Goals
What you'll be able to do- 📄 Read a French tip-list / how-to guide
- 💼 Understand how a French job interview works
- 🇫🇷 Discover the French job market
- 🏢 Know about Pôle emploi, SMIC, CDI / CDD
- 🎯 Recycle vocabulary from Units 4-6
Read
A how-to guide📋 Comment réussir un entretien ? "How to succeed in an interview"
⏰ Avant l'entretien Before the interview
- Recherchez des informations sur l'entreprise. Research the company.
- Passez une bonne nuit. Get a good night's sleep.
- Faites attention à votre présentation : les vêtements, les cheveux… Pay attention to how you look: clothes, hair…
- Arrivez à l'heure (idéalement 10 minutes avant). Arrive on time (ideally 10 minutes early).
- Préparez vos questions. Prepare your own questions.
🎤 Pendant l'entretien During the interview
- Restez calme et souriant(e). Stay calm and smile.
- Regardez dans les yeux la personne en face de vous. Make eye contact with the person across from you.
- Écoutez avec attention et répondez avec des phrases courtes. Listen carefully and answer in short sentences.
- Ne racontez pas votre vie privée. Don't go into your private life.
- Parlez correctement : n'utilisez pas de mots familiers. Speak properly — no slang.
- Posez vous aussi des questions sur le travail, les horaires, l'entreprise. Ask your own questions about the role, hours, the company.
Adapted from Pôle emploi (the French national employment agency).
💡 Notes
- Faire attention à + noun = "to pay attention to / watch out for". Fais attention à toi ! = "Take care of yourself!"
- Avec attention ≈ attentivement "carefully, attentively".
- Phrases courtes "short sentences" — the key to clarity in an interview. (Avoid the English temptation to over-explain.)
- "Bon courage !" ≈ "Hang in there!" / "Good luck (with the hard thing ahead)". Before an interview, French speakers usually say "Bonne chance !" "Good luck!" — the standard.
Vocabulary
Words to remember| French | Type | English |
|---|---|---|
| l'attention (faire attention à) | n.f. | attention; (to pay attention to) |
| avant | prep. | before |
| calme | adj. | calm, quiet |
| un / une candidat(e) | n. | candidate, applicant |
| les cheveux | n.m. pl. | hair (always plural in French) |
| correctement | adv. | properly, correctly |
| une entreprise | n.f. | company, business |
| exactement | adv. | exactly |
| idéal / idéale | adj. | ideal |
| imaginer | v. | to imagine |
| un œil (les yeux) | n.m. | eye (eyes — irregular plural) |
| pendant | prep. | during |
| une personne | n.f. | person |
| peut-être | adv. | maybe, perhaps |
| une phrase | n.f. | sentence (⚠ false friend — not "phrase"!) |
| poser (une question) | v. | to ask (a question) |
| une présentation | n.f. | appearance; introduction |
| raconter | v. | to tell (a story); to recount |
| rechercher | v. | to research; to look for |
| répondre (à) | v. | to answer, to reply (to) |
| réussir | v. | to succeed |
| la vie | n.f. | life |
| les vêtements | n.m. pl. | clothes |
Cultural snapshot
The French job market🇫🇷 The job market in France
🏢 Pôle emploi
Pôle emploi is France's public employment agency, which helps people look for work. It was created in 2008, by merging the older ANPE (national job agency) and Assédic (unemployment insurance). You can sign up for free, browse job offers, get advice and receive unemployment benefits if you've lost your job. Closest English-speaking equivalents: the UK Jobcentre, the US "unemployment office", or Australia's Centrelink — but with stronger benefits.
💶 The SMIC
The SMIC (Salaire Minimum Interprofessionnel de Croissance) is France's legal minimum wage. All employees must be paid at least the SMIC. It's revised every year. In 2026, the SMIC is around 1 800 € gross per month (for a 35-hour week). ⚠ Note the French decimal/thousands convention: 1 800 € uses a space as thousands separator; decimals use a comma (e.g. 1 800,50 €).
📃 CDI and CDD
Two main types of employment contract in France:
• CDI (Contrat à Durée Indéterminée) — open-ended contract, no end date. The most stable, the gold standard. Closest UK/US equivalent: a permanent or full-time position.
• CDD (Contrat à Durée Déterminée) — fixed-term contract, with an end date, for a specific mission (seasonal work, replacing someone on leave…). ≈ a fixed-term or temporary contract.
(full-time)
per year (minimum)
age (2026)
per month
💡 French quirks worth knowing:
- The 35-hour week is iconic in France. Many companies offer RTT days (extra days off in compensation for overtime).
- Paid leave is a strong right: minimum 5 weeks per year. Many French people travel in July or August (the famous grandes vacances).
- The Sécurité sociale (universal social-security system) covers healthcare, retirement, unemployment — funded by employer and employee contributions.
- On a French CV (curriculum vitae), it's now standard not to include a photo, your age, your marital status, or your religion — anti-discrimination practice. (This often surprises American or UK candidates who are used to photo-free CVs but expect to volunteer their age, and even more so candidates from Asia, where photos are still common.)
Practice
Try it outExercise 1 · Did you understand the guide?
True or false, based on "How to succeed in an interview".
| Statement | True | False |
|---|---|---|
| Avant l'entretien, il faut chercher des infos sur l'entreprise. | ||
| Il faut arriver très en retard pour faire bonne impression. | ||
| Pendant l'entretien, il faut regarder le sol. | ||
| Il faut raconter sa vie privée en détail. | ||
| Le candidat peut aussi poser des questions. | ||
| Il faut utiliser des mots familiers et de l'argot. |
Exercise 2 · And what else?
Find 3 of your own original tips for succeeding in an interview. Use il faut / il ne faut pas + infinitive. Multiple answers possible.
- 👉
- 👉
- 👉
💡 This is an open exercise — no auto-correction. Run your sentences past your teacher!
Exercise 3 · Listening
Listen and identify the candidate's mistakes.
Tick what the candidate does badly:
| Behaviour | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Arrives on time. | ||
| Makes eye contact with the interviewer. | ||
| Talks about his personal problems. | ||
| Answers in short sentences. |
💡 Answers may vary slightly depending on your interpretation — the goal is to spot the candidate's flaws.
Exercise 4 · Vocabulary — the workplace
Match each French acronym or word to its English meaning.
- SMIC →
- CDI →
- CDD →
- Pôle emploi →
Exercise 5 · Working life — the numbers
Fill in the right figures.
- The legal working week in France is hours.
- Employees get a minimum of weeks of paid leave per year.
- The 2026 monthly SMIC (gross) is about €.
- The legal retirement age (2026) is years.
- The public agency that helps the unemployed is called .
Communicate
Real-world tasks🎭 Role-play · And in your country?
With a partner, compare workplace culture in France and in your home country. Answer:
- Do people smoke at work?
- How many hours per week do people work?
- What time does the workday start and end?
- How many weeks of holiday per year?
- Do you put a photo on your CV / résumé?
- Do you state your age in an interview?
✍️ Your turn! Writing task
In the style of "Comment réussir un entretien ?", write your own short how-to guide in 8-10 tips. Pick a theme:
- Comment réussir un voyage à l'étranger ? — How to have a great trip abroad
- Comment réussir un examen ? — How to ace an exam
- Comment être un bon professeur ? — How to be a good teacher
- Comment réussir une fête d'anniversaire ? — How to throw a great birthday party
Use: il faut · il ne faut pas · vous pouvez · vous devez · pendant · avant · après.