I 've got good news for you... Guess what? i got a part-time job!!!
I have started working for two weeks now at the local pizza hut. Why?
Because i got accepted for my exchange semester in the philippines for january, so i have to save some money to enjoy the trip to the fullest.
Now let's get to the point, How can an international student land a part-time job?
I am not going to lie it takes time and careful planning. Here i have gathered the information i got from my other international students friends ( moroccan, cameroun, russian).
Pre-requisites
- Langage: you need to have basic command of english if you want to work here in France, i am not going to lie to you , for a part-time job it is necessary. But for internships i don't take it is, because there are exchange students from india who can't line an entire sentence in french but some of them got internships(i will investigate this in a further post)
-Papers: of course , if you are a legal student you have automaticaly a temporary work autorisation ( up to 20 hours per week)
Types of Jobs
- Tutoring
Two of my friends ( a moroccan and a camerounian )are tutoring high school students. Personally , i got hired at a tutoring agency since last year but never got arount to taking the students because i had first asked for middle school level and realized later the pay wasn't interesting for this level .Tutoring is very interesting if you take high school level students, the pay can vary from 17€/h at an agency to 20€/h when you found the student yourself.
There are two main agencies :
1-ACADOMIA (http://www.acadomia.fr/enseignants-nous-recrutons/recrutement-enseignant.html you fill this and you'll receive in a couple of days a call for a phone interview than an appointment and a computer test in the subject and grade you want to teach).
2-COMPLETUDE: http://www.completude.com/recrutement.aspx same thing.
Downside: you need to have 3 years of studies to be considered.
Upside: You get a pay slip , and start saving for retirement if you ever stay in France later it could be useful.
OR, you can find your own students trought different means:
- posting offers in the local high school, middle school
- internet:http://www.annonceetudiant.com/, http://www.leboncoin.fr/ ( my friend got 2 students from the latter website)
- Maison du quartier: there is one almost everywhere, you apply for the tutoring position, it is a "social thing" they try to help kids in difficult neighborhoods, so your pay is quite low ( 11€/h for at least 3 hours a week), two other friends who are french do that . It is quite fulfilling i think, because , well you are certainly not doing it for the money since you could get paid higher.
Downside: you don't get a pay slip ( except for maison du quartier)
Upside: a Friend from Burkina faso got herself a student during her first year in france!!! throught posting in a middle school , 20€/h.
Other jobs
For other jobs such as mine you need to get to the store ( Mcdo, KFC, Quick,etc.) ask to see the manager and leave your CV with him. If he is not here ask for the day he is in. Do not leave your resume with someone else!!!
To get those jobs you need to show you are not afraid of work, etc.
A friend of mine got one at a Mcdo for 2 months, but night shifts on friday night and saturday night. You can't be picky you take what they give you.
Personally i work 10 hrs a week for the SMIC ( minimum wage in France) so i get 70€ and a few cents per week after taxes. You might wonder why i didn't take the tutoring job?
Well i have tutored in France before, for free and i like that when i am not paid, because there is no pressure, and i knew the family. But honestly i just wanted to do something else.
Also last year i did some inventory work with a couple of french friends ( you count the products in a supermarket like Carrefour, Leclerc). I started around 4-5 am and finished 5 hours later and got paid 90€!!! My friend got it through ALLIANCE INTERIM. There are many intérim agency offering these kind of jobs all year long, they look for many people so you can do it your friends ( we were 8) to pass time , its nice in group and we got to eat some Croissants and Pains aux chocolats for free Afterward!!
Another site to investigate: http://jobs-stages.letudiant.fr/jobs-etudiants.html
Feel free to leave a comment for more information .
