Pros
- They win a lot of big language teaching bids to big companies - so there is always work you can pick up if you need it (but not in summer / around Christmas) - They don't require any real qualifications, so if you are stuck looking for work in a new city and you don't speak French you'll probably pass the interview process. - Like a lot of private language "schools" the pay is pretty terrible, but hey it's better than some other "schools" on the market. - Lots of small and 1:1 classes
Cons
- They treat their staff terribly: a pervading sense of fear and helplessness is everywhere. As most of the staff outside of the administrative workers are young foreign English speakers it's not hard to intimidate them as they don't know anything about French labour laws. They'll constantly try to strong-arm you into whatever it is they want you to do and basically threaten you with French labour law for every tiny thing (Teaching hours at terrible times - Saturdays, 8pm, 7:30am, less hours, more traveling ....) - Don't ever bother asking for a raise, what they offer when you arrive is what you get - They only propose CDII (the French version of a zero hour contract) and make a big deal out of the pay per hour. It's always a lot less than you think it's going to be, and will involve huge amounts of traveling across Paris from class to class. No holiday pay, no quality health insurance, no say over when your working hours are supposed to be done. You are basically the EFL version of a contract cleaner. - They provide zero pedagogical support to their employees - meaning that everyone is flying solo. You better have had some good teaching experience before you work here, otherwise you'll just be embarrassed by the quality of what you are supposed to "teach" people. Their version of pedagogic training is giving you photocopied leaflets with exercises lifted out of various well-known and often outdated EFL Exercise books. - Their "teaching centers" are terrible - no rooms have windows