Moving to france, looking for work

[blossom]

Hello.  First post....so dont pick on me, but am open to honest answers.

I've been looking through this forum and others...very negative comments regarding finding work in france, so bit concerned.

I have few formal qualifications (mainly just good GCSE's) but 15 yrs  IT work exp , of which 6 are project management, and a Prince2 Practitioner certification (highly respected Project Management qualification in UK and Europe).  I speak pretty good french - confident enough to work, not just pidgen french in a bar.  My folks retired to france a few years back and ive spent  a lot of time here.  also worked in france a few yrs ago for UK customs and excise on the french side of the channel so learnt a lot then.

Is it really that hard to get a job? Myself and family are moving over early this year...My husband works from home and has loyal UK based clients so no trouble for him there (aside from sorting out his tax in france), but would like to think that I could find work of some description.

Just out of interest, why is the employment situation so bad in france?  I'm not too good on french politics...is the situation getting worse?

Ta

Bloss xx

[Will]

You may strike lucky with a job in France, but the best advice seems to be that if you are going to depend on having a job then get everything fixed up before you move there. Maybe have a holiday home, or rent there, before committing yourself.

The reason is basically high unemployment in most of France outside the major cities. And even there you are competing with many French candidates for the same job. They will not only speak the language like natives (rather than just being a fluent foreigner) but will have spend their last few years in the education system gaining specific French qualifications for the job. That will give them an advantage, at least in the eyes of a French employer. you may have a bit of a sales job to do to persuade the French that you are equally well qualified. The high unemployment is largely due to the punitive (from the employer's point of view) French employment law, as well as the high charges levied on employers, which in turn conspire to keep salaries down.

The same punitive charges will affect your husband, who if working for British clients will, in order to comply with employment law, need to do so through their French subsidiaries (and thus they too will need to pay the state around 40% of his wages) or will have to set up his own business which will also be affected by these charges (the dreaded cotisations). Income taxation in France per se is not bad, similar to or even slightly less than in Britain (the systems work quite differently so direct comparisons are meaningless). There are plenty of tax advisers who will tell you that, it is the other charges that hurt.

I can't say you will not get a job in France, or even that it won't be well paid. Though outside the major cities and the big corporations pay is pretty poor. Just do your homework, be prepared, and don't bank on finding work easily.