Anyone out there with experience in the French consulting world? Any advice for a newcomer with fluent French who's interested in getting into consulting across the channel? If you've worked in both France and the UK, what are the similarities/differences? Thanks in advance for any info you can offer.

Having recently worked on a project with a critical mass of Dutch, English, Belgian, German, American and French members of the team, I can see very different ways of working between the French and English.Collectively the French contingent had liitle or no sense of humour and lacked self awareness / introspection. All this was underpinned by generally misguided self importance / arrogance which made them hard to work with at times.

I spent a few years working in France. Very different from working in the UK. Consulting market is very French-focused with a heavy emphasis on SME sector. Little international work because the French refuse to believe that anyone except the French have the talent to deliver consulting, and guard their revenue jealously. As a result, typically seen by the larger firm as being hard to work with and therefore not invited onto larger projects (which are usually staffed out of UK / US / Germany).I found the variety of projects poor and the work uninteresting, the leadership was low quality and full of politics, little effort or investment made to grow the team and develop more junior staff. Day rates were low, and consequently people were chasing lots of low-quality work just to make their numbers. The workplace is very hierarchical and anyone under senior manager basically gets crapped on.Salaries are lower, taxes are higher, hours are longer.In a nutshell, I wouldn't wish a career in a French consultancy on an enemy.

conversely, the Capgemini French practice is an order of magnitude better than than the UK one - better brand, better clients, better facilities, better treatment of staff. worth a look (but only in Paris).

Thanks for the comments everyone. I was aware of the strict hierarchy that exists in France but thought perhaps that in the consulting sphere it was a little less so, at least in the international firms. Capgemini is an option, but could you give insight as to why locations outside of Paris wouldn't be worth a look? To those working in London, would fluent French be an asset when looking for consulting work?

Hello Melle,"To those working in London, would fluent French be an asset when looking for consulting work?"No, not really. We speak English over here.

Forgot to add... Fluent English would definitely be an advantage, however. Some might say even a prerequisite! As opposed to that awful ESL type stuff.

Ha! Thanks for clearing up my language confusion, Englishman. ;)I suppose I should have been more clear. Perhaps the question should have been whether or not other languages are an asset, or if most international projects are conducted in English regardless. It sounds like it is the latter.

It would certainly be an asset - having an extra skill cannot be a bad thing. However, all projects will almost certainly be in English. English is an international language, and most Englishmen don't speak any other languages anyway (there would be too many to learn... French, German, Spanish and so on).