My commute was a five-minute walk through
the narrow streets of Vieux Nice,
past le boucher and le boulangerie, winding under brightly-colored shutters and
sun-bleached laundry hung between buildings. My coworkers were a friendly mix:
an Australian who never stopped smiling and cracking bawdy jokes, a Brit who
left empty tea cups and wet Lipton tea bags in his wake, a German whose English
and French were as good as any native speaker. My staff meals were never
without a giant hunk of bread, and my after-work knock-off was usually a
nice-sized glass of white wine.
While living in France for seven months, I
waitressed and bartended at a gastronomic Irish pub in the heart of Old Nice in
addition to working as an assistant in a French cooking school that catered to
English-speaking tourists. My days off were spent suntanning on the local
beaches or sipping rose with friends on sun-soaked terraces: all in all, it was
the best work-life balance I’ve experienced thus far.
If you want to actually work in
France—like, a real job with benefits and responsibilities—be prepared for some
red tape. The French are notorious for their red tape, and with a high
unemployment rate, they’re not too keen on hiring foreigners. Your French needs
to be near-perfect and you need to be willing to do a lot of paperwork and wait
in a lot of lines. It’s not for the faint of heart.
However, if you just wanted to earn some
extra Euros while living in the world’s most visited country—for good
reason—hospitality or tourism are great options for short-term, casual
employment. It’s easiest in Paris or in the bigger cities along the French
Riviera, like Nice or Cannes. Because of its yacht port popular with British
boat owners, Antibes is another excellent option.
Working in France can be a bit tricky if
you don’t have European Union citizenship. As an American, I was able to get
around the regulations with a student visa that enabled me to work part-time
and the good luck to find bosses who were willing to pay me in cash. If you do
have European Union citizenship, there are plenty of restaurants, bars and
stores in Nice and the rest of the
French Riviera that cater to English-speaking tourists.
And if you don’t speak any French, your
options will be sorely limited—although it’s not impossible. Most of the Irish
pubs in Nice had a “token French person” on staff: in other words, the rest of
the staff spoke English as their first language. Even if you aren’t fluent in
French to begin with, your “service French” will likely improve dramatically.
The work week in France is 35 hours, and
the standard paid vacation time is four weeks. Long lunches are accepted, and
even encouraged. Work-life balance is less of a buzzword in France, and more of
just how things are done.
Related Articles:
A Taste of France - Clafoutis
Insider's France: Exploring Beyond Paris
About the Author
Christine’s first trip to France was at age 11,
where she fell in love with pains aux chocolat, modern art and Galeries
Lafayette. She spent summers in Provence and Paris in high school and
university, and moved to Nice after graduation. Even though Christine is
currently living in Melbourne, Australia, she’s still a Francophile at heart.
Follow her adventures at C’est Christine or
on Twitter.
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