Moving to montreal. Any English speaking jobs??

Chancer3001

Hi.

I'm looking at taking a career break and moving to montreal for at least a year.

I went there two summers ago for 10 weeks and fell in love with the place.

Now, I did French for my leaving cert, but I'm poor at it.

My problems are, I can't think of any / many jobs that I could get when I don't speak proper French .

I'm currently an irish and pe teacher so both of those aren't much help to me!

Any help or suggestions welcome

jaymcg91

Would you not learn French to at least a high basic standard before moving?

Chancer3001

jaymcg91 wrote: »

Would you not learn French to at least a high basic standard before moving?

Because I'm looking at an alternative to "learn French "

I'm seeing if there's any way I could get jobs without French.

Even if I took a grind a day at 40 a pop, my french wouldn't be good enough or fluent enough to "have french" and do an interview in french.
So I'll need an interview in English for a job where I speak English.

jaymcg91

http://www.city-data.com/forum/montreal/439072-how-montreal-if-you-dont-speak.html

Very challenging but not impossible is the TL;DR of that.

People are saying the infrastructure is all in french (transport etc).

montreal2011

Canada is officially bi-lingual. Quebec is not, it's officially French only (not considering Aboriginal reserves and other exceptions for Aboriginals).

Montréal is fairly bi-lingual. Outside on Montréal, the rest of Quebec is pretty much French speaking only, expect anyone you encounter outside of Montréal to have no English.

In Montréal, the west part of the island is traditionally English speaking and the east is French speaking, with the downtown area a mix of both.

You will for sure be cutting down the available jobs if you cannot speak French. Even serving in places like McDonalds you need to have both, but you will often find staff who speak French only. You will almost never find someone serving who has English only.

Since French is the official language of Quebec, it is the official language in the workplace. There are places that can and do work in English, but they are not allowed to discriminate against staff who speak French only.

Exceptions that allow a company to work in English are for example a company that is nationwide and their HQ is in Quebec. They can choose to make their workplace English or French, but they still must not discriminate staff who speak French only, they must be accommodated.

I work in IT and my manager (who is Quebecker with reasonable English) said that in Montréal for working in IT it's better to have English with no French, than French with no English. IT is probably the exception rather than the rule.

Long story short, it's possible to live and work in Montréal with no French. Give it a shot, I did and it worked out for me. After 4 years my French is still poor, and no where near good enough for a job that would require French, but I'm slowly getting there.

montreal2011

A very important thing to remember, Quebeckers very much prefer French to English, many if fact dislike English, or Anglophones, as you shall be called here. My response is that I am not an Anglophone, I'm a Gael! :P

Many Quebeckers don't consider themselves part of Canada and would like an independent Quebec republic. You will very much endear yourself to them if you make an attempt to speak French. Even if it's only 'bonjour' and 'merci'.

99% of the time even if you do try to speak French, those with English will switch to English as they will spot your difficulty with French as soon as you open your mouth, but they will greatly appreciate your effort.

There are intensive classes offered for new arrivals, but they are too intense if you are working. Over two months you could get a very high level of French with either 5 days a week or 4 evenings per week, 4 hours each evening. These are supplemented by the Government, and I can think might only cost $50. But if you are working, I think 4 hours a night, Monday to Thursday is too much, even if it's just for a few months. If you are not working, it's a good use of your time.

Chancer3001

I've been there for 10 weeks before so it have an idea of all the transport stuff and how they treat english speakers.

Thanks for the reply about IT. My buddy going with me works in IT so that probabaly makes things easier for him.

Energizer_Bat

I'm the same as Montreal2011. Information Technology is alot easier to get into without French than most other industries.
I got my job within 1 month even without any French.

I have very very basic french and barely even need it. Even when I try to speak French most Montrealers will instantly switch to English just by hearing my accent.

Montreal is a great city to live in. People are great and the bar and restaurant scene is the best in Canada.

Go to Meetup.com and you'll find loads of Montreal based groups to meet people and also may help for getting contacts for work.

If your wanting to work in Education then French is must. The YMCA has the cheapest full-time French coarse I could find. Still costly though.

Chancer3001

Can you think of any other jobs I could go for apart from IT where I wouldn't need French?

Work in a hostel or something!

montreal2011

Some tips which may be useful in your job search.

It's illegal for a job advert to say "English (only) required"; they can however say "French (only) required".

If you see a job advert which only states French as a requirement, or there is no English version of the ad, then likely it's going to be a fully French role.

If you see a job which says "Bi-lingual (French and English) required", and there is an English version of the ad, then there is a chance that English alone might be enough, or only very basic French will suffice.

In general, for looking for jobs anywhere, most jobs that are available are not advertised. When a company has an opening, they will first try to recruit from within and maybe ask current staff to recommend someone. If this fails, they will go through existing CV's on file or previous employees / contractors. A company may then use an agency (most often if it's a contract / temporary role) or advertise the job themselves.

Using your contacts or anyone you know who can maybe put in a word for you from the inside, or can keep their ears open for open positions is by far the best way to get a job.

When my manager hired me, he said that his biggest concern when hiring someone is how they will fit into the team; a recommendation is better than a PhD! :pac:

Energizer_Bat

I've asked some friends in regards to getting into education without french and they recommend you only aim at english speaking schools.

French will not be a requirement.

Also, with teaching experience its recommended you try teaching English as a second language. Alot of these teachers in french school aren't french speaking it gives another option.