Written by Top UK IT Recruiters. The only such product on the market!! There are millions of IT Professionals globally trying to find a job in the UK and looking for guidance. Have a look at the graphics you can use to promote this set of 4 ebooks!
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wanna know what you’re up for re the living cost in London? here we’ve compiled the basics about a few London expenses to expect (give or take).
food
check out Sainsburys – big chain supermarket – for the current cost of milk, bread, toothpaste and other everyday stuff.
small note:
milk comes in pints! yup just like a pint glass. for a pint of milk you’re looking at 40p (around 60c).
see grocery prices @ Sainsburys >
travel pass
ok so firstly the best thing to do is grab yourself an Oyster card, which is the cheapest way to travel by bus and tube around London. you can top up an Oyster card with as many pounds as you want, and can get them online, at tube stations and other easy locations. Oyster cards are used in conjunction with tube and bus tickets (not instead of).
read more about Oyster cards @ Transport for London >
tube
rather than give you a giant list, here’s a few typical prices. from Heathrow airport into the centre of London (Piccadilly Circus) it’ll cost you about £4.00. a day card for Zones 1-2, which lasts until 4:30am, costs about £5.00.
get tube prices @ Transport for London >
bus
no matter where you go on a bus within Greater London (Zones 1-6) it’ll cost you £2. to make your trip cheaper – 90p cheaper in fact – use an Oyster card.
download guide to fares and tickets @ Transport for London >
rent
ok so this one’s kinda hard to give exact costings on, cos it really depends on so much. eg. how much of a prince/princess you are ?, what zone you want to live in, how many people you’re living with, closeness to the tube, bills, council tax...well you get the idea.
here is a ballpark figure for the popular zones:
• Zone 1: single room £120 - £200+ (pw)
• Zone 2: Single room £100–£170 (pw)
• Zone 3: Single room pw £70-£100 (pw)
so the further away from the centre of London (Zone 1), the cheaper it gets.
download map of London Zones @ Transport for London >
random list of other London prices
we really could go on about all sorts of London expenses, so here’s our random (yet handy) list of ballpark figures on some of the other necessities.
• pint: £3-5.00 (funny how this is at the top of the list)
• pub meal: £6.00 (well all that drinking gets you hungry)
• chocolate: 40p
• nightclub entry: £15 - £20.00
• coffee: £1.10
• concert ticket: £50.00 and upwards (depends who you see)
• London Festival tickets: £50.00 - £100.00
• pre-packaged sambo from Sainsburys: £ 2.00 – £4.00
• theatre tickets: £10 - 20.00 (at the cheap ticket boxes around the West End)
we could go on and on about the essential items you need to be comfortable in London but instead we'll just give you a few to get you started and a couple of links to help get them sorted.
1. Is a mobile phone or UK sim card so you can get connected with peeps back home.
There are a few options; you can either bring your own phone from home as long as it's unlocked and then get a sim card from any one of the UK providers. the best ones are; O2, Orange, Vodafone, 3 Mobile, and T-Mobile.
Otherwise of course you can buy a phone and sim-card package from any of those outlets too. You'll find at least one of them on any major High St in London, but if you want to do your shopping around, head to Oxford St in the centre of London where you'll find them all in walking distance from each other.
2. A map to help you get around London. The most famous one is the London A-Z, a pocket guide with every nook and cranny that London is made up of so you never get lost.
you can get them in any newsagent or souvenir store in and around London, or you can buy them online if you want your parentals or friends to get you one as a pressie.
3. Get an Oyster Card. It's a card used as payment on the London transport system. At any tube station you can load your card up with money and then use the card to 'tap in and out' on dedicated sensors on every bus and tube stop around London. It's quick and more cost effective than buying individual tickets.
you can grab them at any tube stop and prob best to get yours at Heathrow airport if you decide to Tube it from there. Or you can grab them online if ya want.
4. There are various options available for international phone cards. You can get these phone cards anywhere in the market. With the help of these you can call back home at very affordable rates. PC to Phone call is also another option to get in touch with your loved ones in fraction of time
Type of Work included:-
Creative or Sporting.Charity WorkerGovernment Authorised ExchangeReligious WorkerInternational AgreementA Sponsor is required:-
UK based company needs to apply for a Certificate of Sponsorship on your behalf and needs to be licensed.Time allocated:-
Creative, sporting & charity work = 12 Months.Religious, Government exchange or International agreement category = 24 Months.Documents to fill out:-
Self Assessment Points Calculator
Fees:-
£130Paid in your local currency. Valid as of December 2010.Other Facts:-
Fingerprints need scanning.Spouses are allowed on Visa.Must have more than £800 in your bank account and another £533 for any additional dependants for a 3 month period.Points based on, education, salary, position and more.Depending on the Visa needed, points vary.Apply Online.
