Bilingual anglophones - your experience of the Montreal labour market? (house, university)

[cdnmk91]

I've always wanted to move to Montreal - I fell in love with the city when I visited it a few years back. I am a strong French speaker, working towards becoming fully bilingual. I can currently read, write and understand spoken french very competently. My spoken French is a bit weaker than those other areas, because I've never had the chance to really converse in French other than in a university classroom setting. I think that immersing myself in a francophone environment would help that improve substantially though.

What makes me apprehensive about a move to Montreal when I finish my studies are horror stories about discrimination in the labour market. Have any French-speaking anglophones found it more difficult to get jobs in Montreal on the basis of their last name? Or is this a crazy fear that reading one too many angry forum posts has instilled inside my head? :P

Any commentary of personal opinions or experiences would be greatly appreciated

[BIMBAM]

Hi there, welcome to the forum! So, i'll give you the skinny on this.

The discrimination thing exists, but it won't keep you from being hired on if you have good language skills and it largely isn't a huge deal. It's essentially like being a visible minority is in Vancouver (I moved to Vancouver 1.5 years ago). You can easily get a job in Montreal with the French skills you describe, but not every Anglophone is that good in French, even those us born and raised in Quebec believe it or not, so some people are a bit limited in their job prospects as a result. Where there is discrimination against Anglos is usually in the low skills level jobs. So Anglos working at say, the port as a labourer will get passed up more often for promotions to becoming a manager, but they can still get hired. There's also probably some discrimination in hiring for cushy unionized public service jobs like bus drivers and ticket takers at the STM, where Anglos are underrepresented, and that's reported on. But other than those sorts of examples it's not a big deal, and definitely not for white collar work.

Anyways, I think you could totally get a job out in Montreal and live there, hundreds of thousands of other Anglos pull it off easily. Learning to speak French better is actually really easy if you've already got such a strong theoretical base, a little practice and it just comes tumbling out. Give it a full week of sustained conversing in French with Francophones and your spoken French will improve dramatically, trust me on this, probably the easiest area to improve on.

[jambo101]

While a few human resource personnel may pass over an Anglo Applicant for a Franco applicant its a long way from being the norm.i dont think you'll have a problem, your description of your comprehension of French sounds like you can call yourself bi-lingual already and on a job application say that you are bi-lingual and let the perspective employer make the decision as to whether you are or arent, dont be shy and never apologize for your particular level of French comprehension as it usually comes off as sounding whiny and lacking in self confidence. .
You are still young make the move to Montreal soon before you become encumbered with all the baggage/trappings spouse and family entail.. If it doesnt work out for you in Montreal you can always move elsewhere, once the house and kids come along you arent so free to up and move.

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by jambo101

While a few human resource personnel may pass over an Anglo Applicant for a Franco applicant its a long way from being the norm..

Let me rephrase that as i dont want to give the impression that the norm is to pass over Francophone applicants for Anglo applicants.
. Some human resource personnel may have some personal axe to grind (read separatist)with Anglos/Allophones and pass over an Anglo/Allophone for a Franco for that reason if the choice is two applications side by side, no way to know for sure but i'd say it would be the rare occurrence in the public sector when proficiency of languages is not an issue.
..

[kent2780]

Keep in mind that the discrimination works both ways. If you are being interviewed for an English speaking company or even an English speaking department in a French speaking company you will get bonus points because you are an anglophone versus a French speaker whose English is not perfect. You will notice this often in Montreal: in the same company some departments are almost fully Quebecois, some are immigrant French speakers, some fully Anglo.
Definetely is possible to live and work in Montreal with your language skills.

[Cool85]

OP, how long did it take you to become semi-fluent in French?

I've been taking French class for a few months and practicing french by reading online, but it's really difficult.

And understanding spoken French is even more difficult. I'm honestly convinced it's not a real language, just a series of the same sounds spoken over and over again.

[jambo101]

I cant believe you'll ever get really good at a language unless you are totally immersed in it, speaking it often everyday.i've been speaking French for 35 years and to a Francophone its immediately obvious i'm not French, i get by very well in most situations where French is required but freely engaging in an oral equivalent of what we talk about on these forums i would find very challenging.
Also much depends on your ability with other languages as some pick it up easier than others..

[MTLskyline]

I'm a bilingual anglohpone, and I had no problems being hired whatsoever. I would rate my French as follows:
Comprehension 9.5/10 (I understand everything, although once and a while, I'll have to look up a word or a phrase)
Written: 7/10 (I can make myself understood, my spelling is ok, but I make grammatical mistakes)
Spoken: 8.5/10 (I speak reasonably well, have a slight accent, probably make a few grammatical mistakes on occasion, but am at ease in all situations)

My name is very anglo, and francophone interviewers sometimes start off with me in English, however I always insist on speaking in French. When I was doing internships as a Concordia student, I think it was one of the things that differentiated me from other students applying for jobs. It is a way to show that you actually are functionally bilingual.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MTLskyline

Written: 7/10 (I can make myself understood, my spelling is ok, but I make grammatical mistakes)
.

I've read you in French on other forums. Your written French is better than a 7 I'd say.

[BIMBAM]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I've read you in French on other forums. Your written French is better than a 7 I'd say.

Agreed, his French is lovely. Oh, and I forgot to congratulate you on becoming moderator on one of those other forums, kudos to you, you're already doing a great job