Hi,
I am interested in pursuing a career in IBD and would like to work abroad sometime as I have EU Residency and the UK is not looking great right now.
If I have C1 French or German, would I likely be able to make a strong case for them to allow me to work in Paris or Frankfurt for a bit?
Thanks
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The UK is "not looking great" but its finance scene still looks incredibly better than Paris or Frankfurt.
To respond to your question: you need to be absolutely fluent.
Lazard Paris has hired non-French speakers before for some reason (junior level only). Some places in Frankfurt allow non-German speakers on their off-cycle internships, however you won’t be offered a full-time role. Otherwise you need to be fluent.
Hi could you tell me more about firms in frankfurt not offering FT roles to non German speakers please? And what firms apart Gs recruit non German speakers please?
C1 would definitely meet the hiring criteria but I argue that it's also about integrating in culturally (slang, accents, etc.) and being able to adapt those language skills to work (documentation in local language, etc.).
Thanks for your replies. I am not talking about just landing a job in one of these places. I mean more like a secondment from the UK office to Frankfurt or Paris? Like would C1 be good enough to get a year in one of those offices?
If this is all you are trying to do then I don’t see why there would be a problem. As long as you are actually C1 according to the standards and haven’t just “passed a C1 exam” then you should definitely be fine.
I may be a little late to the game here, but if you want to do it and you think you can do it, you should go for it. Working abroad is something very unique and enriching.
C1 is not good enough for Frankfurt. We also do not need additional immigrants....
got a C1 in German and interned in Germany in M&A in one of the bigger European banks, actually only 1 out of 3 during that summer was native German
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