France is not the land of golden opportunities for expats

It's not easy to find a job in France, especially if you are a foreigner. If you search online for work before you move abroad, you'll find the prospects are bleak unless you are well experienced in your field and can speak French. Being "on the spot" will benefit your job hunt once you arrive, but most English expats I have spoken to find it hard to find a job at first.

Living here in the South of France, work is very seasonal. There are opportunities to work on the many private boats in summer, especially with English speaking crew, but experience counts and these jobs are very popular. Although the city is packed with tourists six months of the year, summer work in hotels and restaurants is very difficult to find if your French is not fluent.

If you are looking for manual work on building sites, painting & decorating etc, ask any people you have met if they can help with your job search. It may be a good excuse to frequent your local bar, as these places are often hubs of the local community and any work that is available or in the pipeline will often be discussed over a drink.

Setting up your own business can also can be very tough, even the French have a hard time establishing their chosen field. Expect an uphill struggle where you will bombarded with form after form to fill in for yet another license. The French Chamber of Commerce states 70% of businesses close after their first year. I felt very sorry for some young entrepreneurs last year who started up a new beach restaurant, they lost a whole seasons trade as they were not issued their license before August and had to wait a month until the staff returned from the month long holiday.

So by all means have dreams about a well paid summer job, or the excitement of running your own cafe etc in France, but perhaps its best to keep these ideas as dreams than to waste time trying to make a living in a tough country or face financial suicide with the headache and expense of setting up on your own.

Please refer to more information on working in France here.

Thanks for reading

Elizabeth