vendredi, janvier 30, 2009

job hunt

I swear when it rains, it pours!

This morning it wasn't raining, clear blue skies and no wind! Yea! I caught the train to Cherbourg and then from the station I took the bus to the ANPE building (good thing I didn't try to walk - it was far!) for my meeting with my unemployment adviser-person. The meeting went well, I gave her my CV and we talked about ways that I was looking for a job... which are not many right now, I still have my contract at the high school until the end of April. She gave me a few ideas but other than one of them they weren't things I had already thought of. Now with the merger of the ANPE and les Assedics the government really wants to get on unemployed people's cases and make sure they're looking for a job, so there are monthly meetings. That's fine with me but when I asked if this might be reimbursed because I didn't have a car (yeah... on my CV it says I have my license... I'm working on it but don't want to get ruled out of jobs.. easier to say I don't have a car...) she said no and how is it possible that I don't have a car living in V-town? How could I possibly not have a car and look for a job around there? I found that a bit annoying, especially coming from a Frenchie, but this isn't Paris and if you don't have a car you would at least have a pot de yaourt... haha

Anyway so one of her ideas was asking at the Tourist office in V-town, she said she heard they may be hiring. I would love that! Totally a job I'd have fun doing!

So afterwards I made my way back to the station and then got home. I was just finishing my lunch when my phone rang.

The lady was calling from an adult learning center run by the Education Nationale in Cherbourg. She got my CV in March last year and is looking for an English teacher!! Haha what are the chances? I go to the unemployment office in the morning and in the afternoon I get a job interview?

There are some complications in my schedule.. that's the hard thing about working at the high school, I don't have that many hours but they have big chunks of down time in the middle so even though I'm part time I don't have a lot of free hours for another job. There are also complications concerning the fact that I don't have a car because most of the hours are in Cherbourg but some are in a small town outside, not far, but not acessible by train/bus.

So it would be a good job and possibly 80% if they want to give me more hours after I finish in April but it's another CDD... my big dream was finding the job of my dreams in May complete with a CDI so I can apply for citizenship... but looks like I'll be bouncing around from CDD to CDD for a while...

Anyway the search isnt' over yet, I still have time. But its good to know I have some options out there... even with this crise économique.

2 commentaires:

Sarah a dit…

Good to know. It kind of ticks me off that when I had that whole integration day, they told me my French was good enough, yet it hasn't been anywhere good enough to land a job. I'm wondering how they'll handle a case like mine. Luckily for me, the ANPE office is literally a block away from our apartment. No cars needed in Paris, for real. I'm not sure how I'd like the whole monthly meeting business, but it's not such a big price to pay considering. Good luck with the interview - I hope it all works out with the job opportunity, but if not, the tourist office sounds like a seriously cool job!

BlondeInFrance a dit…

I think the need for English teachers goes beyond the crise, because frequently a key quality needed when looking for a job is English! People wouldn't want not speaking English to be the reason they don't get that one job available. So hurray! And good luck to you!