Hello all,

I've found a job advert for a secretary in a Haute Ecole de Santé. The advert is in French but they want a bilingual person.

The first line of the advert says "Descriptif complet dans la GED et BPV".

Not being Swiss, I have no idea what these two abbreviations mean. Google was no help. So I telephoned the contact number and politely enquired (in my best French) what the abbreviations meant.

I was told (in French) 'This is a haute ecole de sante. We have a nursing course, a radiography course... (several others I can't remember).' I waited for the answer to my question, but that was it. So I asked again, explaining that yes, I understood it was a haute ecole de sante - but what did the
terms GED and BPV mean please?

'This is a haute ecole de sante. Have a good day. Goodbye.' (click).

Now quite possibly I'm demonstrating my unsuitability for this role... but I fail to understand what the fact that it is a haute ecole de sante has to do with the job description for a secretary! There is no mention of needing any medical skills or knowledge in the job description. And I still am no wiser about these two terms.

Can anyone help me?

GED could mean "Gestion Electronique des Documents".
BPV could mean "Biographie Personne Vivante".

I hate acronyms.
I really really hate them!

Thanks... kind of makes sense... although I'm still not sure in that case where I would go to find the complete job description!

I asked my mum and we came up with two alternative scenarios that might explain the strange response:

a) The lady on the other end of the phone thought I wanted to train as a secretary and was telling me they didn't offer that course... which would reflect badly on my French!

b) The lady did understand my question, and what she was telling me was that the GED and BPV both refer to the fact that the place of employment is an haute ecole de sante. She just didn't make that explicit... which would not be a good reflection of her communication skills.

Any other ideas?