Working in France

Finding a job in France is not a particularly easy task for foreigners as many people already know. Being able to speak only a basic level of French also doesn't help matters when trying to find a job either. For those who may be thinking about trying to work in France for the first time doing a non-professional job there seems to be a few limited options. The primary job for young and non-professional foreigners is being an "au pair" or nanny. This seems to be a popular job for a lot of foreigners in France because it can allow you an automatic place to live if you're a live-in au pair, it can give you a taste of French family life and can also expose you to the language. Currently, I have a friend who is a live-in au pair and there seems to be a few negatives to be aware of. One, as a live-in au pair you're definitely underpaid and overworked. I hate to use the word "slave" here, but you're very much at the beckon call of the needs of the family and most of your time is spent taking care of the children and tending to the needs of the household whether it be cooking, cleaning, taking the kids to and picking them up from school, helping with homework, etc. Depending on the family, you may also be asked to help out on the weekends although this is usually supposed to be your time off. This job seems to be a bit isolating, so it seems to be a good idea to also enroll in a French class or to have some other activities scheduled so that you get to interact with other people than just the family. The hours of work for the family varies of course, it's typically Monday through Friday for 5-8 hours per day and the pay is minimal since they are providing room and board. My friend says she only gets around 80 euros per week for all of this plus when the family goes on vacation she goes with them as well and has to be available non-stop. The other problem also seems to be that if you don't get along well with the parents or the children, this can also be difficult since you're with them all the time. Although I've spoken about my enjoyment of the French parenting style and way of family life, I've also experienced the opposite side of this with parents and children who seem very stressed and can be difficult to be around. This of course can be difficult to know until you begin to work with the family, but once you've committed to working with your family and possibly have no other place to move to, you're stuck. You can also look for au pair jobs that aren't a live-in situation which obviously gives you more freedom, but you'll need to secure your own housing. A magazine I would definitely recommend for English-speaking foreigners in France is "Fusac" (www.fusac.fr). You can find it in some hostels, english-speaking book stores, the American embassy and other random public places and it's a great resource for English-speaking people looking for jobs, apartments, etc. You can also find a lot of agencies who help place au pairs in this magazine as well.

The job I opted for which also seems to be quite popular in France, is to be an English tutor/babysitter. If you're a native English speaker, this is another excellent way to obtain a job since a lot of French people want to learn English. You can advertise to work as a personal tutor getting money under the table, or you can work with agencies who hire tutors to teach children and teenagers. If you have any sort of teaching credentials or experience, you will have an easier time and you can apply for jobs working with adults teaching business English which I think pay more. Not having any teaching credentials, but a background working with children, I opted to apply with a company called Babylangues who hires tutors to work with children ages 3-12 teaching English. These jobs also don't require you to already know French which was another bonus for me. Be aware however that the ads for these types of companies don't accurately tell you how much they actually pay. The advertisement indicated 13-26 Euro per hour but in fact it really only pays 10 euro per hour after taxes. I'm not sure who they pay the 26 euro to, but it's definitely not for the tutors. On the positive side, I went to just one interview and was hired the same day and before I had even signed any paperwork, they were already trying to connect me with some potential families. This in fact was a bit strange since in America I was always used to going through the human resource process of completing your initial paperwork and the agreement about how much you were getting paid, but with this company, they didn't do this.

Having worked with this company now for over a month and having worked with two different families, I can say the company is quite disorganized and the children you are assigned to can vary greatly. I was initially assigned to a 5 year old little boy for three days per week. My duties were to pick him up from school and walk him home, give him a snack or "gouter," play with him, take him to the park, give him a bath, his dinner and during all this time speak English with him to expose him to the language as much as possible. The teaching style of these types of companies who work with children is more natural where you don't use any text books or exercises but rather day-to-day life as your primary teaching tool. This can be interesting however when the child is very young and you don't speak French. Although the company says you don't need to know French, I, in fact, think a basic level is important in order to communicate with the child about things and also to be able to understand what they're communicating and needing. Unfortunately, the boy I was assigned was quite challenging and the very first day I enjoyed the experience of a child who was trying to hit me while screaming and crying because he didn't want to take a bath. Yikes! Having worked with emotionally disturbed children before it was not the first time I had seen this, but for a tutoring position I was not at all expecting this. I attempted to work with the boy and the family for three weeks, but the boy's behavior changed very little and I wasn't willing to deal with it for 10 lousy euros per hour. Thankfully, I was also assigned to a 5 year old little girl and have quite enjoyed working with her. I do however, still find it strange that after one meeting with a family they basically hand over their child and home to you since you are typically alone with the child in their home most of the time. Babylangues did request a criminal background check from my country of origin as well as one from France, but I still think the interview process is quite lacking.

With this kind of job you can expect to work anywhere from 3 hours per week to 15 since your work hours will be from about 4:30 to 7:30 Monday through Friday. With the right family or families this can be a cool experience and not very demanding of your time. It can also give you a better glimpse into French culture and family life since you're in their home, community and picking up the child from school. Just know that the pay won't be anything spectacular and that this particular company is quite disorganized. Also be aware that this company does not help you obtain your social security number or "numero de securité sociale." This was a bit frustrating since I've been told that when you're hired with a French company they're supposed to apply for a provisional number for new employees who don't already have one. The social security number is important to obtain because it allows you to apply for the socialized medical insurance in France. The application process for a social security number is supposed to take about 6-8 weeks when everything is submitted correctly. This rarely happens however, since the health administration in France doesn't tell you about all the documents you have to submit, so the paperwork gets sent back and forth. Ah, French bureaucracy, fun!!

I am aware that there are of course, hotel, retail and restaurant jobs also available but it seems to help if you know someone who is already working in the same place and can recommend you personally. It also seems that you will need to have a basic to intermediate level of French depending on the position. Lastly, another website to check out is www.craigslist.fr for job listings and apartment hunting as well. Happy job hunting!!