Paris, city of lights!
When you think of “Paris”, you immediately think of the majestic Champs-Elysées, the glittering Eiffel Tower, the historical museums, but also of the French art of living, the refined restaurants and the welcoming warmth of the exceptional hotels. Doing an internship in Paris in gastronomy or the hospitality industry is guaranteed to add a high added value experience to your CV and to be even more sought after by recruiters. By passing through Paris, you become a bankable candidate, so don’t hesitate!
Is Paris an obligatory step in my career?
With its concentration of fine establishments and world-renowned chefs, Paris offers you a huge choice of internships, sometimes with those who inspire you the most or who may even have motivated you to pursue the profession you have chosen. If you look at the careers of these renowned chefs and managers, you will notice that almost all of them have lived and worked in Paris, whether they stay there or make their careers elsewhere in France or abroad. As a foreigner, doing your internship in Paris will show your motivation, your desire to learn from the best and the means you give yourself to do so.
Doing an internship in a hotel in Paris is a guarantee of international quality standards.
What are the specificities of Paris?
Doing an internship in Paris, in addition to learning the know-how from great professionals, inevitably means meeting many people from all over the world. The opportunity to exchange on our respective cultures and to live from the inside, Parisian style. It is also for you the opportunity to practice (or learn) a language that makes the whole world dream. Its subtleties will soon have no more secrets for you!
Do I want to work in an internationally renowned institution, with a team that is a reference in the profession, in a city with a worldwide reputation?
If the answer is yes, then your internship in Paris is a no-brainer. If your objective is excellence, Paris will offer itself to you. There are of course 4* and 5* hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants in other cities and regions of France, but you will find many more in Paris. According to the “Observatory of hotel and restaurant professions”, in 2018, Ile-de-France (the region Paris is located in) was the leading tourist region in France. It generates a third of the country’s national wealth and provides almost a quarter of the country’s jobs(1). It’s gigantic!
For my internship, is Paris better than other cities in France?
We advise you to do your internship in the type of institution you plan to join afterwards. For example, if you want to work in a luxury hotel in Paris, an internship in the City of Lights is a must. The other French regions will offer different and complementary cultural and gastronomic experiences. For example, if you want to work in the wine industry, it is a given to do your internship in French wine regions such as Bordeaux, Champagne or Burgundy. But you can also learn from the sommelier of a Parisian restaurant. Choose the type of companies in which you would like to work and the personality of the trainers you would like to learn from.
Brasserie Le Georges, at the top of the Centre Georges Pompidou museum with a breathtaking view of the entire capital
Is there work in Paris?
Paris is almost eternal, and we are convinced that its creative force will help it recover from the Coronavirus crisis of 2020.
In 2018, the hotel, restaurant and tourism sector in Ile-de-France counted 39,500 companies and employed nearly 267,000 professionals (1). So much knowledge and techniques to learn alongside them!
We are very hopeful that the closed establishments will soon reopen and welcome customers thirsting for good times. The international clientele will come back to visit our beautiful capital and enjoy once again all those moments of life that they miss so much today. And to us too!
You should know that many Parisian (and French) establishments have developed creative alternatives to continue their activity during this difficult period. We have seen an explosion of take-away sales in the take-away restaurant sector and even the Michelin-starred restaurants have got into it and know how to reinvent themselves.
We invite you to read our article on this subject: “Health crisis: the hotel and restaurant business reinvents itself” In 2019, France was still the leading international tourist destination with 90 million arrivals (including overseas) (2).
Can’t wait for the recovery!