# Am I insane?



## BoilingFrog

Hi all,

my French wife and I are planning to move to France this summer. Being married to French national will obviously that will make life a bit easier for me with regards to being allowed to settle and work etc. in France.

However, that was not really my plan when we made the decision to move.

I work as a cross-border commuter to Norway in the oilfield. I had assumed I would continue to do this after our move, thereby providing income for the time during which my wife sought work in France.

However, it now seems I will be made redundant before the end of the year.

I am approaching 50. How reasonable is it to hope to find work in France? I have only moderate (B1) French at present.

I have Geology and Engineering degrees, an MBA and a PGCE (physics secondary) but my 25 yr work experience is in the oilfield.

Is there any realistic way of being self-employed or renting out holiday property that might be viable?

Or am I mad and should just stay in the UK to look for work?


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## Bevdeforges

It's really difficult in the current environment to predict the chances for anyone to find work in France - with or without French. But the French are big on academic qualifications and if you are looking to settle in the south of France, you may want to contact Total, the big French energy company to see what is on offer there for someone with your experience.

There is also the matter of the "classes" you will be required to take (or at least sit through) as part of your spouse visa. One session is dedicated to a one-on-one with someone from Pole Emploi (the French employment service) and they could be quite helpful in pointing you to possible lines of work - or to setting up a small business where you would do "consulting" in your area of expertise.


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## Crabtree

TBH you have everything going for you so there is no reason why you will not be allowed to move or be successful whilst you are in France


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## tardigrade

I have fallen into this trap - being over qualified. Simple definition is that there will be a younger, cheaper person willing to take the job(s) on offer.

I know it is far away but similiar in climate to were you are but Canada works for your qualifications.


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## EuroTrash

What a bxxxxx.


Bevdeforges said:


> you may want to contact Total, the big French energy company to see what is on offer there for someone with your experience.


I second that. Since you're in the business you probably know Total anyway, but thought I'd add for what it's worth that I worked for TOTAL GB for a short period many decades ago and they were probably the best employer I ever worked for, they treated their staff very well. Also at that time they had a policy of being very anglophone throughout the company, even the francophones were expected to make presentations at group conferences in English if they could. I don't know if this policy has changed. (Actually in many cases it would probably have been easier for everybody to understand them if they'd spoken in French, but that's another matter!) 
Also I might add that I'm in my mid 60s and am still managing to find work in France whenever I want it, albeit, ahem, not at exactly the very highest level as you might say.
But do not despair. Life works in mysterious ways sometimes. I am with Crabbers, I see no reason why with determination and perhaps some flexibility.you and your wife should not find work, and presumably you will have a redundancy payment to tide you over for a while.


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## BackinFrance

I don't think Total Oil is headquartered in qualifications. ith France. It does drill for oil in various countries, many of which are very dangerous. The OP could do a search for their HR arm and send them his cv with copies of his qualifications'

That big site Total has on the outskirts of Pau is apparently now primarily a research facility focusing on new and green energy sources etc.


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## EuroTrash

TOTAL group used to be basically structured into TOTAL Upstream and TOTAL Downstream (Amont and Aval) with various divisions within each business. May be different now of course but under that structure I don't think it was one single HR service.


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## BackinFrance

EuroTrash said:


> TOTAL group used to be basically structured into TOTAL Upstream and TOTAL Downstream (Amont and Aval) with various divisions within each business. May be different now of course but under that structure I don't think it was one single HR service.


The structure of Total has changed many times, but I suspect though that someone in the head office at La Défense in Paris would have oversight of HR, that's how major multinationals work, and that correspondence would be forwarded to the correct area, but I meant the HR arm of Total Oil, which I'm sure would also be divided up in some way.








TotalEnergies - Wikipedia







en.m.wikipedia.org


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## Clic Clac

quesobobbie said:


> I am a little bit insane as well) Wanna to move to Spain. How and where can I buy real estate in Spain? Please advise me ... I was recommended to look in some places...


Maybe start with the Spain forum ? 🙄


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## Bevdeforges

Total has a website that seems to list global job opportunities. You could start there: https://careers.totalenergies.com/en


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