I had my first real proper French job interview today. When I got my temp job I sort of had one, but I had already been referred by the recruiting agency so it was just for show really (though a lot more nerveracking than this one despite that). It's been a very tough slog through the job market this time around compared to when I first arrived here - peppered with (ahem) tempting offers to work on calldesks or doing data entry (I settled for the data entry).
I have sent cvs off to every environmental organisation I can come up with. Part B has involved sending off my resume to quite a few temping agencies, my cv looks in 100% better shape than it did a year ago and my cover letters reek professionalism and reliability. And I haven't heard a single word from anyone.
I almost had a job, a couple of weeks ago, teaching english. That fell through in the most catastrophic way possible. Which was a real shock - and a very stressful period. I could sort of see the entire thing imploding around me since the woman in charge did a 180 in her attitude towards me and NOTHING I could do was capable of changing it. Every phrase I uttered was wrong and subsequently criticised, and saying nothing was equally incorrect. By the end of 10 days my nerves were shattered and I still hadn't seen a work contract. Asking about it, and wanting to know how many hours she was thinking of giving me, only convinced her of my apparent lack of interest in the job and only in the money, and so she fired me. As it were. It was pretty much a no-win situation.
At the moment I feel like I'm existing in a void, and I'm becoming less and less sure where to turn next, what other avenues I could try, who I could speak with. I've canvassed about everyone I can possibly canvass, and I'm missing a crucial support network - the one that's there when you're totally fed up and out of ideas. In about 6 weeks I have no more unemployment benefits and I have no idea what this will mean for my daily life and my relationship if I'm still jobless. If I am even able to stay in Paris. It's not even a question of putting career-relationship in any particular order. But it's true that there is a certain element of pride involved. I have been working fairly average uninspiring jobs since I was 18 (and earlier), all with a view to 'when I finish my studies'. And I have. And I did pretty damn well at them too. If the only job that's ever going to be offered to me in this city is data entry, then there's really not much point.
I won't hear about the outcome of this interview until next week. I'm up against a lot of other applicants, and even if I am selected, there will still be a second interview to get through. But at least its nice to know that someone, somewhere, noticed my CV.