Martine Ruiz:

“This is evolution, not revolution!”

Martine Ruiz’s job is to facilitate the integration and installation of transferred executives and their families on their arrival in the Lyon urban area: in other words, to assist with professional mobility. This business has a name: relocation. This has nothing to do with real estate, but rather with the notion of mobility. Martine Ruiz began to operate on a freelance basis in 1987, after first being approached within the context of her existing job as a teacher of English to adults; since 1992, the date when her company was set up, she has embarked upon the task of providing assistance with housing (rental, purchase, etc.), daily life (banking, water, electricity, telephone, etc.), immigration (visas, work permits, residence permits, etc.), even children’s schooling (choice of institution and enrolment).

Le Tout Lyon: How do you promote your business?

Martine Ruiz: I usually say that we are “facilitators” for new arrivals. We distinguish between the companies that call on our services, on the one hand, and on the other, their employees, for whom we work, the “beneficiaries”.

LTL: Is it generally multinational companies which call on you?

M.R.: Yes, Bio Mérieux, Rhodia, Sanofi Pasteur, Lafarge, Nissan, Sumitomo Chemicals, etc. Individuals only make up 10% of our business.

LTL: What’s the main stumbling block you come across?

M.R.: Housing! It’s really complicated: expatriate workers arrive and of course have no co-signers; that’s where the difficulties start. But, you know, it’s a problem for the French in France too.

LTL: Some people just call it racism, don’t they?

M.R.: I think that’s overstating it, I wouldn’t go as far as that. Housing is a general problem.

LTL: Are there others?

M.R.: The linguistic barrier of course, but unfortunately the inability to master foreign languages is almost part of our national heritage. Virtually no one speaks English. Apart from that, there are other aspects of daily life that shock expats: the absence of any nightlife; the fact that stores close relatively early and on Sundays. Foreigners don’t understand this concept of the “dead city”, it’s quite beyond them.

Sometimes people forget too that they are in the province. Recently an expat asked me to find him a show like one of Edith Piaf’s concerts in La Vie en Rose. I told him that he would have to go to Paris for that.

LTL: Don’t some people also say that the educational choice isn’t wide enough?

M.R.: I don’t agree. On the contrary, in my opinion this is where things have improved over the past few years. As in other large cities, it is possible to follow an international curriculum here. I assure you that problems relating to housing are the real black hole. Over and above administrative factors, the real stumbling block is people’s attitudes.

LTL: Let’s be positive: what do expats really appreciate?

M.R.: The quality of life, being close to the sea, the mountains, the countryside. Actually, it’s pretty amazing how spouses are often very hesitant when faced with the prospect of coming to Lyon; and in the end they are very often the ones who don’t want to leave. Because don’t forget that, on average, expats are on assignment for relatively short periods of around three years.

LTL: What, then, is a “typical” client profile?

M.R.: Unmarried, with a partner, 25-50 years old

LTL: And what is the ideal profile?

M.R.: In the case of families, it’s always easier when they have children under the age of 14 because they integrate more easily. They also adapt more quickly.

LTL: A word about your business, relocation, how is it evolving?

M.R.: It is increasingly becoming an advisory service. As an independent company, I find that we are getting more and more inquiries from our clients. Moreover, we must evolve to meet their expectations. We are therefore adding further expertise regarding immigration issues as well as intercultural factors.

CM

“Spouses are often very hesitant when faced with the prospect of coming to Lyon; and in the end they are very often the ones who don’t want to leave.”