Voulez-vous?

‘International Opportunities with a major French Construction Group’ ran the ad in October’s CM. Bouygues wanted British construction professionals to work in its French businesses.

Intriguing. Is France suffering from the same shortage in quality construction management graduates as we are in the UK? Do they really need our British expertise on the continent?

Well, the answer to the first question is a firm ‘non’. Apparently there’s no lack of good construction managers over there. As for our expertise, that is part of the story: Bouygues wants to encourage innovation by bringing in people with a different approach. And there’s a fledgling PFI market in France which means that Brits with the experience could be useful.

But the main reason is that the group is looking to expand internationally. And it thinks it can only do that with a diverse workforce. It is recruiting French-speakers from around Europe.

“The idea is that a company with people from different countries, with different ideas, is bound to be more proficient, more imaginative than a company that recruits people who are all in the same mould,” says David Myerscough, Bouygues UK’s human resources manager who is selecting candidates, with help from Now Recruitment, before he sends them over for interviews with colleagues in one of the six French subsidiaries.

Successful applicants can look forward to more holiday, better healthcare and childcare, and of course the French way of life typified by leisurely lunches at the local bistro, even when on site.

Once people have worked for a while in France, honed their French and soaked up the Bouygues culture, they can then do one of three things: stay in France; go back to their own companies to grow the business or work elsewhere overseas. Bouygues is looking to grow inside Europe and further afield in the Far East (Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand), Africa and the Caribbean.

Europe-wide induction

But if Bouygues is looking to expand in, say Hong Kong, why not recruit Brits here and send them straight out? That is not the group’s way, says Bouygues UK’s head of business development Ian Gunter. It wants people for the long-term: “People tend to come to Bouygues from other firms with a project-to-project mentality. We want to develop people and their careers within our organisation to see they have mobility right across the group.”

Bouygues has even set up a ‘club’ for young people, those with 10 years experience or less, to promote this idea. Club Europe, which began in 2003, is for young non-French professionals who are working outside their native countries, or would like to. Myerscough describes it as a ‘Europe-wide induction programme’. Managers decide who can go.

The idea is that a company with staff from different countries is more imaginative

David Myerscough, BouygueS UK

Club Europe sees 85 people meeting for two days around three times a year in capital cities around Europe. Since its inception in July 2003, the club has met in Paris, Barcelona, London, Bordeaux and Brussels. It’s a chance to learn about the local Bouygues company and to network.

There’s one little catch though. You have to speak French.

Construction managers should also be prepared for a much broader role. In addition to the usual jobs of planning and supervision, Bouygues’ construction managers have responsibility for tendering and procuring subcontract packages, financial control of the site and authorising subcontractor payments.

So are construction managers better paid in France? Well, no. Julian Anthoney, of Now Recruitment, says that salaries are 20 to 25% lower. However, because the cost of living is also lower you probably won’t feel worse off. There are the perks though. Better healthcare, better childcare, and more days’ holiday.

The French working week is 35 hours. As a manager you’ll be working more than that, but you get the time in lieu, usually equivalent to 10 days. That together with 25 days paid holiday makes 35 days. And France has more bank holidays.

Then there’s lunch. “The French take a lunch break,” says Myerscough. “Quite often they will find a nice brasserie near the site.” And the food is cheap and good, he adds. The downside to leisurely lunches is that people stay later, perhaps until 7pm.

Any takers? So far Bouygues has made offers to four candidates, two of whom have now started their new jobs with subsidiaries Quille in Rouen and GTB in Nantes. It’s interviewing several more.

All the successful ones have had a French connection, says Myerscough, perhaps a French partner, parent or a holiday home in France. Others haven’t had the language skills. Because although Bouygues isn’t insisting on 100% fluency, and the site jargon can be picked up within a few months, you need a reasonably good level to start with.

So if you have a hankering for la vie française and a new challenge, maybe it’s time to brush up those language skills and give Bouygues a call.