Job hunting: tips and tricks

I thought I'd share a few tips and tricks I've learned after months of job searching and then internship searching. I don't pretend to be an expert, but at least I can talk about how job hunting is different in France compared to the States.

What I've learned comes from classes at the ANPE, professors and professionals from my Masters, and of course months of trying.

So, I'll start with the resumé/CV:
When I first learned that people put their picture, their age, and often their marital/offspring status on their CV in France I was shocked. How discriminatory! I found some French website that said they weren't obligatory, and I didn't put them. I then spent 7 months fruitlessly applying to jobs (well, there was the one office assistant job offer). When I started looking for an internship, I decided to bite the bullet and I put a nice picture in the upper right hand corner, plus my age under my contact info. A professor said our marital status was private, so I didn't put it (although it invariably comes out in the interview when people ask me how it is that I speak French so well for a foreigner). I won't say it's a direct result of me puting a picture on my resumé, but I got a heck of a lot more responses and interviews while looking for an internship than a job last year. Yeah it's discriminatory and sexist and all that: just find a nice, pleasant picture and put it on there (as in Rome....). It's small so no one can tell if it's photoshoped.
As for the content of your CV, don't forget a title that is the title of the job you're applying for (or something general enough). On the suggestion of a professor, I put three adjectives under the title: polyvalente, bilingue, dynamique. This is where you can pick two or three of your favorite attributes that you'd normally talk about in the lettre de motivation and stick them on your CV. Keep it short and sweet though: trilingue, experimenté, autonome, etc, etc. I put them in a smaller font than the title and italic with ~ in between the words.
I'll skip on explaining the formating differences, but just point out that it's important to list foreign education/experiences in terms French people can understand. I put equivalencies for my diplomas. My official title at a general contractor's office was Receptionist, but the responsabilities I had are associated with the job Secretaire de Direction in France. At the library I was a "Library Aide", but that job is called "Adjoint de Bibliothèque" and not "Assistant/Auxiliaire de Bibliothèque". I was the publicity officer for my college choir, but that's better translated as "Responsable de Communication" because "Publicité" just means ads.

Cover letter/Lettre de motivation:
There's no magic formula for writing cover letters; you just need practice. The traditional 3 paragraph company-me-how we'll be great together format has worked well enough for me. I try to find out information about the person I'm applying to: interviews they've done that are on the net, membership in a professional club, possible connections to me (contacts or previous jobs on LinkedIn/copains d'avant; places they've lived/worked). Then I can work it into the letter: "In an interview with XYZ you talked about the importance of yada...". Don't forget to send an email AND paper copy. Copy and paste the cover letter into the body of the email and then mail it all on nice paper. You'd be surprised by the number of skipped emails or misplaced mail. Two means of delivery are better than one.
The one important thing is not to finish with the "Je reste à votre disposition pour un éventuel entretien ou pour tous autres renseignements que vous jugeriez utiles". Don't think about using that. Instead use "Je me permets de vous contacter avant le 20 février afin de s’accorder sur une date d’entretien qui vous convient pour parler de mon projet professionnel".

Techniques:
The ending sentence leads me to the big trick I learned from my Masters: be really assertive. I used to send out applications with the wimpy "I'm here for any more questions" and now I know why I didn't get any responses. For my internship I put a date a week or two away at the end of the letter, and then I called the person before that date. Most of the time I got the response "Oh yes, I got your letter. We haven't had any time to look at the applications right now, but we're getting to it." So I'd wait another two days, then I'd call back. And if I needed to, another two days after that. It might seem agressive to call the business like that, but it's just you taking the initiative to contact them and being assertive. Because I called several times like that at the theater where I'll be interning, I was the first person they interviewed. Then they decided to not waste any more time interviewing other people and offered me the position. Another technique I learned from my Masters is to call the person you're sending your application to before you email/mail it. Say something like "I was just about to email you a job application for abc position and I wanted to know …" If the receptionist won't transfer you to the head of HR or the head of the department, try saying it's a personal call, you're returning a call, or ask for "Service Clientèle". Once you're talking to Service clientèle, say there was a mistake and could they transfer you to the head of HR?

And my last tip:
Send lots of candidatures spontanées. A lot of companies don't bother advertising entry-level positions because they get so many resumés they just open the file and start calling people when they need to fill a position. I really underestimated this and focused all my time last year on replying to job offers on ANPE, Monster, SudEmploi, etc etc. I did get called for interviews sometimes, but on the whole, they're not really worth it because you're competing with 100-200 other people (unless they're looking for an English native speaker). Since you're not applying for a specific job either, you can be a little creative in your cover letter.

Okay, one last tip:
Join clubs or groups and chat with people about your job search. I've been amazed by the number of casual aquaintances who know somebody or who's girlfriend does something, or a friend of a friend... And then your letter is that much better: "I'm contacting you on behalf of Jeanine who said you were looking for an office assistant. Jeanine insisted I contact you because I mentioned my experience as a secretary..." Even if you barely know the person, it doesn't matter.

Back in California, I applied to a bunch of jobs at the University of California, San Diego, and they have this really sophisticated web site where you can create a profile and apply for jobs. Then you log back in and you can see whether or not your appliction was accepted or rejected, and if they want to meet you. I also worked through a temp agency where anyone can register, then they interview with the people at the agency, and then the agency contacts you if they have a client with needs that match your skills. I think the longest I went between stints was 4 days, and that was because I said I wasn't available. Then I arrived in France, where everything is candidature spontanées and who you know (coup de piston). At first I was really upset by this, but now that I know how to work the system better, I try to make it work to my advantage. Everything was really straight forward and regulated in the States, and it took me a while to get used to negociating, sweet talking, and selling myself in France. Just because they said they aren't hiring this week, doesn't mean they aren't hiring next week, or next month. Remember, in France a rule is rarely always a rule. Work the system, don't let it work you.