Summer Work in France

eVeNtInE

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Aard

You're right, Nice in general is awful for work. But that's "proper" work, if you know what I mean. Summer work is easy to come by in tourist towns, if you don't mind working in a bakery, or an ice cream shop, or as a waitress. If you know French and English, you should have no problem getting a customer-facing role like that. Minimum wage is €9 afaik, but I know people who were getting €10 cash in hand in Nice last summer.

For accommodation, try appartager.fr (I think that's the url...). I hear it's good. In Nice, my friends who did homestays were paying about €800/mth for a room and full board. Most said it was very good for speaking French 24/7, and tbh they really improved. Not sure about prices for general renting. For getting to know people, yeah a short course might do it, but be prepared to shell out a lot for it. They're ridiculously expensive. You'll get to know people at work anyway.

eVeNtInE

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Aard

Haha, sorry it was the "-ine" of your nick :$

If you're going to Nice, try to get close to the centre. Don't go "north of the tracks", as they say. It's not a bad place to go. Fairly international and plenty to explore on your time off.

eVeNtInE

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eVeNtInE

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franc 91

If you do a web search on the net, there's plenty there, though obviously I can't personally vouch for what there is -
Finding a Summer job in the South of France -
Travail saisonnier été 2012 -
http://www.france-pub.com/ejob.htm
www.seasonworkers.com - Summer jobs in France
www.jobdete.com and so on....
It depends on what you are looking for - there are websites for jobs in the hotel industry, camping sites, fruitpicking etc perhaps even in an Irish pub.....

LivingDaDream

Think i'm in the same boat as yourself, planning on heading down to Nice myself to work May - September, at the moment my french isn't great so i think my best bet is the irish bars/ restaurants that kind of thing.
I think what i'l do is book my first months accommodation, apply to as many places as i can from here but i reckon i'd have to apply in person to secure anything. I'm thinking of booking a place in Antibes/Juan les Pins as I've been there before and see if i can get anything there, if not venture in towards Nice?

So far i've found it'd b about €1500 a month for a one bed apartment in central Antibes for last week in May first three weeks of June a bit less if you go studios but as theres 3 of us its not too bad. Heard a couple of people getting accommodation with work but dont want to bank on that!!

Trying to gather as much info as i can at the moment coz i'm a bit lost!! haha! If you have any luck getting yourself sorted let me know!

Aard

^^For that kind of casual work, applying in person will secure you a job much quicker. While Antibes is definitely lovely (one of the best spots along the coast imo), you'd find it easier to get a job in Nice I'd imagine. There's a few Irish bars and a few bars that pretend to be Irish. They're all pretty much around the Old Town. Should be easy enough to find accommodation there.

franc 91

There's Ma Nolens, McMahons, and O'Neill's in Nice and there's also the Irish Association - Pacairish www.pacairish.com - BP K5 Maison des Associations 3bis rue Guigonis 06300 Nice - if you're working you probably won't have time to see these people but it's worth noting that there is an Irish cultural organisation in Monaco called MIAS.
And there's the Snug & Cellar 22 rue Droite

franc 91

There's another town where you might like to look for work and that's Aix-en-Provence - there are four Irish pubs that I know of there - Le Brigand, O'Shannon's, O'Neal's and the Four Courts and it's a lively place in Summer.

dunnear

Don't go to Montpellier anyway. There is no chanace! I am considering Nice because its meant to be easier to get jobs I know most people who went got one. I am just wondering about accomodation and if it would be very expensive! Are most people just looking for bar/restaurant jobs? When u thinking of going?

dunnear

Did u look for work there? Is the accoodation cheaper than Nice? Considering going alone and getting a co-loc, don't know what would be best way to organise accom

gibbykiid

Hey, I'm planning on doing the same idea this Summer with a friend, south coast. Nice or Cannes. Wondering if you had any advice after your trip, if you went.

LivingDaDream

I did it last summer end of May to September it was an amazing experience but not easy at all and i was fairly lucky.

First thing do you speak french? If you have at least conversational french you will have a good chance at getting a job in an english or irish bar/pub in Nice or Cannes but be aware they are not taking on as many seasonal staff as in recent years so it is much harder you just have to keep asking!!
If you dont speak french you will find it very tough to get a job as there are so many others looking for work who are bilingual.

You should visit riviera.angloinfo.com regularly between now and when you leave, theres is so much on that site from jobs to accommodation. Try to use that to get yourself something set up before you leave even if you dont plan on doing it the whole summer.

Personally, i had booked accommodation for my first month before heading, i also had secured an interview for a secretary type role for a yachting company and a few babysitting contacts before leaving all through AI

My french was not great but luckily i bluffed my way into getting the job on a 3.5month contact 20hours/week! For the first month I tried to supplement my income with babysitting in the evenings. I had been asking around all the bars but they all said they weren't busy enough (summer season doesn't really kick in till mid june) towards the end of my first month i went back to one of the bars and they offered me a job, i was lucky enough to know someone who had accommodation near by who i managed to share with (€500/month for a room) working in the bar was so much fun! Not easy by any stretch of the imagination (you literally have to work your ass off! i was working on average 6nights a week on top of my office job) but you get to meet so many people and make loads of friends!

For me it was a great way to improve my french, get out of Ireland and pretty much have a holiday! Also when your working so much you dont get a chance to spend a lot so theres a good chance you'l bring money home

If you need any information or help feel free to give me a shout!

gibbykiid

So what would you start with if you were going this Summer? And yes I speak French. Doing it in secondary school, kind of a B/C student in higher French.

GMusicMan

I too have the French dream of spending a summer in the south of France. Currently studying french at college, in first year but am a mature student. Anyway, was just wondering what the situation is over there vis-a-vis renting an appartment/house share etc. Do you need any special documents or a French bank account or anything?

oseia

Digging up an old thread but I'm in the same situation, want to work in France for the summer. I'd work anywhere and do basically any kind of work, haven't much experience bar kitchen work, teaching and working with kids. My French is grand (B2 level), have lived in French-speaking countries for five months in total (though most of that was erasmus, but I au-paired too) and I should hopefully have a degree in it (and Spanish - so work in the south of France would be a bonus to maybe allow me to practise some Spanish...) next year. Have a French bank account already. Would love café, shop, restaurant, bar or hotel work but aside from being a kitchen porter I don't have experience in those. Or one of those vineyard jobs people always talk about - I'd be delighted to do any work like. Already have a French CV done out too.

I just want to get work and improve my French as much as possible, any ideas where would be best to find summer work?

CelticRambler

In the current economic climate in France, "Getting work" and "improve my French" should probably be considered mutually exclusive. Unless they've got a family connection, almost all the young people I know (French) are going abroad for summer work (met a girl yesterday who's off to Ireland for the summer ... ) The work that's available to foreigners tends to be low-wage seasonal jobs, and while you'll meet some great characters, they're most likely to be Spanish or Italian or Romanian ... anything but French.

Where you can certainly find someone to take you on and get a chance to really use/improve your French is volunteering at one (or more) of the many festivals that take place all through the summer. I'll be posting a message about one specific event later this week, but I know several people (French!) who travel from one festival to the next from the beginning of July to the end of August. You won't get paid, but you'll usually get some variation of board and lodging (i.e. somewhere to put a tent!) - and, of course, free entry to the festival.

Anyone thinking of doing this will need to get a move on as the earlier festivals will be finalising their lists now, and the later ones will want everything sorted out by about mid-June.