More Information - Visa Application Guide
Type of Work included:-
General job - that you will fill in for a role that a local UK resident cannot fill or shortage in a particular field.Intra-Company transfer - being sent from the same company in your country to the UK's office.Sportsperson - high level athletes and coaches Visa.Religious - for members of a religious order.A Sponsor is required:-
UK based company needs to apply for a Certificate of Sponsorship on your behalf and needs to be licensed.Time allocated:-
Documents to fill out:-
Self Assessment Points Calculator
Fees:-
£350Paid in your local currency. Valid as of December 2010.Other Facts:-
Fingerprints need scanning.Spouses are allowed on Visa.Must have more than £800 in your bank account and another £533 for any additional dependants for a 3 month period.Must be older than 16.Points based on, education, salary, position and more.Depending on the Visa needed, points vary.Apply Online.
More Information - Visa Application Guide
So before you can really settle into your London adventure there are a few technicalities you’ll need to work out.
The three big things are the job, the flat and the bank account.
It can be a bit of a drag I know (trust me, I know) but it’s all plain sailing after this point… well… mostly.
The most important thing to try and sort out first is the job.
I had a lot of trouble opening a bank account over here before I started my job because most banks require evidence of employment before you can open your own account. Seems like a catch 22 doesn’t it? Need the account to be paid but need the job to get an account to be paid into. I certainly couldn’t get my head around it when the bank refused to let me sign up on account of me being unemployed.
Same goes for finding a place to live. If you’re trying to find a flat to rent, most agencies or even current tennants in a flat share will want to see some evidence that you have some money coming into the old bank account (that you haven’t yet been able to open). It’s all a bit tough without that letter from your employer.
So make finding a job your number one priority.
Maybe even try to secure something before you move.
I have a few friends that signed up for temping agencies before they moved to London and they’ve had it pretty sweet since moving here. There are a lot of companies who maybe aren’t as legit as they may seem so it always pays to do your homework and read reviews and ask the big questions to see if they will come up with the goods.
If you already know people in London, then don’t be afraid to ask them if they know of any work going around. This is exactly how I landed my job. My mate Dave had moved to London a few years before me and we’d always stayed in touch so when I moved with absolutely no idea what I was going to do with myself, I asked him for advise on how I should go about trying to find work. Luck and very fortunate timing was on my side because he told me his work was hiring temp admin assistants and that he’d put in a good word for me. I applied for the job and the rest, as they say, is history. Have been there for 18 months now and I’ve since gone permanent. You just need to get your foot in the door and then you work your butt off to make yourself indispensable.
My best advise is to apply for anything and everything that you can and be prepared to really put yourself out there. While you may want to move to London to become a high flying advertising exec, the likelihood of the perfect job coming up before you run out of money and outstay your welcome on your friend’s couch is highly unlikely. So why not get yourself some bar work to pay the bills and get yourself sorted in a flat while you search high and low for that dream job? Pop your resume in every shop on your local High St (which is the main road with shops) and maybe grab a job in retail. Takes the stress off and doesn’t prolong you settling into your own London life. Be prepared to start small but never stop aiming big in the long run. Remember this is all about just getting your foot in the door. Yes you may only earn 6 pounds an hour in hospitality... but it's 6 pounds an hour more than you'd be earning if you would accept nothing less than your dream job. And that couple of thousand dollars you've saved up to move with won't go very far in London I tell you. Securing a job ASAP should be your number one priority.
A few websites you may like to have a squiz at to look for work are:
www.reed.co.uk/Central-London
www.gumtree.com
www.londonjobs.co.uk
www.justlondonjobs.co.uk
Ok so now (hopefully) you’ve got yourself a job even if it’s only temporary and you can get the golden ticket, the letter from your employer confirming your employment. You beaut! Now you can stroll on into that bank that didn’t want to know you a few weeks ago and plant this letter firmly on their desk and request that they open you a bank account quick smart.
