Entretien d'embauche  If your CV is good enough then it should lead to a job interview - an "entretien d'embauche" or just an entretien. Fingers crossed. Contrat de travail  Got the job? Well done. Now you'd better sign your employment contract, known in France as a "contrat de travail". This is a hugely important piece of paper, and is often needed when moving into a new house, applying for a bank account (or indeed a bank loan). CDI  If you're lucky, the paper that you sign will be CDI contract, which stands for "Contract Duration Indeterminée" – or an open-ended contract. This essentially means you are a permanent employee. Well done. CDD  The other (more likely) option is that you're on a CDD (Contract Duration Determinée), or a fixed-term contract. This is just a temporary gig, but can be extended, two or three times. It may eventually turn into a CDI if it works out well.  There are other types of job contracts on offer that depending on your line of work could see you end up a pigiste (shifter), an intermittent (occassional worker often employed in arts scene) or a saisoniere (a seasonal worker might do a ski season or wine harvest).  SMIC  Time to talk pay. France's minimum wage, known as SMIC, is €9.67 as of 2016, or €1,466.62 a month.