How can I get job in France?

How can an English-speaking girl study and get a decent job in France?

• I have an Advanced Diploma in Hospitality Management and have several years experience working for a 6-star ultra luxury cruise line. I would love to study further in France so I can complete my degree and learn to speak French. Yet, I can only speak English and Afrikaans. How can I achieve all this when it seems the main prerequiste for a Hospitality job in France is to be bi-lingual?

• Answer:

  Your first choice is to get a job in France that doesn't require you to be bi-lingual. An au pair comes to mind, but I'm sure there are others that are open to foreigners. Spend two or three years perfecting your French and then apply. Your other option would be to look for work in a French-speaking country. There are lots of tourist resorts in Morocco and Tunisia, for example, and they might not require the same level of language skills. You will have to work a little harder to learn French in those situations, but it will probably be easier to get a job. Regardless, you should do what you can to learn French at home. This will make whatever time you spend learning French in a French-speaking country much more fruitful. Keep in mind that "functionally bilingual" is a pretty high level of French (higher than fluency) and will take some time to achieve regardless of where you live. Also realize that hospitality degrees in France are granted at the high school level - students go straight into the profession after the BAC - so you're starting some years behind already. But your experience will definitely help.