Talent concentration

I work for a big consulting firm in Paris and I currently began an interesting project in Brussels. I have worked for less than a week with my colleagues and I find all of them competent and talented. However, it seems that finding people like them in Belgium is not as simple. The post for which I was chosen has been vacant for more than one month and the client has refused several candidates. Meanwhile, in Paris, lots of consultants are “on the bench” waiting for a project to be staffed in, and I can guarantee that all of them are really talented. I would dare to say that the company for which I currently work for, really insists in choosing the right people.

In the end, it turns out that the best talents are concentrated in big capitals such as Paris, sitting on the desks waiting for the proper project, while smaller capitals such as Brussels have hard time finding the adequate profiles.

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Apparently, they really appreciate the capability of speaking Spanish, dealing with hard providers and employees, and like Mr. Gerente would say: “bitching the hell out of each and every inefficient worker”.

Brief update

Finally got a decent flat near Gare de Lyon (very centric place with lots of transport choices) and started my consulting job two weeks ago. For now I am receiving training but I’m really happy because i managed to get into the security division instead of the network division that was proposed at the beginning.

I spent a great holiday camping at Ile de Ré (I strongly recommend the camping l’Ocean). The weather has improved a lot and most of the time its sunny with no rain.

Now the short term goals have been reached and its time to define new ones.

Bonne recherche!

I had heard so many times before that to search for an apartment is a nightmare in Paris but I really never believed the commentaries until I had to look for one. In order to be elegible for even being considered as a good tenant for a flat you need be a millionaire, a friend of someone in the most influencing circles and a high rank member of a masonic lodge. And that’s just to be in equal terms with the other candidates that post their dossiers along with you. Once the owner receives dozens of these, he studies them carefully (?) choosing the one that presents the smallest risk to his property (for example, a couple seems not to be as dangerous as a single man who might destroy the premises any night when he arrives late at home after partying with his comrades). Just for the record, a complete dossier requires at least the following:

1. Your three last receipts of payment: if you just started working you may provide your copy of the contract, however, if this is the case, it is possible that you are still in the trial period and your dossier has lost many points already. In addition, you must be able to demonstrate that you earn at least three times the value of the monthly fee of the apartment.
2.  A copy of your identity card: if your tenant has any prejudices against your origins (country for example) you’ve already lost more points.
3. A RIB (relevé d’identité bacaire): you better have a well known bank.
4. A bailsman (garant): not just anyone, it has to be someone that on its own earns three times what you will pay monthly for your flat and he needs to present the same documents as you plus his last receipt of taxes payed the last year. If your bailsman has not been living for more than a year as a salarié and he hasn’t payed taxes, you lose more points. You may be tempted to ask that well known bank mentioned before to be your garant, but be advised that you need to freeze a whole year of rent in the bank and pay 2% of the amount frozen every trimester (suppose a thousand euro rent, you would be freezing 12,000 euros and paying 240 euros every three months). You may be also tempted to use loca-pass: it is not well seen and not widely accepted, neither by agencies nor particulars.
5. A tad of luck so the stars are aligned at the proper angle and the universe conspires for:
   • You liking the piece of shit that Parisian apartments usually are.
   • The owner thinking you are elegible to take even though you meet all his constraints.
   • Nobody else who earns more than you presenting their dossier.
   • Being able to pay the ridiculous amounts of money asked for the space that in any other city or country would buy you a really nifty flat.

And yes, after all these, the people in the agencies say good-bye, after not offering you anything worth it, with a big fat “Bonne recherce!”.

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Photo taken by awk @ the Georges Pompidou Museum in Paris (March 2008)

Mesdames, monsieurs, suite a un mouvement social…

One of the many faces of France, its strikes, has popped out during the last months. Two transport strikes in less than a month is just too much. Even the French, who take strikes as a god given right, have started to get pissed at the transporters. Why should they retire at 50 while the rest of the people retire later?

I never knew so many people could fit in a sigle wagon. I never laughed so hard at the French people covering their noses with their scarfs because of the smell of a clochard.

There other things that amaze me. The strike itself is so organized you chan check at the tranporter’s webpage the frequence and percentage of trains currently rolling through the streets. I wonder, if they are on strike, who is in charge of updating these pages? Wouldn’t we all be better off if that person rose from its chair and started driving one of the trains?

I like the French way for some things, but this is way too much.

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Photo taken by awk @ the Eiffel Tower in Paris (October 2007)