Finding a job

To successfully find a job, you have to start by organizing things from your home country. Be realistic: if you do not have a good knowledge of French, it is na�ve to think that you can find work in France. Another important point: top-level degrees or vocational qualifications will provide you with a wider range of employment opportunities. Lastly, you should have experience in your chosen field before applying for a position in France.

Your application for employment is also more likely to succeed if you gather a maximum of specific information about the French employment market from your country of origin and if you continue looking for work once you are in France.

Looking for a job from your home country

Stage 1: have a well thought-out professional goal

Before burning your bridges in your home country, make sure that your professional goal meets a realistic need in France. Ask yourself the right questions: what are my qualifications? What experience do I have? Do I speak French fluently? What is my medium and long-term career plan? How long do I intend to stay in France? Gather as much information as you possibly can about career opportunities in France.

Stage 2: finding information

Find out about your line of work, about companies that are hiring in your field, and about French labor legislation and economic policy from Eures network European employment counselors.

Get in touch with the cultural center at the local French Embassy to obtain information about opportunities for working in France, possible contacts in your field, and companies from your country with subsidiaries in France. Failing that, you can always contact the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in France for this type of information.

Stage 3: the canvassing stage

Once you have a good list of contacts you can write letters to them. Ask for a member of the personnel department to give you an interview to discuss the company's recruitment policy and employment opportunities in their French subsidiaries.

Stage 4: looking for vacancies

Consult the situations vacant listing on the Eures system, international publications and French newspapers available in your country. Also bear in mind opportunities for seasonal work abroad (tourism, holiday camp co-ordinator work, working as an au pair, etc.).

Lastly, have a look around the notices at your local job center and ask someone who knows about European job opportunities where the nearest office is that posts announcements for work abroad. Bear in mind, such notices are few and far between and the applicants selected will doubtless be bilingual and very well qualified.

Looking for a job in France

Once in France, your job-seeking efforts as a foreigner will be similar to those of French people.
Employment agencies
Register with the ANPE (National Employment Agency), the goal of which is to assist all EU and European Economic Space citizens (including the 15 European Union member States and Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) in finding work. For managerial posts, you can also consult APEC (the Managerial Employment Association). Also bear in mind the CIDJs (Youth Information and Documentation Centers), which provide useful information on each profession, with details on professional organizations and the names of recruiters in each sector.

"I sent my resum�s from Germany"
Frank Seidel, a 28 year-old German, is a multimedia designer who has been working for ADN Communications in Grenoble since December 1998.

"After attending the Berlin Arts University, I completed a Master's at Grenoble under the Erasmus student exchange program. The lifestyle there was very pleasant and the multimedia employment market is very open, so consequently I decided to look for work in Grenoble early in 1998. I did my research in Grenoble and from Germany. When I was on holiday in France, I took advantage of the opportunity to set up contacts and see my old lecturers, most of whom work professionally. In Germany, I sent my CV via mail and e-mail to arrange interviews in Grenoble. In the end, I found the post I am in thanks to a French student friend of mine who told me that ADN were hiring staff. Currently, even though my French is all right, I am not able to work as a designer-editor, which was nonetheless what I initially trained as. If I had wanted to write, I would have looked for work in Germany."

The job interview

The interview is the final stage in the recruitment process. Careful preparation is required.

Having an interview is worrying enough when you have to sit through it speaking in your own language, let alone in a foreign language� Here are a few rules, which should nonetheless allow you to overcome your anxiety.

Firstly, good preparation is essential: prior to this pivotal meeting, you need to gather together full documentation, in French, on the company, its products, its current state of affairs, as well as the number of staff it employs, its turnover, and so on. Also have some questions ready to ask about the nuts and bolts of the job, and the company.

The interview can assume a variety of forms. If it is a managed interview, you will have to offer quick replies to a barrage of questions. If it is semi-managed, you will be able to build on your replies. The most hazardous exercise is a free-form interview, which takes the form of an open discussion and requires a methodical approach and some structured thinking. Whatever the form of the interview, make sure you remain attentive throughout - quite often just near the end of the process, your attention begins to flag.

In addition to your experience and your qualifications, which the interviewer will already have learnt a bit about though perusing your file, he or she will also want to find out more about your personality and your level of motivation, as well as your enthusiasm, determination, open-mindedness, strength of convictions, and your ability to listen and analyze. These are the varied qualities the recruiter hopes to find in you. If you have to confront a recruiter who blasts you with a broadside of seemingly aggressive questioning, try to slow down the pace. Any objections are not necessarily to be taken negatively - the recruiter is just trying to gauge your powers of persuasion.

The 15 most frequent questions

ACADEMIC RECORD AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
01 Give me a summary of your university career.
            
02 And what about your professional experience?
            
03 What did you get out of your education?
            
04 How did you benefit from your training courses and term contract work?
            
05 What were your goals in taking on these assignments?
            
06 Why did you take on this additional training?
          
07 What was your greatest success in your last training course?
            
08 Do you think you fulfilled your goals
            
09 What were your weak points?

YOUR REASONS FOR APPLYING
10 What do you know about our company?
            
11 How long have you been looking for work?
           
12 What can you offer us? And what can we offer you?
           
13 What do you think the position involves?
           

PERSONAL DETAILS
14 Are you married or single?
           
15 What do you do in your spare time?
           

There is a French equivalent of Success and Career called "GO-Le guide des Opportunit�s de Carri�res". www.e-go.fr

It is available at a cost of 25 CHF (plus extra for postage and packing) at Success and Career.
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