Financial adviser and TESL in France

[John Coggins]

I'm interested in finding out information about job opportunities in France. I'm currently working in the UK as a financial adviser and my girlfriend teaches English as a second language. We are getting married in Jan 09 and interested in moving in Feb 09. I have 3 years experience in financial advice, CEFA and CEMAP qualifications. My girlfriend has the CELTA qualification and is in the process of completing her BA English Literature degree from the Open University. She has one year's teaching English experience from a reputable school in England.

If anyone has any helpful information we would be very grateful

[Bevdeforges]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Perhaps someone has somewhat different experience in France, but honestly the only "financial advisers" I've encountered over here are the "conseillers" at the bank - and they're there primarily to flog the particular bank's services. Some private conseillers operate telephone boilerrooms, calling around to sell various investment plans designed to reduce taxes for entrepreneurs, but that would require a fairly good understanding of the French tax system. (I take lots of blind calls from these guys and honestly, I'm not too impressed with what they're trying to sell.)

Those who need higher level advice than what they can get at their local bank generally deal with an "expert comptable" (roughly equivalent to a chartered accountant or CPA). In any event, your French would have to be very fluent and you would probably want to concentrate on banks with a large expat (i.e. anglophone) clientele.

English as a second language is not a terribly lucrative field in France, though finding a job shouldn't be that hard. Some schools take full advantage of unqualified anglophones looking for a job in order to avoid paying for teaching certification. The best opportunities are through schools that focus on the corporate training market - teaching business people English for use in their jobs. Due to the public schools being part of the French civil service system, it's extremely difficult for a foreigner (even from within the EU) to get hired into the public school system.

In any event, take a look at a jobs site like Monster.fr and see what you think of the positions on offer in your respective areas. It will at least give you some idea of the types of jobs on offer and possibly the salary ranges.
Cheers,
Bev

[giantpanda]

Hi!

I would not recommend to move to France without having fixed jobs ( not just CDD - contrat à durée déterminée - but CDI - contrat à durée indéterminée, and that after the trial period), unless you can benefit from some sort of " protection ".

You should at least register a a local ANPE ( Agence Nationale pour l'Emploi ) Umenmployment Office.

But for you, you should also register over the APEC

Apec.fr - Portail - Recrutement et offres d'emploi cadres

Then for you, best would be to contact directly all French and Foreign banks in France.

Yours,

giantpanda

PS.For you future wife, although such qualifications are desperatly needed, it hardly means that there are any jobs available, apart for temporary ( subventionned ) jobs for maximum one school year at mimimum wage level.

[giantpanda]

Hi!

If you want to work as financial advisor in France, you need to investigate all French tax-free, and tax priveleged schemes.

Enter " défiscalition " in your search machine.

Also see here:

Moteur de recherche service-public.fr : résultats de la recherche

Yours,

giantpanda