There are loads of banks with loads of different accounts so again it pays to do a bit of homework and find yourself a good deal. Paying a bit extra can get you things like travel insurance and phone insurance included. I also got a credit card with mine which has bailed me out a few times. The major banks over here would be Natwest, HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays. There are a lot of other smaller banks around as well. I am a Natwest customer myself and they've never let me down so far. But as I said, do some homework and find out which bank best suits your needs.
So this leaves the last thing and this will probably be the thing that causes you the most stress and trouble… and this is finding a place to live.
This warrants its own post I think so I will sign off here and write a new entry about finding a place to live. Where to look, what to look for and what you’ll be expected to pay. The truth may surprise you…
Until next time.
Much love from London.
Jess
x
some say finding a bed for the first few nights can be pretty much the biggest stress you’ll go through when moving to London. but it doesn’t have to be that way. just remember that there are always options, cheap London hostels, (maybe not what you want for the long-term, but there’s bound to be something that’ll make do while you’re sorting yourself out)
quick tips
• before leaving your home town (or wherever you’re travelling from) find and book accommodation (Google is your friend).
• make sure your initial place of rest is easy to get to and from (you’ll be using it as your base camp at first to find jobs, mates, fun and longer-term accom, sothe handier it is, the better).
types of temporary cheap London accommodation
• you could stay with a friend or rello already living London til you get settled (which is what’s known as dossing or couch surfing).
• or bed down in a cheap london hostel or hotel (like the two featured in Belle’s clip).
• you might also want to stay in a London timeshare while you look for a more permanent home. These holiday apartments come with kitchens, large bedrooms and living rooms with high end entertainment centers (they are also pretty inexpensive to rent, and you'll have the added benefit of friendly guest services to help you find your way around).
inside our London accommodation clip
a walkthrough the Generator Hostel; the definition of dossing, how much you can expect to pay, the rules, and the basic etiquette of living on your mate’s couch.
watch Belle’s guide to your first night in London >
If you want to book a hostel or read up more on Hostelbookers.com click here.
Links:The way to pay the right National Insurance is by being allocated a National Insurance number otherwise known as NI number. Now it’s like our tax file number and it puts you in the right bracket to pay the right National Insurance contribution. Now I know it sounds a little difficult but wait until you try and get the number.
So how do you get this elusive National Insurance number? Well, it’s not easy. What happens is you’re allocated a temp number as soon as you enter the country but it is recommended that you get a permanent National Insurance number. Firstly because recruitment companies like it that way and secondly it’s going to help you get your NI rebate at the end of the year.
There’s a few ways you can get your National Insurance number. You can go on the web site and look up job center plus otherwise you can call the job center plus nearest your area. Now to do this you can call directory assistance 118 118 and ask to be put through to your local job center plus.
So why are you calling your local job center plus? Well you need to set up an interview to get your National Insurance number. The interview is the easy bit. What you need to take is 4 weeks worth of wage slips, so yes you’ve had to have worked for 4 weeks, a utility bill and your passport. The interview only takes about 20 minutes. They’ll ask you some questions, fill out a manzana form and then allocate you your National Insurance number.
Once you’ve walked out of your job center plus, after your 20 minute interview and you’ve filled out all of your forms, wait just 7 weeks, yes, yes 7 weeks to get a little plastic card in the mail with your National Insurance number on it. Entitles you to NI rebate, loss of pounds when you 60 or 70 or whenever you need them when you retire.
Ok so most of you are probably asking yourselves, what the ^%&* is an NI or National Insurance number?!
Well, It’s the UK’s equivalent of a tax file number if you’re from Oz, IRD number if you’re from NZ, or a xx if you are from SA.
You will need a National Insurance number when you start work, so that
a. You are taxed at the right amount
b. Your National Insurance Rebate, which is similar to Superannuation, is claimable once you leave the UK and return home.
It’s not an easy number to get, the system to get the number is annoying, long and illogical but it’s worth the pain of getting it –It makes claiming for tax and NI rebates much much easier – Actually it’s near impossible to get any money back from the UK government without one.
Okay. Hello. Hello. Right so say they are in Australian and they are willing to work as soon as they can, what is the best thing? To get their CVs in front of you guys. To get over here even. The first thing you’ve probably already done or you’re thinking about is your visa. Now the first one you probably think about is the tourist working visa which is great. You’ll all pretty much get it. The only problem is it will give you two years but only one year working. So if you’re coming over to freelance, do some contract work, great you’ll be absolutely set. You can earn lots of money and do lots of traveling. A lot of people are coming over here to do a couple of years over here and get a bit of UK experience on their CV. In that case a working holiday visa is not so good.
