Back when I moved to France, I had no idea that it would be so hard to find a job.
I had a degree. I spoke English and French.
I was 24. I wasn’t without work experience—I spent 9 months working full-time in a recovery unit for patients with brain injuries (a story for another email), plus a year of teaching English as a second language in a school in the north east of France, plus a couple of other odd jobs.
And yet, workplace doors were not thrown open to me.
I see this now from a very different perspective, one where I’ve learnt a lot from experience, growing up and sticking around.
I learnt that the French jobs market is pretty static. Employers go for qualifications over experience. My qualifications and experience didn’t translate well. I chose to live in a desirable region pretty far from any notable centre of commerce. I didn’t have a professional network. I also wasn't trying as hard as I thought I was.
I’d taken somewhat of a scattergun approach to job applications. I fired my CV out to different companies, not taking too much time to adapt it to French CV conventions or to the particular job for which I was applying.
Nor did I keep much of a record of where I’d applied or for which role, which is something that I would advise any jobseeker to do now.
Because it landed me in a job interview with a company whose name I could not recall, discussing a position for which I was manifestly not qualified, and for which I’d showed up very, very late.
But they were only a few of the problems I faced that day.
My friend Patsi is a broadcaster and a journalist. She’s lived in Nice on and off for 20 years and like so many of the migrant community, she’s in love with the city.
So much so that she’s made a podcast about Nice and the people who moved here.
It’s called Tales From The Blue Coast and it’s a beautiful piece of audio production.
I was interviewed on a recent episode where I shared the rest of my nightmare interview story, plus the (much better) job I eventually landed that brought me roots, community and friendships in Nice that still sustain me now.
Listen to it here and cringe along with me.
Your steps toward building community in your life and business have probably treble my early levels of competence, so I just wish you all of my youthful confidence. Then you'll be unstoppable.
It's a beautiful day outside,
~Sarah at CopyHop~
I'm Sarah Hopkinson and I write meaningful emails that help podcasters increase their revenue and build a community around their podcast.
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