Heck I think you need to do a two year degree in France just to stack shelves in Leclerc.
It is the same in the fitness industry: In the UK you can distance learning course with live practical assessment after a few weeks. In France you need to do a two year course -- just to teach aerobics.
All I can say is that I got on very well in that area.... just my personal experience....but perhaps I should shut up, I wouldn't want to lead this young lady down the wrong route...perhaps I should contact all my friends and family with good jobs on the Cote D'Azur and encourage them to leave this hell hole en masse ;-)
My husband grew up on the cote d'azur and it is not as bad as you say Veronique, there is good and bad everywhere. My friends and colleagues would be shocked to think they might be classed as sad and dependant with sugar daddys :) I know nobody like that - they are all strong wonderful women with nice jobs/ or careers.
Ditto Doreen
Good advice Veronique, I am quite a care-free person, but have always fallen on my feet, not the life-style for everyone though ;-)! I used to live and work in that area, and I am still very much connected to it. As I work in a tourism related industry connected to the Cote D'Azur so I'm not just being a dreamer :) I do know of young people working there, and it is not necessarily all doom and gloom. A fair bit of dirty money yes, indeed, but there are still some nice hotels and restaurants and other industries especially around Nice/Antibes. If I was stuck in Bordeaux/Toulouse at 20 years of age I would want to scream :) But that is just me, and you never know there could be others like me who just want to break out of the mould :) Also it is never too late to get back into education, I didnt do my degree until I was in my mid 30s :) This young lady may just like a year out working in tourism to get a bit of money together and decide what she wants to do.
Martin, I wouldn't have thought there would be a lot of choice of suitable jobs in Bordeaux somehow. It is a bit dull and serious for someone young. Why not go somewhere more exciting and fun like the Cote D'Azur where there are usually many more jobs in the tourism industry? She could broaden her job search on online Pole emploi. Also sign up to Anglo Info for that region or listen to Riviera Radio. There are often jobs advertised. Or would she be too far away from her friends and family? I think it is what I would do if I was 20 :)
"Thirded" Véro's advice, this is France not the UK! I used to have people on out Licence Pro techniques de commercialisation de produits de terroir just to get a job in a shop...! You really do need a specific qualification to get a chance of being interviewed for what ever you want to do here :-(
Oh, and you're also legally liable to support her while she's studying too - but as Véro says, there's far more help/aides/allocs for students + she'll get out there and do stages and start building up a network of possibilities and add strings to her bow ;-)
Unfortunately, I can only second Veronique. You daughter needs to go to university, which probably means studying for a few years. There are options like BTS where you for 2 years only, but they tend to be reluctant to accept young people who come from "L" especially if they have been idle for a year. For the time being, I'm afraid that McDonalds might be her best option while she waits to start university. Otherwise, with her English skills, she could probably find a job in a touristic area, in a restaurant for example, but that wouldn't last longer than a few months.
Advertised vacancies are basically a waste of time. She needs to write up a CV and go to introduce herself in person to employers.
Good luck to both of you!
While she doesn't earn any or much money YOU are still legally obliged to support her. Frankly the best thing she could do is go to university because she can get a grant to live on and APL to help pay her rent, as well as having a chance of getting some sort of part-time job, eg she could be a pionne in a collège or lycée from September (too late for this year though, she needs to leave a dossier with the Rectorat asap providing she's a student and to accept they may send her god-knows-where).
Otherwise there aren't a lot of options - the Bac is just a way into other things, not an end in itself, I do wish my Terminales would take this on board; nowadays especially, as virtually everyone has a Bac of one sort or another they are on a hiding to nothing if that is all they have, especially if they have a Bac Général which is specifically designed for entry into higher education, not for entering the world of work. If they want to get jobs with just a Bac général they are actually less successful than people with a Bac technologique or Pro or a CAP because they are seen as arty-farty types.
Sorry not to be of more use but it sounds as if she hasn't really thought very realistically about her options. If she really wants to work in hotellerie or tourism etc she could see if she could get onto a BTS Tourisme course BUT this years Bac Pro and Bac Technologique people will have priority, then this year's Bac Généraux and only then anyone else - and it is in demand so places are hard to get. The likelihood is that with a Bac L in the hotel/restaurant business, unless it is a family business & you are pistonné, you will peak at cleaning bathrooms & making beds & washing-up while the lowly STMGs you laughed at at lycée, (let alone the Bac Pros who have validated work experience) have some sort of career progression.