Student jobs: these institutional websites offer thousands of offers

According to the Observatoire de la vie étudiante (OVE, Monitoring Centre for Student Life), an entity depending on the French ministry of higher education that publishes every three years studies about students’ living conditions, 37% of students worked in a paid activity in 2021. So, job offer websites are booming, and in particular institutional websites that offer more guarantees in the nature of offers.

However, says the national website etudiant.gouv.fr, “many studies reveal that it is becoming harder for a student to succeed in studies if he/she is working more than 15 hours per week”..

Jobs that fit well with studies

“Find a job that fits well with your studies anywhere in France.” This is the motto of the Jobaviz website created by the CNOUS and CROUS, and presented as “the official website for student jobs from the network of university and schools service centres”.

The job offers website is directed both to students and potential employers, and it’s designed to be used an employment guide for students.  It presents:

• Job offers by employment sector;
• Advice to understand an offer properly;
• Recommendations about employees’ rights and duties;

Quick access to job offers by area and city of residence. And it’s possible to create your own research profile to access more targeted jobs.

On employers’ side, the website provides the key for recruiting a student with Jobaviz and reminds the employers rights and duties.

To this day, more than 70,000 offers are available everywhere in France, and there’s even job offers for remote work!

A solution for everyone

“A solution for everyone”. These are the opening words of the government’s new “1 jeune 1 solution” website, which offers young people aged 15 to 30 the chance to discover “all the solutions for your future”. These solutions include job offers AND internships.

In particular, the site lists jobs reserved for students, with “thousands of student jobs selected for you by Pôle emploi”, the national platform whose aim is to provide better support for jobseekers in their search, as well as helping companies to recruit.

The student job ads selected by “1 jeune 1 solution” are available via a search engine that works by type of job, by major field of activity and by region.

To date, almost 10,000 student job offers are available on the site, for up to 15 hours’ work a week.

Broader focus

The CIDJ, which depends on the ministry of national education and youth, has a more general focus, since it focuses both on studies, training, everyday life and employment. It does, however, offer a selection of jobs for young people, student jobs, job vacancies and work-study contracts, throughout France and in all sectors.

Here too, to start their search, students need to select the sector(s) corresponding to the job they are looking for, the location (by département) and the type of contract they are looking for (permanent, fixed-term, apprenticeship or professional contract). The website also lists the dates of job search forums, workshops and meetings taking place in each region.

Note the very important warning issued by the CIDJ: no company should ask for a deposit or sum of money in order to respond to an advertisement, gain access to an interview or a position, or advance money for the purchase of equipment.

Other leads and schemes

The dedicated website etudiant.gouv.fr suggests other avenues and schemes to help students in their search, such as Junior-entreprises, associations set up within a higher education establishment.

According to the student website, these associations, set up by students, enable them to carry out “professional assignments for private or public companies” as part of the teaching provided by their institution.

The website offers additional leads, and in particular jobs that can be filled within the institution where the student is enrolled.

Working while studying in France

Supplementing your income by working while you’re a student is possible in France, whatever your level of study or nationality. Students have the right to work in a company or at their host institution.

However, there are a few rules to be aware of, described in our article:  Working during your studies in France

Explore more 

- Jobaviz

- 1jeune1solution

- sur le site du CIDJ

- On the etudiant.gouv.fr website

[1] Figures provided by OVE at the Colloque de l’accueil, organised in June 2023 by Campus France at the University of La Rochelle.