Employment and housing advice

[katharwen]

I'd posted a couple of weeks earlier regarding studying Midwifery in the UK. After the [excellent and much appreciated] advice I'd received from the members here, I've consulted with my family and have decided to move to England and start working as soon as possible

Comments

[tisiphone]

Securing a flat is the least of your problems. You need to secure a job first, and to do that you need to secure a visa. What do you plan to do for work, and have you checked to see if you can get a visa for it?

[intendent]

The OP is a UK citizen (by descent). She posted a few days ago about recently obtaining citizenship through her father.

[katharwen]

Lol, just posted that a second ago. Thanks.

[katharwen]

I have already secured British citizenship through my father, and have a British passport, so that's not a problem.

As for work, I'm looking for administrative work or something in sales/ customer service.

[wylde_chylde99]

i secured my flat from oregon. if you are getting a place on your own they will require deposit and stuff (which you can wire transfer or send a check for) ... or if you are sharing a place with housemates, you might get lucky like i did and be able to give your first month and deposit on the day of your arrival.

[katharwen]

Oh, I don't mind sharing a flat if it came to it. How did you find your flatmates? Did you know them previously? Or did you find them through a website?

[wylde_chylde99]

I actually lucked out and found one on my universities web page, but there are loads of flat finding sites. I believe gumtree has already been recommended here, but that's a good start.

[katharwen]

Yeah, I'm going have to really browse through there. Thanks!

[janewilliams20]

A lot of admin jobs here are handled through agencies. I only know about this from the other end, watching our office manager pick up the phone and say "send us a temp for three days", so I can't tell you which are the best to work for or how to contact them.

Since you are a British citizen, one resource that's as open to you as it is to me as far as I know is the Jobcentre.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Jobseekers/index.htm

Wasn't a huge amount of use to me when hunting, but for the sort of job you're after, it may well help a lot.

Will you have a driving licence while over here by any chance? That can help a lot in sales jobs.

[katharwen]

Thank you for the link. I'm afraid I don't know how to drive... yet. But I should work on that.

[nineveh_uk]

If you job-hunt from the USA, make very sure that your documents state clearly that you are a UK citizen with an unrestricted right to work here. Without that, your application will go straight in the bin, I'm afraid.

On your right to NHS care as someone moving to the UK.

It might be worth looking at websites on housing and job-hunting aimed at New Zealanders and Australians coming to work in the UK. There are fewer of them than there used to be (visas...), but there are still lots who come over for a couple of years, so they must have community info resources that might be relevant to you.

Good luck!

[katharwen]

Thanks for the advice, I'll update my CV with that information.

[janewilliams20]

One other thought for you on the subject of CVs - spelling. The job market here is tough. We get perhaps 100 applicants for each job without even trying hard, and on the first pass, they get perhaps a 5-second skim before possibly being binned without further reading. If there's a spelling error in those 5 seconds, you're in the bin. They won't stop to think "she's from the USA, maybe that's a US spelling?", they'll just think "wrong", and bin it. Unfair, yes, but life is unfair. Switch your spelling-checker to British English, and use it.

[katharwen]

Thanks- I'll look over my CV and make any necessary changes. I imagine the job market is highly competitive, but that seems to be the case here in New York as well. I figured I might as well get going in the place I intend to settle down in.

[belle_marmotte]

Hi, are you planning to ever return to the USA or are you going to stay in Britain for good?

The reason I ask is that it could affect your US residency insofar as you might not be able to return to the USA as a resident if you leave for more than 12 months and are not a US citizen. You may have to reapply for residency by way of an immigrant visa.
http://london.usembassy.gov/immigrant-visas/returning-resident-visas.html

Living in London you don't have to learn to drive, public transport is really the best option in the capital.

Good luck with your plans. It's not a great time to be in this country at the moment for jobs and life as a student midwife in very pricey London is not an easy gig at all.

[katharwen]

I intend to move to Britain for good. As for US residency, I am a US citizen so I can return at any time.

Thanks for the info though. It's pretty hard job-wise over here in the US as well, so I don't think I have much to lose. In any case I am going to put the midwifery studies on hold for a few years until I have some funds saved.

Thanks again!

[janewilliams20]

London? I don't see any suggestion that the OP wanted to restrict herself to London? As you say, not a good idea at all!

[katharwen]

You're right. My top choice to settle would be in Oxfordshire, but I plan to settle anywhere in England I can get a decent job. In this economy, I cannot afford to restrict myself.