CV

n. – curriculum vitae (Latin) or resume
I had to re-do my resume in French which was challenging since there are many words and expressions in business language that can’t be directly translated. There is also additional information that isn’t mandatory, but is often included such as marital status, whether one has a driver’s license or not and even a photo. I felt that at this stage in my life none of these things were necessary. At the same time, I wondered if I didn't put a photo woould people wonder why.

I remember when we took international interns at my previous company, potential candidates would email me their resumes with the above mentioned information. Once, a girl actually included her photo as a separate attachment and when I opened it, there she was smiling at a bar, cocktail in hand. Needless to say, we didn’t select her. She sent her resume again, this time with the separate photo attached of her in front of her car. Still no dice.

One thing I realized literally only today is that I have never had to prove my education once to an employer even though it’s a critical part of one’s resume. My information is accurate – I graduated with a BA in Modern European History from a well respected East Coast university, but it just makes me wonder if anyone embellishes that information. Perhaps the girl with the cocktail and the car will do that one day seeing how her photos aren’t helping that much.

Here many people are cautious before hiring someone full time. CDD’s are temporary contracts of up to six months that can be renewed once. After that, a company must either hire you for a permanent contract (CDI) or let you go. If a company lets you go, even if it’s at the end of a CDD, you are eligible for “chaummage” or unemployment. The French are very well protected in the case of their employment benefits, medical care and general civil rights. So in the case of employee vs. employer, tenant vs. landlord, it will always be the former that’s protected from the latter. This is why many landlords require so many guarantees before renting their apartments. If a tenant moves in and stops paying rent, it can take years to get them out.

There has been much debate recently about lifting some of laws forbidding work on Sunday. In a perfect world, one would think, if people want to work, why shouldn’t they be allowed to? Wouldn’t it open up opportunities to create more work and ease unemployment? Well, if you see the glass half full, that’s probably how you would look at it. However, there are people who worry that some employers might take advantage by not hiring more people, but rather overworking the people they have and so on. Glass half full would also look at it as an opportunity to increase profits for businesses. Cautionary glass would see it as a possible threat to businesses unable to extend their hours for whatever reason and become obliterated by those who can. In any event a vote has been passed to ease the restrictions so we’ll see how it works out.

Speaking of towels, which I wasn’t at all, but was reminded of since I had the conversation about working on Sundays with a friend of mine who had also pointed out something interesting about towels. We had different opinions on the former subject, which is always healthy since I think you learn more from the people who don’t agree with you than those that do. And we have different opinions on the latter subject with regards to how we like them washed and dried. She prefers hers air dried, I prefer mine machine dried. There is a very distinctive difference with the air dried towels coming out rougher and not as fluffy. I had never given this much thought until now, not that it warrants a tremendous amount, if any at all.

Great health care, employee benefits and more including the freedom of choice between fluffy or scruffy towels are things to be thankful for. And while no place is perfect, it does often come down to how one looks at things so here’s a toast to Paris with glass half full. Santé!