Published on: March 25, 2025 | Article No: 318 | By: @rprasanth_kumar
Working part-time while pursuing a master’s in France can be a game-changer but it comes with many challenges. Here’s my firsthand experience navigating studies, part-time work, and the realities of student life in France.
All foreign students in France, irrespective of their nationalities or level of education, have the right to work both on and off campus up to 964 hours per year. However, non-EU students must possess a valid student visa or resident permit. More details about the rights of International students in doing part-time jobs, internships, freelancing, etc. in France are explained in Can a non-EU student work in France?.
Reality of Working while Studying in France
I want to share my experience working a part-time job while pursuing my master’s degree in Nantes. It wasn’t always easy, and there were both positives and negatives, but I hope this article will provide some valuable insights to highly motivated students who are considering a same path.
Disclaimer: This article is based on my own personal experiences and my observations from interactions with 1000s of International students over the last 10 years of my life in France.
My Background
I studied at École Centrale de Nantes from 2015 to 2017. To fund my education, I obtained a student education loan of ₹20 lakhs from SBI Bank in India. However, I used only 50% of the loan for my tuition and living expenses. The rest was covered by my part-time job during my Masters and job search period with APS residence permit.
Fast forward to today, I have over six years of professional experience in the French automobile sector and have successfully repaid my education loan within 2 years of graduation. More details on my LinkedIn profile and About section.
How I landed a part-time Job?: Networking & Persistence
During my second semester (M1), my seniors were organizing an Indian cultural event in Nantes and needed snacks from a local Indian restaurant. I volunteered to handle this task, which led to my first interaction with a few Indian restaurants.
After the event was completed, I started visiting the same restaurant 2-3 times a week, consistently asking for a job while also dropping my CV at other restaurants in the city. After several weeks of regular follow-ups, the restaurant owner finally gave me a trial. Those “few weeks” turned into nearly two years of employment with him!
The Pros: What I Gained?
✅ Legal Employment: I had a proper work contract with SMIC (minimum wage in France).
✅ Healthcare Benefits: My part-time job provided a better health insurance (mutuelle) tan my student version, which covered my first pair of glasses in France!.
✅ Training Benefits: I unknowingly accumulated training hours in my CPF account, which I discovered only a few years later.
✅ Improved French Skills: Since I couldn’t speak Hindi with my Bangladeshi colleagues in the kitchen and their English was limited, I had to rely on French. Fortunately, my colleagues from the service—a French guy, two Pakistanis, and a girl from Guatemala—helped me improve my language skills. This was crucial for my second-year (M2), which was entirely taught in French, and later for my job interviews. From struggling with basic French to securing a job in the language—it was quite the journey!
✅ Financial Independence: I paid part of my second-year tuition fees and covered my living expenses entirely through my part-time job. Also, It helped to look for an automotive engineering job without worrying about any financial support from parents, friends, etc.
✅ Unexpected Business Insights: I gained enough experience to understand the restaurant business inside out!
✅ Driving Class Success: I prepared for and passed the French driving theory test (Code de la Route) in my 1st attempt (39/40), using my daily commute time to study.
The Cons: Hardships
✅ Increased Academic Pressure: Managing a demanding engineering course alongside a part-time job was tough. Some weeks had 8 AM – 6 PM classes for days, immediately followed by exams.
✅ Grades: I scored 14/20 in my Masters due to the double pressure of doing it in French and working part-time. Maybe. I would have scored more without these 2 difficulties. While grades didn’t really matter in my job interviews, they are crucial if you plan to pursue a PhD.
✅ Lost Weekends & Holidays: I worked most weekends and even on New Year’s Eve (though the free champagne helped ease the pain!).
✅ Physically Demanding Work: My job included taking orders, serving clients, handling payments from clients, cleaning, peeling kilos of frozen tiger prawns, food prep (mise en place), and sometimes even operating a very hot tandoor. But it was worth it and also improved my cooking skills.
Not everyone could handle it. I referred some classmates and juniors, but none lasted more than two weeks due to either the hard work or other reasons.
Harsh Realities: What I Observed?
✅ Academics Suffer for Some: Some seniors, classmates and juniors failed to graduate because they prioritized work over studies. They either dropped out or were asked to leave after repeating a year.
✅ Exploitative Work Conditions: Many students work without a proper contract or receive fair wages, especially in Paris.
✅ Underpaid & Unpaid Work: Some earn as little as €4-5/hour (illegal in France), far below the legal minimum SMIC wage. Some don’t get paid for months.
✅ Mistreatment at Work: Some students endure disrespect and even abuse, thinking they have no other choice.
✅ Illegal Work Practices: Some students use borrowed Uber/Deliveroo IDs to do food deliveries, which is not allowed under a French student visa. More details in Work: Can a non-EU student work in France?.
Find Part-time jobs for students in France?
Some examples for finding legal part-time job opportunities in France,
✅ Babysitting: In English or in French via momji.com, babysits.fr, etc.
✅ Restaurants: Fast food chains such as McDonalds, KFC, Quick, etc. employ a lot of part-time students. An example student job offer at KFC: kfcrecrute.talentview.io/jobs/qed65s.
✅ Bars and Cafes: A lot bars, cafes, etc. recruit students especially during the seasonal tourist influx in summer months, etc. So, keep checking your local businesses for such offers. Often, they put up a notice on their windows.
✅ Retail: Cashier or inventory maintenance in French supermarkets such as Carrefour, Auchan, etc. Also, Inventory student jobs at rgis-job.fr.
You can also find students jobs via studentjob.fr, glassdoor.fr, indeed.com, etc.
Final Takeaway: Think Long-Term
A part-time job can help financially, but it won’t completely support your Master’s course in most cases. Short-term financial struggles shouldn’t derail your long-term goals. If you are an aspiring student, do not come to France with the sole intention to support your entire finances via a student job. If you do so, you might be left with only regrets in the future. Even in my case, the education loan would have funded my entire Masters.
If you’ve had any student job experience, please share your story in the comment section below! Future students deserve to know the reality before making their decisions. Wishing you all the best! 😊
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