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Tomorrow I'm going to have an interview in a French company and I'm sure they'll ask this typical question:

Quel est votre parcours scolaire et professionnel ?

I want to prepare myself for this interview and I would like to do well to get this job. I need some professional explanation for this question.

What does the term parcours in “parcours scolaire et professionnel” mean?

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1 Answer

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First, it's spelled parcours. And it's masculine, so parcours scolaire et professionnel. It means what you studied at school and what jobs you had. Literally, what route you followed in school and in your career.

If expressions such as this give you trouble, it indicates that you aren't fluent in French. So ask to hold most of the interview in English. The interviewer will sense this anyway; either fluency in French is necessary for the job and you won't get it, or it's not and there's no need to require it during the interview.

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"First, it's spelled parcours. And it's masculine, so parcous" :) – jv42 Oct 2 '11 at 16:09
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"So ask to hold most of the interview in English" → I disagree. Karthik's French might be good enough for the job, and the interview is the best time to check it. For instance, a software engineer can be successful in a French team even without knowing exactly what "parcours scolaire" means. – Nicolas Raoul Oct 3 '11 at 2:16

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