French Job Market

So you’re not a historian then. :grin:

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Basic answer is should be easy, if in a large town but not so you’re out in the sticks. You’re serious during the preliminary job interview’ not using haha, hahaha as you have many times on this tread. You’re willing and physically / mentally able to put in a days graft and use your head, prove yourself.
Personally I wouldn’t take you on as it seems to me to that it’s a hobby job you are looking for to get into the system. Not someone that needs employment.
If you’re looking for something to do whilst over here many charities and ONG’s would love to have some help.

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Thanks for your input.

It’s not a hobby job per se, but not a career either. I have other means of income and I’d like to add some more to that without having to commit to a full time job - I’ve done enough of that. I have children and a wife and I want to spend more time making memories with them.

Good luck!

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Au contraire. Some would say French employment rules are very advanced socially.

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Isn’t that why P&O couldn’t sack its French (or other European) workers in the same way as its UK workers…? :thinking:

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Hmmm…

I thought this was being stamped-on nowadays… and makes me wonder if the folk who earn “au black” declare the income to the Tax Folk each year… I do hope so.

If they declared the income it wouldn’t be ‘au black’. :wink:

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I’d thought they believed they could do that because those contracts were based in Jersey, rather than mainland UK (whose laws it seems WERE broken by their actions anyway).

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I thought the main issue with working on the black is avoidance of social security contributions, rather than income tax.
When a person has a main job and is paying full social security contributions through that, and earns a bit extra, I can see how they might resent feeling they are paying twice. Likewise retired people. I guess that is between them and their conscience.
But when a person is earning but chooses to dodge their obligations and pay no social contributions at all, I can see no excuse for that.
And somehow it seems worse when that person is a newcomer to France and has never paid a cent into the system.
Is this a goody two shoes attitude? To me it is a matter of self respect. I would not feel good about myself.

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“Just” :rofl: obvious you are not accustomed to France!! If you want to get a job here before your kids leave home you best get a wiggle on!

Aujourd’hui le Service de la Nationalité des Français nés et établis hors de France annonce un délai moyen de 36 mois pour le traitement d’un dossier de demande de CNF .

https://www.assemblee-afe.fr › certif…

Certificat de nationalité française – délai de délivrance - Assemblée des Français de l’étranger (AFE)

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Jane, thank you! Im aware the CNF can take a while. From my understanding, however, I don’t need to request a CNF (correct me if I’m wrong) and would be able to apply for work with an identification card - is that not the case?

I have aquired my French birth certificate and can utilize that at the embassy to receive a passport and identification card. I would also plan on having my transcribed marriage certificate and the children’s birth certificates added to my livret, therefore making the kids French by birth and able to receive passports as well.

That was my plan, anyways.

Following up on that, since my wife would then be living in France and married to a French citizen, my understanding is that she would be able to work as well. From what I’ve gathered, she would be able to enjoy most of the benefits the French do except for the right to vote.

You will get your own livret when you go and register your marriage, it is one where you are the parent not the child. Get your children on it dans la foulée, they will get French birth certificates from Nantes (which is where all French people born abroad are registered) oh but you know this since it presumably applies to you too.

How old are they? Do they all speak good French? School can be tough if you don’t and it can restrict your opportunities, just something of which to be aware. The younger they are the easier it is and the better the outcomes as long as there is adequate proper Francophone support at home for devoirs etc.

Also don’t underestimate culture shock, for all of you.
Good luck!

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Supermarkets regularly take students to cover for holiday periods, and my understanding is that many rural brand supermarkets are in fact franchises, so the franchisee probably sets their own employment terms with contracts that might differ from those to be found in the same brand stores elsewhere, but actually owned and run by the brand. My understanding from talking to the cashiers at the local Carrefour near the office is that they are on “flexi-hours”, and can be called in to work as and when it suits the employer, within the limits set by French law. Some of the shifts are pretty strange though, a couple of hours in the morning, then nothing till say 3pm or 4pm and work through til closure - stuff like that. You can be sure that most supermarket employers will be exploiting every loophole in French employment law that they can.

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Vero, good information, thank you.

The older child has taken a few years of French but is still rather weak. I think he will struggle most as he’s a teenager (we may look at online options if in-person is too overwhelming). The younger one is 4 and I have hopes that he will be bi-lingual once all is said and done, fingers crossed there.

My wife has been learning on her own and is further along than the teen. As for me, we spoke French in the home when I grew up in the US. I dont have an accent when I speak but I really need to brush up on my vocabulary.

My vision is for the 4 year old to have a similar experience to me growing up, just flipped (speaking English at home while speaking French in public). I think that will be more beneficial for him in France than it was for me in the US.

I do expect some major culture shock, even for me since I’ve never actually lived there.

Merci :slight_smile:

RicePudding, this is excellent information and very interesting. I cant say ive heard of too many people having their shifts split through the day like that in the US - maybe waiters? Still, work is work. Good to know that they seem to hire some part time employees. Thank you!

Home schooling not allowed here except for very particular circumstances. Anyway if teenager is to live here then needs to get to know the culture and make friends. Hiding away in front of a computer would be more isolating. Who knows he may want to stay here and having elements of trad french schooling will be useful. So going to a real school with lots of parental support would be preferable.

You will have some sort of accent! May not be an American one, but you will have one - probably same as your parents. But I would be hugely surprised if people can!t tell you are American straight off!

I havent looked at the legalities of online schooling, so thanks for pointing that out. I’ll probably need to do a bit more research there.

You aren’t wrong about having an accent like my parents. My mother was born and raised in France, speaks perfect French but has an accent when speaking English. My father was born and raised in the US, speaks perfect English but has a strong accent in French (he struggles with words like chevaux vs cheveux). Thanks to both of them, my siblings and I got the best of both languages.

Teenage will be the complicated bit - ignoring the hormones/moody bit - how close are they too their critical exams … Learning the language is one thing - learning the language and changing curriculum at the same time with life defining exams looming is something else.

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