My suggestion is to call the British Embassy or first contact to find out about something called the highly skilled visa. Oh, this sounds interesting. Yeah. It’s actually best gotten before you come over here. It’s going to be a lot easier and less time consuming for you. Basically the highly skilled visa if you’re a doctor, nurse, engineer or trade such as that, you’re probably just going to get it. You’ll have no problems so really look into it. If you’re a marketing professional, accounting or law or office worker or anything like that, which a lot of us strains are coming over here, you will need to apply for this visa but it is quite, not too hard to get but it works on a point system. You need 65 points and the way you get 65 points like to give you some examples. If you are under 28 you get 5 points. So a lot of us are under 28. I’ve not heard this. This is so much easier. Well maybe not easy but. It is a good thing to look into. If you are a graduate, you’ll get 15 points. If you’ve got a masters or a PHD, well then your points are going to go flying really. If you’ve got two years of experience in the industry you get 25 points. You got 4 years, you’ve got 45 points. Oh my gosh. As you can see points are going up. Now one other thing they do look at is what you’ve been earning in the last 12 months so around 27,000 pounds equates to, I think, you know not doing fantastic equation now, ,000, ,000. So ,000 in the first, in the last 12 months when you apply. Oh right. Okay. So that’s something you might have to keep in mind but I would always say never be deterred by any one thing that I’m says because it works on a point system so the whole idea is to spit out points out of a variety of areas. So you might have points in one area but not the other but you might be able to reach the 65 so speak to the British Commission or First Contact. Yeah First Contact you all know about the agency there. They’re excellent. Definitely, I’ve spoken to them there myself on a number of occasions. They are very helpful actually. Yeah they are brilliant.
Okay. Alright so you’ve got the visa, which ever it may be. Now do they send their CVs before hand? Would you recommend they send their CV before they even get on the plane? One thing a stranger might not know about UK is it is begun recruitment agents. Oh my God. It is just a recruitment agent over here. Because there’s a lot of, there are so many people over here but there’s so much work, which is fabulous for you guys. Yeah don’t worry about that. There’s lots of work. Don’t ever listen to anyone that says there aren’t any jobs out there because there it. In UK it is unbelievable. May not be your dream job maybe, I don’t think but like that’s okay, you don’t have to have your dream job the first 6 weeks that you get here. I’ve been here for 4 years in the UK and never been out of work. This can come, come, come, you just, it just happens. But okay recruitment agents, because I think if you send your CV direct to some companies you might on some odd occasions get some response but I just think that companies like to work with recruitment agents. Everyone over here in England won’t go through just a person so I think if you just send your CV off to 20 companies you’re unlikely to get a response so basically you want to get in with recruitment consultants. You might be thinking how do we do that?
My first suggestion is one either speak to friends who have come over here in the same industries because they can tell you which obviously industry specific ones to go into. That’s true. Friends are always a good resource to use guys. Definitely and you know a lot of people have been to the UK or are going to the UK know of brothers, sisters, friends. It’s so true. Just someone who knows someone who can help you out. We’re all over here and we all want to help you out. So if you just drop them an email or give them a call to find out.
In marketing, I mean Blue Skies specializes in marketing and advertising recruitment and we do, you know, pr and a whole range of design agencies as well. You know there are a few other players in the game and then, you know, in accounting there’s some other big ones as well. Yeah there’s quite a few. We’ve got a lot you guys can check out.
Other thing may sound really basic, but in case you’ve never thought about it, it’s typed in recruitment agents, UK then industry. Recruitment agents, UK, advertising. I promise you they’ll pop up and my suggestion is email them before you come over. Definitely. The amount of emails I get from Australians still in Australia who found out about Blue Skies, you know, through friends or on the internet. They’ll email me and say hi. I am coming over in one week. Here’s my CV. I’d be emailing straight back saying excellent let’s set up a meeting. Oh good. That’s really good response. Definitely. Okay well that’s a good thing. So email your CV before you leave and try to set up a meeting obviously if you’re coming straight over from Australia. If your traveling wait until you get here or wait until you know you are about to get here. Don’t send your CV 3 months before you get here, no one will respond. People want to know people coming over soon. That they can place as soon as possible. Yeah. Definitely.
