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Actually finding work...


Ty Korrigan
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Grass stops growing in winter and so I visited my local agence interim and came out with a job in a civil engineering factory on the shop floor. I push a lot of broom but I get paid more than the ones who are actually employed by the company.

My French is basic and present tense.

The agency has loads of work available in factories on production lines in both assembly and in agroailmentaire.

So there you are.... it can be done.

I also note that many Brits looking for work here look to their own kind to lift them out of the mire especialy on Anglomisinfo.

There are plaintif cries like 'There must be something out there!' and 'Please help me find a job'

What do these people want? A nice shop or office job prehaps?

Beggers can't really be choosers especialy when there is work available. It means changing the parameters of what you find acceptable even if it is boring, bloody or just bloody boring!

 Ty

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[quote user="Ty Korrigan"]... so I visited my local agence interim and came out with a job [/quote]

Same thing for my (English) husband... Used to be a photographer and run his own photo lab for other pro photographers back in th UK...

[quote user="Ty Korrigan"]My French is basic and present tense.[/quote]

So was my husband's, but he's been making tremendous progress...

[quote user="Ty Korrigan"]The agency has loads of work available in factories on production lines in both assembly and in agroailmentaire.[/quote]

My OH registered with Manpower and has been working most weeks for the past 3½ months at the local jam factory in 46. Sometimes starts at some unspeakable hour in the middle of the night, but it's varied, mostly enjoyable, he does not take it home and  he gets to meet and speak with all kinds of people!

[quote user="Ty Korrigan"]So there you are.... it can be done.[/quote]

Couldn't agree more!

Also worth noting: if you work 60hours in 1 month, you get basic health cover for 3 years as well as accruing pension and sickness pay rights...

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Hi Ty (it rhymes!)

Very encouraging for me -  see my posts under postbag (general discussion). If it means making my French wife happy and enabling her to go and live back in her own country I will shovel s**t if necessary!!

I agree a lot with what you say -  I thing the following may apply - "If you can't change your circumstances then change your attitude"

I am now working in I.T. supposedly a "good job"  clean - warm - shirt /tie - car etc..  but looking back over the years and the jobs I have done some of the happiest times I have had whilst working have been in the casual jobs.

So what you are saying is that even though you have only basic French if you are prepared to take on any kind of work you can survive financially in France.

What do you mean grass stops growing in winter - are you are gardener or something?

Is an agence interim like the employment agencies we have here in England?

Thanks

Granville

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Fair play Ty

What happens with your cotisations whilst you are employed?

Can you suspend them or are their any allowances for what would seem to be double payment of 'social security'.

In any event it must be worthwile to have the extra income but if you don't have to pay twice over why should you.

Bon courage

Bill

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I don't quite understand that Orion2.

For some reason I thought that the more one earned the more one paid and it was like that the world over, but I am not thinking straight tonight and could be wrong.

 

ps Orion is one of my favourite bands....they are beligan I think, and quite delightful.

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I don't quite understand that Orion2.

For some reason I thought that the more one earned the more one paid and it was like that the world over, but I am not thinking straight tonight and could be wrong.

What I  was thinking about was that the part of the cotisation that relates to health insurance (for example) might be duplicated if this was being paid in the self employmennt mode and the employment mode.

I took/read in to Ty's post that he was not doing his normal 'entretien espace vert' work because of the time of year. If full cotisations are being paid in one area is there some allowance at the time or in the future where double payments (if indeed there are double payments) are rectified or allowed for to reduce the total contributions paid. Sorry lots of words here - I hope I have expressed the gist of the query.

Thanks TU

BTW what type of music does the band do?

Bill

 

 

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I have always found that if you will do 'cr*p' jobs, you will always find work.  The French don't like doing them which leaves it wide open for us foreigners.

Money is money after all.

I have had some wonderfull jobs working in factories, cleaning factories, working on the chain, ramassage de volailles, delivering publicity.

However, if you want a good job opportunity, why don't you open a creche for DOGS?  It was on the telly the other day...65€ a day for dog sitting.

Mad[:)]

Paris.  Of course.

I would do it but I don't work now.  Less trouble than kids I expect.

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Yes, I saw that creche for dogs and thought what a wonderful idea, one of those things you think "why didn't anybody think of that before", like the toilettage places in Paris where you can go and wash and dry your dog yourself.  65 euro seems rather steep, it could be done for much less and could be very useful sometimes.

Before coming to France I used to work as a secretary in London, but with a temporary work agency (I loved that, always something new, though I did end up at Hambros Bank being a "permanent temp") so that I was free to come over to France when I wanted.  One week there were no secretarial jobs, so I was tea lady for the week, wheeling the trolley round the enormous offices.  Anything to earn a bit to be able to come over here.

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I understand the question Orion2 was asking as I was thinking it too :) If you have a registered business you are liable for cotisations whether you earn anything or not. Therefore, if you have a registered business but then take outside employment will you be liable to pay cotisations from your employment *and* also have to pay them for your business? In effect paying twice.

Does anyone know?
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If you have a seasonal business such as gardening you can deregister in November and reregister in March. No point in paying cotisations for a business when you have no money coming in.

Luckily we don't have to do that as we have other strings to our bow!
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You are probably right TU. Our cotisations in any one year are based on our income from the previous year so maybe there is no point in deregistering for 3 months! As I say I've never done it.

