welcome!
I can't offer much any help because I don't even live in France yet, I'm waiting for our house to sell and then we can move there. I hope someone comes along who can offer you good advice and i wish you the very best of luck in your French adventure

Andrea50

Oh dear, after feeling really sad at Mauricette's post (by the way my friend, "Grammar or spelling." isn't technically a correct sentence - no verb!), I too want to say to Maylaur welcome and you ARE in the right place to get some useful suggestions - the seasonal nature of vineyard work and fruit picking is great, as you get fresh air and some pay and get to meet people, and some may offer you some accommodation as well.

There are also quite a few people in France, quite a lot of them British, who may offer you some temporary work cleaning their Gites for guests, and when you get to the villages/town you wish to stay for a while in, go for a coffee at the local bar and try to get talking to people, as I am sure you will "strike gold" eventually.

Good luck and have a great gap year, and I am glad there are two of you, as one girl travelling on her own would worry me a bit, and in that case I would NOT have encouraged you to start chatting up folk in the local bar!!!

Andy
xx

val50

Hi Laura,
welcome to the forum
if you do a search on Google you are going to find lots of information such as this website
http://www.gapyear.com/countries/france/
You could also look at some of the big UK companies like the AA, who employ students to work in France

le plumber

I have to say I think your words are quite strong. I also wonder if you know what you're talking about.....

It isn't hard to get a job in France as long as you have a minimum of French and there are plenty of jobs to do all year round in summer and winter resorts - working in bars, hotels, on yachts in the south, fruit picking etc etc are to name just a few - there is loads of work to be had if you're not too picky and you dont mind hard work. These type of jobs can be found on the ANPE website. Some have contact numbers others don't. Other than that it doesn't hurt to go knocking on doors. That for me is what a gap year is about. I don't think that they are intending to find a steady job in an office environment for one year then go back home.

Come through Dijon and I'll give you a job for at least a month - you may have no experience in plumbing/heating but compared to some of the clowns I have to deal with you can't be any worse.

Best of luck anyway!!

Collioure_Bee

I wish you luck Maylaur. I came out in March, learning to speak the language as I go and finding it harder than I thought I would.. I have been to job agencies, knocking on factory doors, explaining I will do anything, work hard, even put things in boxes if I have to and so far am coming across blank. I even joke that as I can't speak much French, I can't waste time talking to people! I have French style CVs all round the area.

I have been on the anpe site regularly and have applied for work on there. The locals are all helping, they have made a couple of offers of lorry driving but I only have a class three and need a class one for the jobs offered. I may have to take a crash course (no jokes please) for class 2 and then 1 licences. I am told I have the right attitude and doing all the right things, one person even came up to me in the sea and asked if I had a psv licence! Best job interview I've ever had.

Time is running out as the last thing I want is to return to the bloody UK after being in this beautiful country. I wish you luck and if you find the lucky formula, give me a shout how!

Jazzy n Lol

Collioure Bee - Have you registered with Assedic? They were the ones who arranged our free lessons, gave us a counsellor (we call them job club advisors) and through him got work experiences arranged. You don't have to be claiming benefits to get these as we don't, but we have to register as looking for work every month (online). May be worth a shot

dmu

What about doing au-pair? You'd be "lodged, fed and laundered", as they say, plus pocket money. A reliable agency could find you a family each, if you decide on Paris or a large city. You'll never learn to speak French properly if you stay together and speak English all the time...
No one has commented on your age. Presumably you'll both be 18 by summer 2009? If not, you can google "législation emploi jeunes" - 16-year olds can work under certain conditions but the parents must sign contracts if they are minors.
You've got a whole year to think about it and organize - bonne chance!

dmu

Out of interest, I looked on the ANPE website and, even with the Help in English, it seems a bit daunting for English Sixth Formers if they've no idea what sort of job they'd be looking for and where, and what all the different types of contracts are. The English pages of the European job website www.europa.eu.int/eures seem to be much more user-friendly.
So far, no one has brought up the subject of where the OPs are going to live. Unless their parents act as guarantors, they won't be able to rent anywhere and two girls trudging around France looking for odd jobs isn't a happy-sounding prospect, esp. in the winter. And despite encouragements on this Forum to go for it, don't forget the high unemployment rate here, hopefully less by next summer if Pres. Sarkozy's policy is successful, but even so, they'll have competition from fluent French speakers....
So, I come back to my suggestion of going au-pair. They won't have material problems and will learn French, and let off steam in English with each other in their free time....
Forgive me for writing in the third person, as if the OP weren't there, but she isn't reacting to our replies and we seem to be discussing amongst ourselves....

stanage2

That would have been nice to do.years ago,
Left school Friday stated work Monday.
Thanks for progress!