Now your CVs, tip on this one. Keep it succinct and shorter. CVs are generally 5 to 8 pages because we like to say every little bit of information of what we’ve done. Which is great but in UK companies aren’t really. They don’t care. They won’t look into it. They don’t have the time. They’re busy. So they just want to see your skills highlighted and your experience highlighted. So I say keep it to 2 to 3 pages as a word of thumb. If it has to go over 4 is your very max but I’d say 2 to 3. Okay. If you’re feeling really stressed about that also work with a recruitment consultant, they should be able to give you tips on how to shorted your CV. That’s the other thing I was going to say. Your credo should be your friend really. You should be able to have a relationship and call them and say this is what’s going on, this is what I need. They’re not big scary people. They’re there to help. Exactly, people like me from Australia who have been over here a couple of years, where I worked in advertising and then recruiting. They know what they’re talking about.
So you’ve got your CVs possibly crossed over for your meeting. Okay so you’ve got your meetings. Don’t forget to pack your suits or I would say depending on what industry, you know for advertising, design kind of work, quite funky industry over here as you can imagine. So I wouldn’t actually be going in there with your buttoned up collars, a shirt and a suit. I would be wearing something quite funky if you can. I mean guys a nice pair of trousers, a nice shirt. Girls in a skirt not trousers. I think you know what I mean. Just not your really formal suit but I think if you’re a lawyer or accountant, I’d think you’d want to speak to your recruitment consultant about what you should wear but you should always be able to get that information from your recruitment consultant, who will be able to show you the cultural of where your getting your jobs as well.
Also what I found over here was asking how much it is and where it is. Do you think that’s kind of important? In terms of location? Yeah, the jobs you are getting like there’s a few things because you are so eager to get the job sometimes that you do it and then you find that it is at 6 or 7 in the morning and you’re getting paid 5 pounds an hour. Really true. London is absolutely massive and I deal with advertising agencies that are in central London but some are way up north actually Hackenshire, which is a totally different part of the UK. You know you still might want to consider the job because it’s your dream job or it’s great but you need to think about the fact that public transport in London can take it’s time and can be quite busy in rush hour. So you want to check that you’re not going to take 2 ½ hours to get to work and that’s something you’re recruitment consultant should be telling you about. Oh definitely. You should always ask how much it is and where it is.
Alright then their off the plane and they’ve got there appointment at 10 am on Thursday. They’ve got their suit, funky gear, whatever. What are they going to expect to lack for their registration? Obviously every recruitment agent will probably work different, especially different industries. I can speak on behalf of Blue Skies which is marketing, advertisement, recruitment. First of all actually I just had one bit in, you need to bring references with you. Okay of course. References. I’m just thinking when you’re arriving in the interview room all the things you want to have with you. Good things are to have references from your former employers and it is brilliant to have a written reference and if you can in electronic form as well because that just speaks a million when you are setting up someone’s CV and saying here’s a reference and they’re saying Director of this company, she’s fantastic, self motivated, really energetic, hard working, great, it’s just great sort of stuff to have so definitely get that. Looking out for yourself. Exactly. Okay so bring those with you. If you can, if you work in, every industry will be different but bring examples of your work. Marketing and advertising bring stuff that you’ve developed. You know accounting or law I wouldn’t say any in those industries but maybe you’ve done some reports, maybe you’ve got cases or an accountant maybe you’ve got documents. Something you can bring. It gives you more substance to who you are, what you’re saying and what the companies are back in Australia. Definitely. In case they don’t know. Definitely. I mean also some companies in Australia might be big in Australia like Ergon Energy or something or whatever and big thing in Queens and a big thing in part of Australia. Some people over here won’t know them. It’s good to have a little blurb on your company or have thought through or have looked up an equivalent UK company so you can say Ergon is equivalent to British gas over here. People can give you a level of what they’re representing.
So they’re going to bring their references in and their going to be a new student or whatever, what else do they need to bring to the registration? Definitely bring your passport with a copy of your visa in it because obviously they’ll need to see that. Bring any certificate. You know, your degree, your HAC, whatever you’ve done because it is just better to have all that information. If you don’t need all of it. If you’ve got it there at least you’re not going to feel like they’re asking and I don’t have it. I’ve got to get it sent from Australia.
