Go France! Open up more to your classmates and participate in cultural and social activities

  • Career Center
  • Le 12 octobre 2022

Audencia's Career Center and Alumni teams are delighted to to bring you “Go France!”, the guide to working in France.

Following the success of the first guide in 2019, this new updated edition revisits advice from HR professionals, input from intercultural experts and shares yet more experiences of working in France for internationals. Alumni say they choose France for its corporate culture and impact-driven working environment but also for its croissants!

“Go France!” is a valuable resource for students staying in France after their studies at Audencia.
 


This week, discover what Ana from Colombia has to say.

About Ana:

  • GRADUATED FROM THE MSC IM PROGRAMME IN 2015
  • FROM COLOMBIA
  • CURRENT POSITION DIRECTOR STRATEGY, PRICING, AND INTERCHANGE AT MASTERCARD IN PARIS
  • NATIVE LANGUAGE SPANISH
  • DAILY WORKING LANGUAGES ENGLISH, FRENCH AND SPANISH
  • OTHER LANGUAGES SPOKEN BASIC HINDI
  • FRENCH LEVEL ADVANCED (B2/C1)
  • LIVING IN FRANCE SINCE 2014

Ana's key message: “Open up more to your classmates and participate in more cultural and social activities to get to know more local people and integrate much faster."


My biggest challenge
Finding decent accommodation (particularly in Paris) is like going through a selection process for a job. The market moves so fast, options are limited and requirements are strict. It only gets easier if you have a good CDI.

Myths & realities

  • MYTH The 35-hour working week! The French do take coffee breaks but certainly work more than just 35 hours a week, especially in roles such as finance and mergers and acquisitions.
  • REALITY You need to speak French! Although it is possible to find English-speaking jobs, your working life and interaction with colleagues will be much easier if you speak the language.


My advice & top tips
Do some research on companies and actively seek to contact employees or people connected to that company so that they can give you insights and potentially pass on a CV. Also, don’t give up.

Quirky & cultural
Work-life balance is the king! From my experience, French culture encourages mental and physical well-being by clearly setting limits when needed. Drinking water! Especially at lunch time. In Colombia we are not so used to drinking water and even less at lunch time – which leads me to a second particularity: taking longer lunch breaks than I normally would in Colombia.

And finally
With the French administration and endless bureaucracy, you may have different experiences within the same administrative process depending on the official handling your file.




 
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