Trying to move back to Europe (preferably France)

[Patrick_J]

Hello everyone,
I am new to the Forum and have some basic questions on the employment situation in France, preferably in the Grenoble, Montpellier, Toulouse (i.e. southern area).

I am a British citizen and have been living/working in North America for the past 12 years. Well, now it's time to come back to my European roots. I lived and worked in Rueill-Malmaison for 2 years back in 1994 -96 and speak some French (although I must admit it is somewhat rusty from lack of everyday use !).
I really enjoyed the French way of life and want to return to their 'joie de vivre' that is somewhat missing here. However, before I can do that I need a job; I am an experienced (U.K. University degree qualified) Principal Embedded Systems Software Engineer/Architect with over 20 years experience in my field.

If anyone out there knows of anyone looking for someone with my experience or can point me in the direction of job boards, newspaper online adverts etc. I would be very grateful. I have tried the usual sources of Monster, FindjobsAbroad, etc. but they don't seem to have much at the moment, so I thought maybe someone could point to lesser known more local sites.

Thanks for any help.

Patrick.

[Bevdeforges]

This is not a great time to be job hunting in France, no matter what line of work you are in. There are layoffs being announced nearly every day (some with the requisite demonstrations) and people are quite concerned about their employment.

Job hunting in France is also very often conducted by "a friend of a friend who knows someone." You might want to plan a holiday back in the areas you're interested in and see if you can find either a contact in the area, or just get familiar with the companies that might be of interest to you and approach them with a good old-fashioned mail campaign.

You may also want to try the ANPE websites (they've changed their name now to "Pole d'Emploi") or take a look at EUROPA - EURES - the European Job Mobility Portal (EU agency for jobs and job mobility). They have some job listings, and lots of information about CVs and other background information that might be useful.
Cheers,
Bev
Cheers,
Bev