Working and Studying in France: What to Expect and How
BINUS Warung Prancis invited Ms Irsalina S., an IMT Atlantique alumna to speak at its sharing session on the topic of “Working & Studying in France ” held on October 19th. Supported by France Alumni Indonesia, the 90-minute virtual session was attended by no less than 150 BINUS undergraduate students.
Irsalina studied Master of Science in Design and Engineering of Network Convergent in IMT Atlantique. She held 12 years of working experience in several companies in France. After finishing her Master’s degree, she began her first career as an IT Consultant in Capgemini – Caen in 2011 and then moved to Astek – Sophia Antipolis, working as a Software QA Engineer. In 2018, she worked for Kyriba – Paris for the same position before continuing her career to Indonesia in 2020.
During the session, Irsalina earnestly talked about her journey in making her way to be employed by France Companies. She revealed that there are several ways to get a job in France. You can start with searching for a position that suits you in job portals like monster.fr and linkedIn, or from career-day programs in your campus. Irsalina also emphasized that having a strong network is crucial too as it is possible for you to be hired out of a recommendation from someone inside the company.
Irsalina also compared the hiring process in Indonesia with France. She revealed that generally, in Indonesia, the hiring process for fresh graduates has more layers. While in France, tight administrative filtration is implemented at the initial phase. Thus, you need to be considerate in choosing the vacant positions. French companies put high emphasis on the relevancy between your study background, experiences, or research interest and the position you’re applying for.
If there was any advice for the student participants who wanted to accelerate their employability success in France, Irsalina insisted “Get your French some work. Practice it a lot! In France, the interview process is largely concentrated in verbal exchanges instead of written tests. So, if you can’t explain yourselves well, you’re doomed!”
As she moved towards the edge of her presentation, Irsalina shared some insights and her perspectives on working culture in France and what her take-home lessons after spending 12 years of professional experience in France.
