Please look at my reply to John’s post in context. The main part of his post implied that there were no jobs for well educated people in France. That is untrue.
Well in my case it was literally true because there was no job for me, and I assume that having postgraduate qualifications counts as well educated. For the first couple of years I was here I was struggling to get my business established and I was looking very seriously for a job. I speak fluent French, I don’t live in a big city but neither do I live in the sticks, I guess you’d call it a small town, and unemployment in this area is slightly below national average. Compared to the UK where I’d just come from it was an eye opener how few job openings there were when I started looking. I put applications in wherever I thought I stood a chance and I had all of 1 interview which wasn’t successful. I never had any problem finding work whenever I wanted it in the UK, in fact I’ve never been “on the dole” in my life.
Since then I’ve come into contact, through teaching English to jobseekers, with many long-term unemployed French people, most of them well qualified and very employable or so it seemed to me. One for instance was an accountant who lives in Paris who was made redundant when her employer went bankrupt, it took her nearly 3 years to find another job and she considered herself lucky because being in her late 40s and knowing the employment situation, she hadn’t been at all confident she would ever find one.
France itself recognises the problem and the effect it’s having on the economy, the root cause is principally French employment law and the burden it places on employers that makes them reluctant to create new jobs, it’s been discussed ad infinitum during all the election speeches but nobody has the answer to it yet.
2 Likes
It’s irrelevant to the point that I was making. The fact is the majority of French people have no need to leave France to find suitable employment. To state that France is not where the jobs are is not true.
I have been through all that too, Anna, I have a bac +5 (yes French maîtrise) but found it equally hard even with the qualifications and fluent French. I’ve taught in many places and one of the funniest/saddest examples was when teaching Licence Pro students at an IUT, who were “hoping” that their Bac+3 would get them that job in the local intermarché. A friend is in just that same boat, good degree and working in Géant. I’m sure there must be similar stories in the UK but not to the same extent, the examples I’ve given are French people btw,
Perhaps one of the easiest ways to demonstrate a huge cultural difference is my own - good Honours Degree in French and Italian from Exeter, Maitrîse français langue étrangère from AIx-en-Provence and all I can do here is teach (oh yes, I have a PGCE MFL too) or translate (both of which I’ve done) yet in the UK those same qualifications open so many more and varied doors, that classic being graduate training schemes - a little late now! - or retraining to be a lawyer etc. e.g. my sister has an English degree but retrained to become a barrister in an accelerated scheme.
not really a rant but perhaps some food for thought for those who have ne real experience of either the education system or jobs market here, or both for that matter 
2 Likes
Thank you all for your input and valued advice. I think my daughter who is 16 and currently on an animal welfare course at college, this would give her the ability to be an RSPCA inspector or Zoo keeper for example but she wants to train as a dog groomer and be self employed, if our son trained as an electrician or similar, would it not be possible to be self employed . As for myself and wife we are self employed in the Uk with a guest house and would do gates orf our own and maybe handle the letting and turnaround for other people who don’t live in France.
If your son wants to work in France as a self-employed electrician then becoming qualified in France might be a good idea because the rules aren’t the same, that goes, I think, for most trades, including dog grooming which seems fairly popular, (I see dog hair salons all over the place, esp near traffic lights, my children used to love commiserating with the poor wretched creatures being tarted up in the window).
But be aware that they will still need a good level of French to pass any course they may choose to do because there is a fair amount of general education as well as purely vocational stuff.
1 Like
I guess I’m just summing up most opinions when I say that you should probably wait until they have completed their UK education at this stage. The lack of French language would already set them back if they came here now. I agree that you should try to have a holiday home here first so that you all can ease yourselves in gently. Perhaps you could rent it part of the year when you are not using it? Easier said than done I know… good luck anyway.
1 Like
Think you should let them finish their schooling in the UK. My nephew came out when he was14 and hated it. He went back to the UK when he was 16.
We think we will follow the majority advice and stay in the UK for the kids education as we don’t want to mess that up for them. This leaves the question though as to whether it would be possible for young people to be successful in France if we came over when they are older. To try and learn French and a trade or job skill sounds very difficult.
