1 year to france, employment advice needed

[kreid]

Hi and thanks in advance for any info I get from this thread. 
Myself and my family intend moving to  France next year so that they can learn a language and experience life abroad. We intend going for a year. I already speak french but would benefit from living there to improve my spoken French.

Now the boring bit. I am trying to organise a job /  placement in teaching as I already teach German and French here in Scotland. Great idea, usually well paid, swap jobs for a year, but.... it seems the french gov has given up on this idea, no doubt thru a lack of (UK) participation and probably cutbacks. I am trying to arrange a year sabbatical from work. I have no TEFL qualifications.

I am not desperate to have a job teaching though. I have practical skills and experience of house letting and holiday lets (but UK), rural country / estate work etc, have chainsaw certificate etc....Clearly a drop in wages would be on the cards, but we aren't going for the money, more for the experience. We had considered VSO work but it meant going outside Europe really, at least thats how it seemed.

Money...well we have savings but don't want to blow them, we do have income from our UK property lets, but that would not be enough really, no point in moving to france and being totally skinnt! I have already applied to a few posts offering work, including a couple with accommodation, but I know getting a job up front isn't going to be a breeze, but I do have transferable skills, speak the language and am flexible on both location and type of work. Do I have a chance?!

I don't expect a job offer from anyone but would appreciate advice on finding work, maybe other sites or in fact any good ideas you might have to offer. I am reading the thread "disgruntled policeman" with interest. I am not disgruntled with UK life at all, just think the experience would be great. I have lived and worked abroad for 2 years in Germany, just then I was younger, freer and single! Your thoughts and ideas appreciated! Keith.

[dave21478]

From my experience, handyman, estate and letting work is generally not advertised much online - I have found the best way to get this sort of work is to be in place, reading the local ads and building yourself a reputation. I have got way more work doing this sort of thing through word of mouth than anything else. The downside is its likely to take you more than a year to build up a reputation so you really need a good degree of luck to land a job that will support you early on. Also bear in mind that for every brit looking for this sort of work in France, there are probably 20 locals to compete with.

I cant advise you much about the teaching aspect - all I can say is that my sister finally got a job teaching english here, but it took an unbelievable amount of effort, hassle and red tape to get into the system.

[kreid]

I can see that people are going to take someone already in situ and local. Wondering if I can afford to go out and find this kind of work but where to go? Ideally I would have some kind of work organised before leaving the UK even if temp or short term, that would be "where to go" sorted,  and finding more once there. Tough call! Thanks for your experience and comments. Keith.