Specialists aside, most
Britons, North Americans,
Australians and Kiwis who
manage to survive for long
periods of time in France
do it on luck, brazenness
and willingness to live in
pretty basic conditions.
In the cities, bar work,
club work, freelance
translating or teaching
English, software fixing,
data processing and typing
or working as an au pair
are some of the ways
people scrape by; in the
countryside, the options
come down to seasonal
fruit- or grape-picking,
teaching English, busking
or DIY oddjobbing.
Remember that unemployment
is very high; the current
rate in France is hovering
at around eleven percent.
Anyone staying in
France for over three
months must have a carte
de séjour , or
residency permit -
citizens of the EU are
entitled to one
automatically. France has
a minimum wage (the
SMIC - Salaire Minimum
Interprofessional de
Croissance), indexed to
the cost of living; it's
currently around 40F/?6.10
an hour (for a maximum
169-hour month).
Employers, however, are
likely to pay lower wages
to temporary foreign
workers who don't have
easy legal resources and
to make them work longer
hours. By law, however,
all EU nationals are
entitled to exactly the
same pay, conditions and
trade union rights as
French nationals.
If you're looking for
something secure, it's
important to plan well in
advance. A few books which
might be worth consulting
are Work Your Way
Around the World by Susan
Griffiths (Vacation
Work), A Year Between
and Working Holidays
(both Central Bureau) and Living
and Working in France
by Victoria Pybus,
published by Vacation
Work, 1998. In France
, check out the "Offres
d'Emploi" (Job
Offers) in Le Monde, Le
Figaro and the International
Herald Tribune ; keep
an eye on the noticeboards
at English and North
American bookshops and
churches; and try the
youth information agency
CIDJ (Centre d'Information
et de Documentation
Jeunesse), 101 quai Branly,
17015 Paris, or CIJ (Centre
d'Information Jeunesse)
offices in other main
cities, which sometimes
have temporary jobs for
foreigners. The national
employment agency, ANPE (Agence
Nationale pour l'Emploi),
with offices all over
France, advertises
temporary jobs in all
fields and, in theory,
offers a whole range of
services to job-seekers
open to all EU citizens,
but is not renowned for
its helpfulness to
foreigners. Non-EU
citizens will have to show
a work permit to apply for
any of their jobs. Vac-Job,
46 av Réné-Coty, 17014
Paris (tel 01.
43.20.70.51), publishes
the annual Emplois d'Été
en France (Summer Jobs in
France ), which may be
useful.
Finding a job in a French
language school is
also best done in advance.
In Britain, jobs are often
advertised in the Guardian'
s "Education"
section (every Tues), or
in the weekly Times
Educational Supplement
. Late summer is usually
the best time. You don't
need fluent French to get
a post, but a degree and a
TEFL (Teaching English as
a Foreign Language)
qualification are normally
required. The month-long
TEFL course currently
costs £944. The annual ELT
Guide (£12.95) gives
a thorough breakdown of
TEFL courses available;
the booklet is produced by
EFL Ltd, 1 Malet St,
London WC1E 7JA (tel
020/7255 1969, fax 255
1972), and the same
company publishes the
monthly ELT Gazette
which is filled with job
advertisements
(subscription for 12
issues £25.50). Vacation
Work, 9 Park End St,
Oxford OX1 1HJ (tel
01865/241 978, fax 790
885) publishes the useful Teaching
English Abroad (£10.99
plus £1.50 post and
packaging) while the
British Council's Web site
( www.britcoun.org/english/engvacs.htm
) has a list of
English-teaching
vacancies. If you apply
for jobs from home, most
schools will fix up the
necessary papers for you.
It's just feasible to find
a teaching job when you're
in France, but you may
have to accept
semi-official status and
no job security. For the
addresses of schools, look
under "Écoles de
Langues" in the
"Professions"
directory of the local
phone book. Offering private
lessons (via
university notice-boards
or classified ads), you'll
have lots of competition,
and it's hard to reach the
people who can afford it,
but it's always worth a
try.
Some people find jobs selling
magazines on the
street and leafleting
by asking people already
doing it for the agency
address. The
American/Irish/British bars
and restaurants in the
main cities and resorts
sometimes have vacancies.
You'll need to speak
French, look smart and be
prepared to work very long
hours. Obviously, the
better your French, the
better your chances are of
finding work.