So references, passport, CV, certificates. That pretty much covers it. Oh bank detail. Definitely, to get paid definitely. I mean freelance basis or contract basis which is big over here if you are on the working visa; you’re probably going to go on your recruiter’s payroll so you’ll need to give your bank details to your recruiter. Hopefully I think you’re hearing about how to set up a bank account. Yeah. We’ve sorted that one. They should have their bank account sorted by the time they get off the plane. Email address. Good if you can get a prepaid phone when you first get over here. Oh definitely. We’ve also mentioned that because it’s so important. Because you know we’ve met, we’ve had our meeting that’s great, I find out there’s a job opportunity that afternoon and I want to ring you and you’re not checking your email for 4 days, the job might go. So you want to have a mobile phone with prepaid minutes. Even if you don’t set up a monthly. Just prepaid so we can call in. Add 5 pounds whenever you need to top off. Yeah because you need to be in contact with your recruiter constantly until you’re working. Definitely.
In terms of recruitment agencies, you’ll find there’s a lot over here so you might want to meet a couple and you’ll want to get, they’re actually going to give you a real personalized service I would think. But when you come over here, they’re going to go through your CV and their going to really look out for you and give you tips because I think recruitment over here should be servicing you, not getting you and treating you like just a number and just sending you out. I think, in your industry, you need to find that recruitment agency that’s going to look after you, give you tips on how to set out your CV if it’s not working, give you tips of what to talk about in interviews, give you tips on the company that you’re going into. These are all really important things. Definitely, they should be looking after you.
Alright guys. Think we’ll rap it up there. Hopefully we’ve given you some hot tips. Good luck with job hunting.
So you’ve come in for your job interview and you’ve got all the bits and pieces that we’ve talked about. You’ve got your references, your examples and your CV and you’re in your suit, great or your funky clothes, as I said myself. Other things they’re going to talk about are your national insurance number. You’re probably thinking what is a national insurance number. Basically it enables you to work in the UK. You will need to have it. Now don’t worry if you don’t have it straight away. It is a bit of a process to get it. What you’ll need to know is you’ll need to contact your local job center so basically look up job center on Google. I think it actually is jobcenter.UK and they will tell you your local job center. They’ll set up an appointment where you go and have an appointment to get a national insurance number. Now in the meantime obviously because that might take a few weeks and you might want a job right away and you’re placed in a contract straight away by your recruitment consultant, you’ll probably hear something about a P45 and a P46. P45 is going to be from your last employer, obviously as an Australian employee that’s not going to work so don’t worry about that. P46 is what you should be signing so you’re not paying emergency tax because generally when Australian’s first get over here and don’t have a national insurance number, you have to pay emergency tax, which actually good news is not as bad as it used to be. Used to be something like between 40% and 45% tax and now I think it is around 30% to 35%. So it has reduced a bit. But people are going to give you and you’ll be able to fill that in and you have to put in some details to get a temporary number for you in the meantime.
I may have just confused you with all of that talking about P40 whats and everything so literally if you are confused just call first contact or call your local job center and it is actually called a job center so look that up on Google. That might be the easiest way or your recruitment consultant should know everything.
Basically it’s not as hard as you think. There are loads of jobs over here. I promise you in every industry you will get a job. It is great. It is exciting and you’ll meet some great people, get some great experience. You just need to get over here basically.
Alright guys so you’ve done the hard work at home. You’ve got your CV out and in front of some recruiters. You know about the recruitment companies so what’s the next step? Okay. Go to the local internet café. Take your CD with your CV on it. Grab your TNT that has your recruitment section in it and start sending those CV out. You need to harass. Otherwise Google London recruitment companies. You will come up with heaps. Send your CV out and keep hounding and you’ll finally get a job in london.
whether to fund your travels or get a longer-term gig, it’s important to understand that the UK job market is a little different to our own. so to get all clichéd on you, please try to make like a scout and be prepared. (before leaving home if you can).
when it comes to thinking jobs UK style, it’s all about recruiters really, as many companies often only hire through these guys. but buyer beware, as recruiters are a dime a dozen, and some don’t exactly have the most sparkling of reputations.
so make sure your UK recruitment agent:
• treats you right and really makes you feel like you’re being looked after
• calls you every week until they find you a job
• really listens to what it is you’re looking for.
