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French for TEF Canada & TCF Canada

This lesson gives you the vocabulary for the French-language job search: writing a cover
letter and a CV, replying to a job posting, applying for a position, and getting through a
job interview.

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In Canada, most job interviews are conducted with the formal *vous*, even for junior
positions, so this lesson's interview-register sentences use vouvoiement throughout.
Practise them in that register — it is how a TEF Canada or TCF Canada speaking-task
interviewer addresses you, and how a real Canadian employer will address you too.

This vocabulary shows up across several exam tasks: TCF speaking tasks about giving an
opinion or gathering information often draw on job-market themes, and the TEF and TCF
writing and synthesis tasks regularly use unemployment, career change, and hiring practices
as debate topics. It is just as useful once you land: most Canadian job applications still
ask for a lettre de motivation and a CV, and settlement and employment services frequently
use terms like stagiaire, PME, and secteur d'activité when helping newcomers plan a job
search.

The lesson also covers the vocabulary of unemployment (le chômage) and career change (se
reconvertir), both common topics in Canadian settlement services and in exam prompts about
the labour market. Note that poser sa candidature and postuler à un emploi are near-synonyms
for "to apply": the first emphasizes formally submitting your candidacy, the second is the
everyday verb for applying to a specific job.

Finding a job (la lettre de motivation, l'entretien)

Immigration and residency procedures (la démarche, le permis de séjour)

Documents, forms and paperwork (le justificatif, l'attestation)

Living in Canada (le courriel, la fin de semaine)

At work (le CDI, la rémunération)

Finding a place to live (la caution, les charges)

Everyday services (l'abonnement, résilier)

Health and healthcare (l'assurance maladie)

Studies and credential recognition (la formation, l'équivalence)

News and fait divers vocabulary (le témoin, l'enquête)

The big debates (l'enjeu, la mesure)

Stating your opinion and arguing (pour ma part, en revanche)

Conceding and countering (certes..., mais)

TEF Writing A — continuing a fait divers (journalistic narration kit)

TEF Writing B — the letter to the newspaper

TEF Speaking A — the formal phone call (vous)

TEF Speaking B — convincing a friend (tu)

TCF Writing 1 — messages and invitations

TCF Writing 2 & Speaking 1 — talking about yourself

TCF Writing 3 — the synthesis (reported viewpoints)

TCF Speaking 2 & 3 — getting information and giving your opinion

Question	Answer
a job interview	un entretien d'embauche
a cover letter	une lettre de motivation
a résumé/CV	un CV
a job posting	une offre d'emploi
to submit one's application (for a job)	poser sa candidature
to apply for a job	postuler à un emploi
an employer	un employeur
to hire	embaucher
to recruit	recruter
skills	les compétences
work experience	l'expérience professionnelle
to retrain/change careers	se reconvertir
a career change	la reconversion professionnelle
the job market	le marché du travail
the unemployment rate	le taux de chômage
to be unemployed	être au chômage
to collect unemployment benefits	toucher le chômage
hiring discrimination	la discrimination à l'embauche
an SME (small/medium-sized business)	une PME
the industry/sector	le secteur d'activité
the civil service	la fonction publique
a reference letter	une lettre de recommandation
an intern	un stagiaire
I sent my cover letter and my CV to the employer yesterday.	J'ai envoyé ma lettre de motivation et mon CV à l'employeur hier.
I saw an interesting job posting on the website this morning.	J'ai vu une offre d'emploi intéressante sur le site web ce matin.
Could you tell me about your work experience and your skills?	Pourriez-vous me parler de votre expérience professionnelle et de vos compétences ?
I would like to apply for this position.	Je voudrais postuler à ce poste.
She submitted her application for the sales job in March.	Elle a posé sa candidature pour le poste de vente en mars.
This company plans to hire and recruit several people before the end of the year.	Cette entreprise prévoit d'embaucher et de recruter plusieurs personnes avant la fin de l'année.
After ten years in marketing, he decided to retrain as a nurse.	Après dix ans dans le marketing, il a décidé de se reconvertir pour devenir infirmier.
A career change can be difficult, but it is often worth it.	Une reconversion professionnelle peut être difficile, mais elle en vaut souvent la peine.
The unemployment rate went down last quarter, but many people are still unemployed.	Le taux de chômage a baissé le trimestre dernier, mais beaucoup de gens sont encore au chômage.
He has been collecting unemployment benefits for six months.	Il touche le chômage depuis six mois.
Hiring discrimination remains a real problem in some industries.	La discrimination à l'embauche reste un vrai problème dans certains secteurs.
My cousin works as an intern at an SME downtown.	Mon cousin travaille comme stagiaire dans une PME au centre-ville.
Could you provide a reference letter from your previous employer?	Pourriez-vous fournir une lettre de recommandation de votre ancien employeur ?
Thank you for taking the time to come to this job interview; please have a seat.	Merci d'avoir pris le temps de venir à cet entretien d'embauche. Installez-vous, je vous en prie.

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