30 The Linguist Vol/61 No/5
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OPINION & COMMENT
Why French recruiters are increasingly using English,
and employers worry about their staff's skills in French
BEATRICE MURAIL
French recruiters have taken to using English
rather than French for some job titles.
"Between 2020 and 2022, the share of English
job titles in our job offers has doubled to
1.6%," HelloWork Editorial Director Flavien
Chantrel told Le Monde earlier this year. This
trend will probably continue to grow,
especially for management and business
positions, says Agnès Vandevelde-Rougale, a
socioanthropologist at Université Paris Cité.
"The use of one standardised language
makes things easier for multinationals," she
says, adding that image also plays a part.
"English is often synonymous with innovation,
dynamism, modernity. The word 'startup', for
instance, has been embraced by the French
economy and political sector. Someone came
up with a French equivalent, jeune pousse,
about 20 years ago, but it is more widely used
in Quebec than in France." Another factor is
that some titles, such as growth hacker, are
'imported' with the jobs. The lack of a gender
dimension in English is also attractive. "Using
'business developer' could be considered
both simpler and more modern or glamorous
than commercial/commerciale," says
Vandevelde-Rougale.
Julien Broue of recruitment firm Easy
Partner adds that some French marketing and
IT companies use English job titles because
they are "trendy", even though this means
they may not hire the most suitable people
because of a possible mismatch between the
title and what the job actually entails. As a
recruitment firm we need to adapt to the
market and to trends, he says, but also
educate and advise clients, by insisting, for
instance, that they use talent recruiter rather
than chasseur de tête ('head hunter').
A 1994 law named after then Culture
Minister Jacques Toubon makes provision
for job titles in English to be translated into
French or explained, but this is not always
happening. "It is difficult for some job
seekers to understand job descriptions that
include English words," says Vandevelde-
Rougale. "Some companies may use English
deliberately to filter out people who do not
have the required language skills."
In France, 13% of vacancies require a very
good command of English – up to a third in
IT – according to a survey released in 2021
by job site Monster. Research conducted by
Indeed in 2019 revealed that 35% of the
French workforce have refrained from
applying for a position because of their poor
knowledge of a foreign language.
Fautes de français
Notwithstanding the increasing focus on
English, some managers are more concerned
with applicants' French skills. Many native
French speakers make mistakes to do with
grammar, syntax, spelling and punctuation, to
the detriment of their company's credibility
Le mot juste in business
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