Possibly moving to Paris: tips and advice?
July 26, 2016 10:08 AM Subscribe
So I may be offered my dream job in Paris. Yay! Help me figure out some of the details so I can be better prepared while negotiating salary etc and also just moving in general. Snowflakes inside.
- First things first. I'm told I can expect a salary of roughly €36,000 / year. Is this reasonable, given that I'm not really much of a spender - I don't drink or eat out much, and my travel will be limited to a couple of weeks in my home country and a couple of day trips here and there?
- My company will be located in Boulogne-Billancourt. Given that I'd prefer to keep my rent to €700 or thereabouts (with roommates) where should I live? I'd prefer to keep my commute to an hour or less, and I'm open to living somewhere like Chaville Rive Gauche if the city isn't an option.
- Are relocation bonuses a thing in French companies? What can I reasonably expect, if they are?
- I currently live in California but will be moving home to India for a few months while my visa gets sorted. Anything I should plan on bringing to France from either of these countries? I've seen David Lebowitz's list and I know to bring spices, but any other suggestions welcome.
- What else am I missing?
TIA!
- First things first. I'm told I can expect a salary of roughly €36,000 / year. Is this reasonable, given that I'm not really much of a spender - I don't drink or eat out much, and my travel will be limited to a couple of weeks in my home country and a couple of day trips here and there?
- My company will be located in Boulogne-Billancourt. Given that I'd prefer to keep my rent to €700 or thereabouts (with roommates) where should I live? I'd prefer to keep my commute to an hour or less, and I'm open to living somewhere like Chaville Rive Gauche if the city isn't an option.
- Are relocation bonuses a thing in French companies? What can I reasonably expect, if they are?
- I currently live in California but will be moving home to India for a few months while my visa gets sorted. Anything I should plan on bringing to France from either of these countries? I've seen David Lebowitz's list and I know to bring spices, but any other suggestions welcome.
- What else am I missing?
TIA!
Salary depends on a lot of factors. What line of work are you in, how much experience do you have, what unique skills are you bringing to the table, etc. I see in your profile that you're in grad school, so 36K is a very good starting salary, actually. In my line of work (IT consulting), new devs/testers/business analysts are all brought on at around 32-36K.
If you're with a French company that has more than 50 employees, as them how to apply for 1% logement. This will get you a much wider choice of rentals and you may even be able to afford to go without a roommate. Basically you go through a private organization that's contracted through the government and partnered with your employer, which will find you rentals in your price range, location specifications, and size specifications. For instance, when I applied, I asked for something in le département 92 with a preference for Courbevoie, Puteaux, Colombes, or Rueil-Malmaison. I specified a wide rental range (you don't want to set your minimum too high! believe it or not people still get studios at around 450/month through them) and desired size and layout, i.e. in my case a two-room (single bedroom) at 40-60 square meters. They found me the perfect place, I'm so delighted with it. So definitely try that. One thing: be sure to specify what you want if you refuse their first and second proposals, because if the third one doesn't fit... you'll be put on the back burner and may not have anything else suggested for another year.
Anything on the RER B line is going to be rough, merely from a logistical point of view – it has the shortest tunnels, meaning they can't use the newer duplex trains that can hold nearly twice as many people. Conversely, the RER A line is really quite nice. I know several people who found beautiful places around Cergy, and in spite of the long commute they're very happy. For another perspective, I have friends who are in Paris proper and are sick and tired of their 45-minute commutes because they have to change metro/RER lines every 5-10 minutes. There's a big difference between sitting on a single train for an hour and having to change lines two, three, four times.
I don't know many French companies who do expat packages, though it can depend. Negotiate! Can't hurt to ask.
Oh god yeah bring spices. It's a travesty here on that end, they think bell peppers are hot. Not kidding. Everything else – clothes, necessities – is easy enough to find at any price point here.
posted by fraula at 2:23 PM on July 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
If you're with a French company that has more than 50 employees, as them how to apply for 1% logement. This will get you a much wider choice of rentals and you may even be able to afford to go without a roommate. Basically you go through a private organization that's contracted through the government and partnered with your employer, which will find you rentals in your price range, location specifications, and size specifications. For instance, when I applied, I asked for something in le département 92 with a preference for Courbevoie, Puteaux, Colombes, or Rueil-Malmaison. I specified a wide rental range (you don't want to set your minimum too high! believe it or not people still get studios at around 450/month through them) and desired size and layout, i.e. in my case a two-room (single bedroom) at 40-60 square meters. They found me the perfect place, I'm so delighted with it. So definitely try that. One thing: be sure to specify what you want if you refuse their first and second proposals, because if the third one doesn't fit... you'll be put on the back burner and may not have anything else suggested for another year.
Anything on the RER B line is going to be rough, merely from a logistical point of view – it has the shortest tunnels, meaning they can't use the newer duplex trains that can hold nearly twice as many people. Conversely, the RER A line is really quite nice. I know several people who found beautiful places around Cergy, and in spite of the long commute they're very happy. For another perspective, I have friends who are in Paris proper and are sick and tired of their 45-minute commutes because they have to change metro/RER lines every 5-10 minutes. There's a big difference between sitting on a single train for an hour and having to change lines two, three, four times.
I don't know many French companies who do expat packages, though it can depend. Negotiate! Can't hurt to ask.
Oh god yeah bring spices. It's a travesty here on that end, they think bell peppers are hot. Not kidding. Everything else – clothes, necessities – is easy enough to find at any price point here.
posted by fraula at 2:23 PM on July 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
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I'll defer to locals on where you might find housing, but I'm sure you know that Paris is a tough city to find a livable rental. (If you're in San Francisco, then you're probably ready for the Paris rental market.)
A few notes on relocation packages. Relocation packages are variable, even within a specific company. They might do ex-pat pay, move bonuses, goods/vehicle moves, real estate transaction fees, and house-hunt trips for one class of employees and do absolutely nothing for other employees. Your relo packet should come with your written offer, but you should ask for details when you get your verbal offer. It's impossible to negotiate without knowing how much relo you will get because you need to know when you'll break even on the move.
If you can negotiate anything on relocation, then short-term accommodations are something to request. Even a month of corporate housing or hotel rent will be highly valuable since it will be extremely difficult to find an apartment from a remote location.
posted by 26.2 at 11:53 AM on July 26, 2016