Source:Skovgaard Europe

There is no miracle cure for finding a job in France. The job market is difficult. The best way is to know someone who knows someone who can put you at the top of the stack - the principle known as piston in France.

You can be almost certain that speaking French is a requirement. Hence, I have left the list of the job sectors expected to employ most in 2008 in French without translation. If you cannot decrypt it in French, your chances of being employed are virtually zero.

Should you find a job, be aware that strict respect for hierarchy is expected, unless you are told otherwise. Cutting across reporting lines is not well seen.

Status and diplomas are more important than experience.

Permanent jobs are know as CDI

Contrat à Durée Indéterminée and are very difficult for the employer to end. A breach of such a job contract could be very expensive for the employer if the employee goes to the employment court le conseil des prud'hommes and wins. Because of the draconian job protection measures, many employers don't want to hire anyone on a CDI. If they should hire some lazy chap and he or she only shows it after the end of the trial period, it can be a true nightmare to get rid of that employee. Holiday entitlement is 5 weeks per year.

Fixed term contracts are called CDD

Contrat à Durée Déterminée. The employer is only allowed to use them in very particular cases, such as replacement for someone on leave or temporary extra workload, and it can only be renewed once. The total duration cannot exceed 18 months. Again, the penalty for breaching one of the many rules can be expensive for the employer, so they hesitate too with this type of contract. You are entitled to 10% compensation at the end of the CDD to compensate for being out of a job and 10% for holiday compensation if you have not had paid holiday.

Seasonal contracts are allowed in job sectors where this is needed, typically tourism. This may well be the type of contract you end up with.

There is an ocean of various other schemes and types of employment, mostly intended to encourage employment, but the result is that it's a big mess that not many understand, so for fear of getting it wrong and being penalised, or because many employers don't have weeks to study employment law and hundreds of exceptions, many of these schemes are not sufficiently used.

The social security charges weigh heavily on the employment budget. As a rule of thumb, your employment costs at least twice as much for the employer in direct charges as what you are paid, not including the cost of your workspace and other overhead.

These are some of the odds you're up against when searching a job in France. The whole system is gridlocked because those already in CDI jobs refuse to give up their privileges so that more can get jobs. Be patient when you look for jobs.

Source and more information on.....[http://www.skovgaard-europe.com/immifran-job.htm]