Maybe I should take the advice of others and not comment on something I'm not 100 percent sure about!

Hopefully, Ty will come back to us if he's not too shattered......
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In our early days in France, we were advised by someone in the know !!

to de-register at the end of the season. This we did but found that

although we saved on URSSAF payments, by having to reregister and pay again to register at

the C de Com, meant we gained very little and then as stated, our

turnover for the whole year was taken in to account anyway, when the

cotisations were called for. So nothing gained in reality by doing so.

Also one must remember, that the year is split in to 4 quarters and if

you so much as venture even a day or two in to another quarter, one is

liable for that quarter. So working just for a few days or so,  in

say October, meant paying for the whole quarter.

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Hello Chaps, I'm back from a weekend in Rennes with my French family.

I was 36 on Sunday but by the Friday before I felt 60+...

 Pushed a broom and barrow around a very dirty factory and did lots of odd jobs. Hefted alot of things and stretched my skinny arms to their limits. Very cold conditions as the usine is high on a hill and in the mist almost all day. First week was a test, no stopping for a 'petite pause' as the others did, that got me the position until March.

Learned some new words... 'Connasse' thats a very naughty word... and that the word for crane is also a slang term for a putain...

Don't know about the cotisations side of things, sorry. I have a year of  near exemption from these as I registered as unemployed during the 6 months before I started up. Second year I pay only 1200...

There is also an English woman who works once a week via Manpower for the menage at the usine.

I admit I was quite nervous before I started my job... Like starting a new school... will it be too hard, full of bullies that steal my sandwiches or just not my thing at all...

In fact the work has the potential to be very interesting for me and there is alot I can learn here. The guys are a rough chain smoking bunch but kind enough to me. Curious enough to practise some words remembered from school or from a film... I tell them 'good accent' or that I don't speak American!

 When I reflect on my circumstances I feel that the wages are sufficient for my standard of living and not so disimilar to what I hope to pay myself from my own business.

  Ty

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connard - masculine

connasse - feminine

 

I have never heard as far as I can remember that is, grue being used like this. Just about everyone I know, says putain de merde to emphasise the point most of the time, or just putain.  And that is everyone I know, no matter their education.

EDIT, well that is a first for me, the board has censored something french, a little over the top never the less.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello Ty,

My husband has recently been to all the agencies in our local town and they were not very helpful at all.  He goes back regularly to ask for work (and will do anything to earn a bit of cash) but they keep saying that there isn't anything!  Could you tell me which agency you used or maybe you have some handy advice about approaching them?

Thanks,
Nicky.

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Hello,

 What can I say?

A minimum of French is required of course so does he come across well at the bureau? You say 'our local town' like thats the only one.

There are several large towns big enough to support industry within 30km of me.

Is he 'really' willing to do anything?

Prehaps by calling in several times a week to enquire they may get fed up of him enough  to give him a job licking chicken spittle from the floor of a abattoir or some other unsavoury task which will get him that foot in the door.

Locally, there is a Brit 'Mr I'll do anything me type' who has refused a difficult post with an entreprise de ramassage de poules. I admit it is a very poor offering in the early hours of the morning but the foot in the door is the important thing.

 Also, try a little card offering cheque employee services such as cleaning, gardening brico etc. This can get your name around the village and sometimes lead places. It is also something else to put on your C.V.

In my case my 'motivation' was a factor in obtaining work as I had already started a business and so showed 'initiative'.

I have got to know several workers at the usine now and their previous formation.

There is a social worker.

A furniture maker.

A stone mason.

A horticulturalist (other than me)

All have been trained on the job in house.

So experience and qualifications are not always required it seems....

Good luck,

 I am at home today with a strained muscle in my back so lose money 'sob'

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Hi Ty,

Thanks for the abattoir job image, that will be with me the rest of the day, like it or not!

We're trying to set up our own businesses and till then are living on some savings. I was very encouraged to read how to do things above board as there seems to be so much pressure to go 'black'.

We need to consider options if our plans don't work out. Do you have to be signed on  as unemployed to go to an agence interim and is it really called Manpower or is that your spin on the French name? You mentioned reduced cotisations following 6/12 as a registered unemployed person. Are there any other advantages (not talking about money, to which I'm not entitled anyway). Sorry if this all sounds a bit naive - its all new to me.

Thanks for any advice or French links you can offer.

Take care of that back - they can be tricky.

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If you sign on for only 6 months you can ask for the dossier ACCRE which if you complete goes before a commitee that decides if you qualify for a partial exhonouration from social charges during your first year.

12 months chomage would have opened more doors such as low cost finance and even generous grants.

Despite the feelings on the issue here the R.M.I is something that you 'may' claim if you have a started a new business. The French don't like to give this away but if you are making the effort to start an entreprise they look a little more kindly on your situation.

If you don't ask then you don't get...

Manpower is the actual name of an agency and is just one of many to be found.

After many years of having to be creative, motivated and bend to the whims and opinions of management as a retail manager I find being a lickspittle in a factory and pushing a broom really quite refreshing if quite tiring.

Every so often a cold shadow passes over me when I think on just how hard I will have to work to pay my social charges in year 4... It is virtually impossible to work a full week every week due to the weather plus the time required get in quotes and travel.

I just can't wrap my head around why the authorities take so much from the small man. What are they afraid of...?

 

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