Hot Job Getting Tips
Not all companies are the same, and even though most of us will want to get the UK as cheap as possible, sometimes you pay for it later.
I'll tell you what I mean;
All airlines do have to stop over somewhere half way to London (from Australia). Most in Asia, but some can be in remote Middle-Eastern countries.
One thing to check is the approximate flight times. I.E total time of the flight to London. On average you should be looking at flights that are 21-24 hours long, from say Sydney or Melbourne to London Heathrow. Cheaper tickets sometimes have flight times of 28-30+ hours as you'll be spending hours in transit, stopped over somewhere halfway to your destination. Adding 4, 5 or 6 more hours to your travel times can be a real killer and even more so on your potential jet lag saga.
Some cheaper airlines also bite you on Excess luggage and total weight limit of your kit.
The average weight limit for flying economy is about 20-24KG per person. If you go over this your flight costs could skyrocket! Sometimes 100's of dollars per extra Kilo you are over your limit.
Tip:
(Always try and weigh your final bags before you leave for the airport, or what I do, is if you are going with family/friends, pack some of the clothes/gear you are willing to not take on the top of your bags, in plastic bags, for when you get weighed and if you're over the limit you can quickly and easily ditch the excess weight with your family and get your bags under the limit.)
Cheaper fares sometimes have lower limits, 18kgs etc, so you have to watch out for that too.
Cheap fares can also be restricted and the convenience that other fares have you will waver. Like, checking in online or automatically at the terminals. You will not have the luxury of checking in before you queue up and more often than not you'll be the ones hanging in the queue at the check in counter, while others just dump their bags. This also hinders your freedom of choice when it comes to window or aisle seats.
You also don't have the freedom of changing your flight times or dates without some penalties, so if anything goes wrong and you want to change something, leave later/earlier, you won't have much leeway with these cheap fares.
Getting a package deal on flights it not such a bad thing either, especially if you can get together some essential aspects of your travel needs. I.E Travel insurance, airport transfers or accommodation once in London. I know that STA Travel offer great package deals when it comes to getting people over to London with minimal hassle.
Check them out here; STA TRAVEL
Cost:
Certain things will dictate how much you pay when going over. The main one, the time of year you fly. Stick away from weeks leading up to Christmas or big holidays and unfortunately the most expensive is heading in to English summer holidays, and when you usually want to travel around say Europe.
Also the quality of the Airline. There are different levels of quality when it comes to airlines, up top with 5***** are the likes of Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore airlines, Cathay Pacific, 4*** like Qantas, Thai, Air New Zealand, Japan, Virgin Atlantic and lower down 3*** Air Canada, Philippines, United Airlines and the majority of the Airlines in the world.
You can check out the whole list here. AIRLINE RANKINGS
My advice, is fly over around March/April. Get everything sorted in London, like a place to stay, your bank accounts, mobiles, a job if you want to work first as then you will be settled for when London/ European summer hits in June-July-August. If you are travelling first then perhaps come over in May, crash on a mates couch or what you can get, or hostel, leave your excess kit with a friend or in storage and then hit Europe late May to early June. It's still hot and there will be half the tourists for the first parts. Plus you will get all of summer if you continue on through to August - September.
Bottom line with airline tickets is that the cheapest is not the best. You have to weigh up your comfort level (flight times), potential excess charges and lack of freedom in changing dates etc. But in saying that, top airlines have sales and deals etc, so you can find yourself on a 5**** airline with a cheap fare, and be laughing.
Nick & Belle
tier 5, lovingly known as the working holiday visa, now known as the Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS). sounds scary! it’s not too bad if you’re from Oz or NZ as you are exempt from the 30 point certificate of sponsorship needed by all other applicants, from their home country. if you are however from SA, bad news kids. the UK government won’t let you apply for the new YMS. and that is simply because South Africa doesn’t have a similar working holiday scheme in place for Brits. SA is also unlikely to issue it’s peeps with the mandatory 30 point sponsorship certificate that is needed to apply for the YMS, so it's not looking good for SA citizens.
Countries participating:-
AustraliaCanadaJapanMonacoNew ZealandTime allocated:-
2 Years (once off with no extension)Documents to fill out:-
Self Assessment Points Calculator
Fees:-
£130Paid in your local currency. Valid as of December 2010.Other Facts:-
Fingerprints need scanning.Apply Online.
More Information - YMS - Visa Application Guide
