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Summer job in France 2014

  • 01-07-2013 7:23pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 3


    I'm an Irish student who is studying French at university level and who would like to spend the summer of 2014 working in France in order to improve my fluency in the language whilst earning some money. Any advice on where I might find some businesses/agencies willing to employ a 19 year old Irish female student for three/four months? I was thinking that perhaps I might find work on a campsite perhaps? Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!


Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,180 ✭✭✭hfallada


    My mams friends daughter went to Frankfurt to get a job for the summer last year. She went to a hostel to stay and asked the women if she needed staff and she got a job immediately. And she also worked in a English speaking summer camp. So I say your best bet is fly into a city and try looking for a job yourself.

    I say somewhere like the south of France where they get a lot of tourist, would be your best bet. A camp site is kinda pointless as you will end up speaking English all the time( most campsites are British owned) and in my experience of several campsite, they are generally full of Dutch , Irish and English.

    Maybe try looking up a English speaking camp for French school students. They generally don't need a tefl and the money is good


  • Registered Users Posts: 4 anaspain


    Hi, I am looking for an Irish au pair to live in Spain with us from sept/oct 2013. I have 3 kids and they also speak english.
    anaspainireland@hotmail.com


  • Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭Arthur Rimbaud


    As for France, I've been recommended these guys

    http://www.prisme.eu/Web_Accueil/Index.aspx

    I can't personally vouch for them as I ended up finding a job the old fashioned way, the local newspaper. Jobs can also be posted in town halls or local placement agencies. I know it's late in the season, but Summer work is reasonably easy to come by in France. Maybe one to bear in mind for next year.


  • Registered Users Posts: 577 ✭✭✭Paczini


    Summer work is reasonably easy to come by in France. Maybe one to bear in mind for next year.
    Not in Paris.... I spent 2 weeks searching for work with no luck.. Not to mention months of applying for positions beforehand (January-June) :mad:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 750 ✭✭✭playedalive


    Hi OP I studied French in college too. I actually did a language course but I knew people from my class who did charity work in Paris for an organisation called les petits freres des pauvres. Here's the website: http://www.petitsfreres.asso.fr/benevolat.html. It's charity work but they do pay for your accommodation and your flights. You also get food stamps. The work is visiting elderly people who have no family and need some company/food. You get to practise your French.

    I've heard of other people going with clubmed and getting to practise their French on their package holidays (being a tour guide or like un animateur/camp leader type). http://www.clubmedjobs.fr/

    Bonne chance


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  • Registered Users Posts: 12,775 ✭✭✭✭Gbear


    A good bet is the summer holiday destinations.

    Places like Nice take on buckets of English speaking staff for the summer. You'll obviously have a good chance of getting work in Irish bars.

    They have plenty of campsites too, if that's what you're after.

    I arrived late (in June I think) without having made any contact with people beforehand and I managed to get a job after about 10 days. It's much easier if you plan ahead and start sending CVs to places before March/April.


  • Registered Users Posts: 146 ✭✭lauz94


    I am also looking into jobs in France for the upcoming summer like the poster above! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 1 CinZia


    Hi! ~ I am in midwest USA also seeking some Summer work in France 2014 (I have summers free / libre w. my new job.
    I have a bachelors degree in French.. (Prefer the BEACH area..;)..
    Advice appreciated. ~ thanks!
    Have done ....
    * Child care.
    * Education assistant.
    * Computer support
    * Call Center, Customer Service
    * Artist


  • Registered Users Posts: 23 GMusicMan


    My advice is to decide what you want to do : campsites, barwork etc and try and secure a job online. Websites, facebook messaging bars etc.
    If you're looking for barwork/waiting tables be prepared to work 50-60 hours a week for 6.50 or less an hour but usually with tips (of which you can live on when it's about 30 bucks a night)

    If you don't get any bites online, decide where you want to go. I went to Nice myself and yes it's every touristic but this can be a double edged sword because you're also competing with lots of other people with the same bright idea. Thus consider less touristic places. The ideal place for you to learn French would be a small village where no one speaks English, in Nice EVERYONE speaks english and you have to work to get them to continue speaking to you in French (this gets easier the better your French, by the end because of my accent people thought I was from another Francophone country)
    book a flight and have enough money for your flight home plus money to survive for 3-4 weeks. Word to the wise -money goes fast in the South of France , A pint in a pub is about 6.50.
    I wouldn't bother sending out CVs to bars in advance, do the footwork and knock on doors, oh and always ask to speak to the boss 'cos managers will often fob you off and throw your CV in the poubelle.
    Bon courage and if you've any questions don't hesitate to PM me(I'm procrastinating from studying for my French exam and will welcome the distraction) ;)

    EDIT: While everyone speaks English there is still ample opportunity to improve your French, in bar work you can speak with customers or other staff. Where I worked they wouldn't hire French people (something to do with them not wanting to work for less than minimum wage not to mention the high numbers of English speaking tourists) I did however learn from my colleagues who had lived there longer than me and also made the effort to speak as much as possible on my days off -language exchanges, making French friends drunkenly chatting up French chicks in nightclubs (all in the name of Science). Also the French holiday in August, the clientele went from being 20% French in May to about 80% in August so something to consider also.


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