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A new career in France


JanetandJohn
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Curious as to why you are asking on here now really.

Personally I have never heard of this ever happening in France. I do know of people doing it in the UK.

 

The 'why now' question is that the courses started in France and the UK several weeks ago and the applications would be done in France last spring/early summer time and you would be expected to have certain things to qualify for these courses.

The 'why on here' is because your french must be very good to be considering a technical education, so why not the yellow pages and call some lycees about this rather than asking on here?

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None of my business really, just curious - but TU, your "why now" question seems a bit strange in itself. If someone's asking a perfectly innocuous question, and one which is very "open" (has anyone any experience of........) it hardly seems likely that they're planning to pop off and do it the next day! Bravo to them for planning ahead seems a more apt response.

Sometimes it seems, no-one can win on this site. People are criticised for not planning, asking lots of questions and seeking advice from as many sources as possible, and criticised if they try to do just that.

 

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Well I thought that I had answered, you apply in spring /early summer along with every one else and if your qualifications are accepted and they will take mature students then you would be taken onto the course.

Call the lycees and see who does what courses, didn't I say that to?  they are in the yellow pages. You may be in luck and they could have the prospectus booklets from this years enrollments.

 

And Croixblanches, to ask about such courses I assumed that good french is already an aquis anyway, otherwise how could one do such a course?

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Hello, I advise that your French must be of a high standard to even think of completing first the 'artisans' course and then the course at the Chambre de Metiers...

Retraining over here is hard... and am the process of doing it now...

You must be very fluent I am afraid and this comes from working here and being part of the community. Get a job in a chicken gut proccessing plant first to learn the lingo then go for it!

I win French clients with my language and by my networking skills... the Ex-pat market is very limited...

Good luck friends....

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At 50 plus, I graduated from University with a Politics degree, lectured for a while, and then finished up getting trained by Sky to install digital satellite systems....which paid more. With four kids at home they were my priority obviously.

Skipping on a bit, we bought a house in France after identifying a market for Sky over here and five years down the line, the rest as they say..... is history.

Regards

Bannon

www.uksatfrance.co.uk 

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Certainly don't call a lycee, they will think you are totally mad, given that there is a structure in place for your very situation. It is called the Greta

http://www.education.gouv.fr/fp/greta.htm

It is government run, and although you have to pay for it you may be entitled to funding. They run courses for sorts of professions.

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or www.afpa.fr and as for having to speak really good technical french you are there to learn a manual skill not a written skill and technical language is absorbed by repetition of tasks not sitting in front of a blackboard, Why do I say this because I converted my city and guilds to a french qualification 14 years ago using the above system and then 6years later took and passed a level 3 exam at the same centre.
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi,

I think it may be quite difficult in france , they seem to stick with one job/career for ever.we went to france a few years ago, My husband was studying at a haute ecole (HEC) doing a course to try to change direction in his career. At the end of it he could not find a job-however this may have beeen due to several reasons,- employment market, Jim`s lack of confidence with the language and age. he was 39 at the time. I`m not saying its impossible, just not that easy.- according to our experience. However even though we eventually had to go where the jobs were (Caribbean so it wasn`t too bad!)- I would do it again but be better prepared and try harder. Good luck

joan

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Hi,

I think it may be quite difficult in france , they seem to stick with one job/career for ever.we went to france a few years ago, My husband was studying at a haute ecole (HEC) doing a course to try to change direction in his career. At the end of it he could not find a job-however this may have beeen due to several reasons,- employment market, Jim`s lack of confidence with the language and age. he was 39 at the time. I`m not saying its impossible, just not that easy.- according to our experience. However even though we eventually had to go where the jobs were (Caribbean so it wasn`t too bad!)- I would do it again but be better prepared and try harder. Good luck

joan

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My husband, who is 45, has been taken on by a French electrical and plumbing business as a 'trainee' electrician.  He did not speak any French when we arrived here 3 years ago and although a great DIYer was not qualified in any building trades.  I can't say it has been easy, but he applied himself at college to learn the language, while we got our B & B up and running.  He had always intended to try to find a job, or even work for himself but he did not want to work on the black and knew it would be difficult, but it is possible.  He has a proper CDI and training opportunities and was actually offered the job by someone who had seen the work he had done in our house.

I think the answer to the question is not whether it is possible but the fact that it is a great deal more difficult than in the UK.  One of our local maçons also has a Dutchman training with him, so think some French businesses are more open to this than others.  My husband's new boss speaks no English so it is swift upward learning curve, but so far he is enjoying it and learning.  The word of caution is that the pay is not great (by UK standards - though he earns the same as other 'ouvriers'), but if he were training at college he would not be paid at all and at least this gives us a regular income.

Hope this might give a bit of encouragement to those seeking jobs - I am not suggesting it is ever easy, but perhaps not totally impossible. Everyone was very negative when he made first enquiries about any sort of training or job, but persistance has paid off.

Maggi

 

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This is something I didn't manage to do and I wish you all the best. Greta [in my area] had only a very few courses within a small range of activities. To qualify though you would need to have adequate written and spoken French. They send you first to the local APP, if there is one in your region. (atelier pedagogique personalise). They are mostly only in the bigger towns and cities. This improves your written french but is of limited help with spoken french. The best way to improve your spoken french is to get a job in a resto or do some benevole work with french people for a couple of months.

There is however a lot of helpful information at any APP in the shape of how-to-get-a-job magazines which list various 'formation' centres. There is also online formation if you are web-connected. The ANPE should also be able to advise you on what options are available.

I know a lovely Turkish guy who came here after marrying a french woman and redid his formation as an electrician despite not speaking any french to start with (Ok he was already an electrician in Turkey). He said it was very, very hard but doable. He now runs his own business and is doing well.

Bon courage. Don't give up!

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"Greta [in my area] had only a very few courses within a small range of activities. To qualify though you would need to have adequate written and spoken French. They send you first to the local APP, if there is one in your region. (atelier pedagogique personalise). They are mostly only in the bigger towns and cities. This improves your written french but is of limited help with spoken french"

The APP at GRETA run both spoken and written french courses. I go to the spoken one but last year also went on the written course.
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