Amélia: English-speaking Accountant at Hotels at Home

Could you please present your professional background?

I started my career in Portugal in the aviation industry, which I particularly enjoyed because I had to speak English most of the time.

When I arrived in France, I continued to work in the aviation field for another 3 years. The last eight years, I worked as an administrative assistant in an independent company.

How did you hear about MisterBilingue?

I first put my CV online on a job offer platform. I then received a job alert from MisterBilingue that I was interested in, which I responded to.

I didn't have to wait very long for MisterBilingue to contact me for another job that fit my expectations and profile better.

How would you describe your previous experiences?

My past experiences helped me a lot, especially in English, and if I had been asked to do all my interviews in English it would have been a pleasure.

I worked as an administrative assistant in accounting, so I had to learn accounting through some training. I was confronted with several tax situations and did daily accounting, which prepared me for the job I am doing now.

Did you encounter any problems while looking for a job? If so, which ones?

I did not encounter any problems in my job search. I simply prepared my C.V. and put it online.

I started my search at the end of January 2023 and had an interview a month later, and several other interviews during the following two weeks.

I had several calls and my first interview was with Hotels at Home for an accountant position, and by the time I had new offers, I chose that position.

How did you imagine the Accountant position? Was it true to life?

If I remember correctly, the job description was very accurate. The responsibilities that I have today match what was described in the job advert.

There are a lot of tasks that I used to do that I can do in this job. As it is an e-commerce company, there are some job specifics that are different from what I was doing before.

What advice would you give to an expatriate in order to facilitate their integration into a company in France?

I am currently working for a company based in the United States, but I work in the Paris office. Despite it being an American company, it is still important to master the French language: it makes it easier to work and communicate with colleagues.

You have to learn the language and be comfortable because it can be complicated when you need help.

What are your plans for the future?

I'm doing this experience to really explore the accounting role in depth and discover all aspects of it.

Although I have a plan for later, I'm not totally sure as I really want to do it based on how things go here. I still have a lot to learn, especially about the accountant job!