Au pair work is
usually arranged through
one of a dozen agencies,
listed in Vacation Work's
guide
. In Britain, The Lady
is the magazine for
classified adverts for
such jobs, arranged
privately. As initial
numbers to ring, try
Avalon Au Pairs (tel
01344/778 246, www.city2000.com/avalonaupairs/top
) in Britain, the American
Institute for Foreign
Study (tel 203/869 9090, www.aifs.com
) in the US, or Accueil
Familial des Jeunes Étrangers
(tel 01.42.22.50.34;
690F/?105.23 joining fee)
in Paris. These have
positions for female au
pairs only and will fill
you in on the general
terms and conditions
(never very generous); you
shouldn't get paid less
than 1650F/?252 a month
(on top of board and
lodging and some sort of
travel pass). It is wise
to have an escape route
(like a ticket home) in
case you find the
conditions intolerable and
your employers
insufferable. It may be
better to apply once in
France, where you can at
least meet the family
first and check things
out.
Temporary jobs in the travel
industry revolve
around courier work -
supervising and working on
bus tours or summer
campsites. You'll need
good French (and maybe
even another language) and
should write to as many
tour operators as you can,
preferably in early
spring. In Britain, ads
occasionally appear in the
Guardian 's
"Media" section
(every Mon) while travel
magazines like the very
reliable Wanderlust
(every two months; £2.80)
have a Job Shop section
which often advertises job
opportunities with tour
companies. Getting work as
a courier on a campsite is
slightly easier. It
usually involves putting
up tents at the beginning
of the season, taking them
down again at the end and
general maintenance and
troubleshooting work in
the months between; Canvas
Holidays (tel
08709/022022) are worth
approaching. The British
company PGL Young
Adventure Ltd, Alton
Court, Penyard Lane,
Ross-on-Wye HR9 5GL (tel
01989/764 211, www.pgl.co.uk
) runs several children's
activity centres in
France, employing people
proficient in watersports
or with youth-work
experience, and offers
general catering, domestic
and driving work, between
May and September every
year; you should apply
before April.
An offbeat possibility
if you want to discover
rural life is being a working
guest on an organic
farm. The period can be
anything from a week to a
couple of months and the
work may involve
cheese-making, market
gardening, beekeeping,
wine-producing and
building. For details of
the scheme and a list of
French addresses, you can
write to Willing Workers
on Organic Farms (WWOOF),
19 Bradford Rd, Lewes BN7
1RB, in the UK; WWOOF W
Tree, Buchan, VIC 3885 ( www.earthlink.com.au/wwoof
) in Australia; or WWWOOF
RR2, Carlson Rd, S18 C9,
Nelson, British Columbia
VIL 5P5 in Canada,
enclosing an
self-addressed envelope.
Claiming benefit
Any British or EU
citizen who has been
signing on for
job-seeker's
allowance for a
minimum period of four
to six weeks at home,
and intends to continue
doing so in France,
needs a letter of
introduction from their
own Social Security
office, plus an ?303
certificate of
authorization (be sure
to give them plenty of
warning to prepare
this). You must register
within seven days with
the ANPE (Agence
Nationale pour l'Emploi),
whose offices are listed
under
"Administration du
Travail et de l'Emploi"
in the Yellow Pages or
ANPE in the White Pages.
It's possible to
claim benefit for up to
three months while you
look for work, but it
can often take that
amount of time for the
paperwork to be
processed
.
Pensioners can
arrange for their pensions
to be paid in France,
but not, unfortunately,
to receive French state
pensions.
Studying in France
It's relatively easy to
be a
student in
France. Foreigners pay
no more than French
nationals to enrol for a
course, and the only
problem then is to
support yourself. Your
carte
de séjour and - if
you're an EU citizen -
social security will be
assured, and you'll be
eligible for subsidized
accommodation, meals and
all the student
reductions. In general,
French universities are
much less formal than
British ones and many
people perfect their
fluency in the language
while studying. There
are strict entry
requirements, including
an exam in French, for
undergraduate degrees,
but not for postgraduate
courses. For full
details
and prospectuses ,
contact the Cultural
Service of any French
embassy or consulate
. In Britain, the
embassy will refer you
to the French Institute,
17 Queensbury Place,
London SW7 2DT (tel
020/7838 2148), a
cultural centre which
has a cinema and a
library where you can go
to pick up a list of
language courses in
France (library hours
Tues-Fri noon-7pm &
Sat noon-6pm); otherwise
send a letter requesting
the list accompanied by
a self-addressed
envelope. The embassies
and consulates can also
give details of
language
courses at French
universities and
colleges, which are
often combined with
lectures on French
"civilization"
and usually very costly.
You'll find ads for
lesser language courses
advertised all over the
place.
It's also worth
noting that if you're a
full-time non-EU student
in France
, you can get a non-EU work
permit for the
following summer so long
as your visa is still
valid.
