The Job Hunt

The majority of each day here is spent searching the internet for jobs in Paris. I have a French/US connections magazine that lists people looking for jobs, people looking for employees, apartments and other ads for everything from restaurants to therapy to "friendship". I've been going through it and applying to all jobs that seem to be what I'm looking for. I check out Craigslist and kijiji each day to see what new postings are up. Everyone is looking for something/someone. It's difficult to get a stranger to know that I'm the one that they're looking for to fill their open position.

Basically, I'm looking for a job teaching English to children, teens or even adults. There are some ESL schools similar to the one I taught at in Korea, however they don't seem to be needing foreigners the way that they do in the East. There are many people looking for work and not many positions. This is the first time that I've truly felt the effects of the poor economy. I know it's only been a week and I need to be patient and keep applying and trust that something will come my way, but I'm getting antsy.

I had one in person interview with a place that offers fun English to children ages 3-8. It would have been a part-time job, but at least it would have been a start. It was pretty much the same thing that I was doing at my morning day care in Korea. It was a great, fun job with amazing kids. Sadly this place here had many candidates and decided to hire someone else. I've had one phone interview with a place that hires people to teach various subjects to various ages in their homes. They said that they need me to have "un carte de sejour" which is basically proof that I'm allowed to be living in the country. I told them that I have a work holiday visa and that it's the same thing, but it allows me to live and work here. They said to call back when I get a Carte de Sejour.

There are tons and tons of postings for babysitters and au pairs (nannies) who are English mother tongue speakers. Of course I could do this, and it might even be good, but I just don't want to be stuck working the whole time I'm here. It would be good to have a place to live and to not have to worry about finding a place to live in Jan. and just live with a family. However, I know that I'm pretty much going to end up being the mother for these kids. I've seen ads that say that I'd be in charge of getting the kids up and ready for school, taking them to school, "light" cooking and "light" cleaning, picking them up from school, helping them with their homework and a few nights of babysitting a week and a Saturday or two a month. To me that doesn't seem worth it! They're asking so much for one little room in their apartment! Even if I worked only 30 hours a week at 10 euros an hour that would make me much more money than a tiny room would be worth...even in Paris. I could get a much bigger/nicer place for that amount.

I'm thinking that if I can't find a job teaching English with a company/school then I'll resort to babysitting/ picking up the kids from school and if that doesn't work out then I'll try being an Au Pair. If that doesn't work then I'll work in a restaurant in a touristy place where they need someone who can talk to the tourists. And if that doesn't work then I'll get my thigh-high boots and go to the Bois de Bologne...

I really want to make sure that I make enough to simply pay for rent. I don't want to be overworked since I'm in Paris! I need to be enjoying myself, learning the language, spending time with my friends and taking everything in. I don't think this is too much to ask.