I think you would need to assess the situation nearer the time. It’s all very much shifting sands at the moment - there’s Brexit but more importantly here, is the French elections. If Le Pen gets in, it might make things harder for incomers. If Fillon gets in, remains to be seen exactly what he’ll do with the economy.
Most things are possible, but depending on the circumstances some are more possible than others.
Certainly it’s a lot easier moving to France as a self-sufficient retiree than as a person who needs to earn an income. As a s-s Brit retiree you can, at least for the time being, pretty much treat it like a long holiday with a certain amount of extra red tape to sort out, but a person needing an income has more challenges to take on. Would you not want to live here unless the kids come too?
Our girls were actually 14 and 17 when we moved to France in 2009. There’s no denying it has been difficult and challenging! Certainly no French Dream - but we have survived - and the eldest
daughter, now 24, graduated with a BTS in Tourism and a License Professionelle en Oenotourisme (BAC+3) from Bordeaux University and now has a superb job with an excellent salary in a Domaine Viticole as an Assistante en Oenotourisme - where she does visits, wine tastings, events, marketing etc.
Youngest daughter (21) got her Brevet at a local school then her Baccalaureat at a nearby lycée - and is now in her final year at Liverpool University as she wanted to do a specific course there.
She’s looking at bi-lingual job opportunities when she graduates. Both girls are 100% fluent in French.
So it can be done - whilst running a busy Chambres d’hotes! So if you like a big challenge and your whole life turned upside down I would recommend it! But if not, it will be much easier to wait until they are older - and then decide if you still want to pursue your French move. Or buy a cheap French property in an area you like then that way you can make the move when you are ready!
1 Like
I’d just like to point out that you may see a biased amount of success stories on here or in any French forum. That’s simply because those who moved with kids at that age and found it to be a total disaster (and I’ve known of a few) have more than likely gone back to the UK and never visit these places anymore, putting the bad memories behind them.
4 Likes
I have just realised that I have met a young man who was in the same situation, he had come to France with his parents aged about 14. I think as far as the parents were concerned all was well, he was apprenticed to one of my artisans, a very nice man, who was delighted to show off his ‘bilingual’ apprentice.
In fact he wasn’t what I’d call bilingual at all, his English was still at the level of a 13 or 14 year-old’s and although he spoke French ‘fluently’ he spoke like a primary-school child and barely read or wrote in either language. I don’t think he had a very glorious or fulfilling future ahead of him. He was about 19 when I met him, he wasn’t very happy with life although he thought his apprenticeship was ok, and I could see why.
I feel he was short-changed, in terms of opportunities and what to do with his life, by his parents’ move here and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
I may of course be entirely wrong and he might have been worse off in the UK, dropped out of school etc, and perhaps he really was better off in France, but I did think at the time that it was a shame, to end up betwixt and between, as it were.
1 Like
It’s not going to be easy for them. Have you asked them what they think?
Personally I would wait, for their sakes but maybe Brexit is making you want to move before the door closes.
Thank you to everyone for your time and advice. We have decided to wait until our son finishes school at least and see how we feel about it then. Maybe we will just buy a holiday home in France.
3 Likes
We base almost every thing on education and financial good health when we think of our future happiness and moving on to a better life.
So I am not a prime example but I left school at 16 with just O levels and gradually find my direction as a restaurant owner and a chef not every parents ideal career for their kid. But here in my region in France trying to find chefs/caterers is hard! Just as hard as finding an electrician.
We all find our way if we have gumption, ability and from what develops within us forms the structure of our lives.
Finding a good job here without a degree is nigh-on impossible, all four of our kids went to Uni and the two that saw it through to the end have now got career paths whereas the boys are struggling although the youngest (who’s a volunteer pompier) gets so many shifts that he’s virtually full-time, the eldest son’s prospects at 25 with just his Bac are poor and severely restricted.
Tim what we see as restricted is in our minds!
So many of you look at France and see figures of unemployment and you do not take into consideration how individual each person is and how they find their own way.
Do not forget what UK is going through. Does not seem to be a great place to grow up really.
The figures for youth unemployment in France are in fact widely misreported/misunderstood…
https://www.independent.co.uk/infact/france-youth-unemployment-oecd-a7752816.html