My flatmate, a newbie londoner... in tears, etc

Righto so my poor flatmate who's still quite new to the ol' smoke was crying today (partly as it was the episode when Ross and Rachel split up for the first time, but mostly because she's having such a tough time getting even temp work at the moment).

Anyway I keep cooking her meals and giving pep talks and how everyone goes through this the first few months and it does get better - 'cept when I did this, I had 2 years. She has a year-long visa so says because of that jobs in her work that may have otherwise come her way, won't. So it doesn't wash as well.

What else did people do and say when you first got here, to keep your chin up?

oooh yeah, London is daunting at first, especially when you've got no job or house to live in. obviously I'm a sucker for this cos I just went thru it all again when I moved to Sydney in Jan!!

both times I've started applying for a "million" jobs every day as soon as I arrived & started looking for somewhere to live a couple of days after arrival. People kept telling me just to go hard out looking for work and that it will get easier even if you don't think it will. All of a sudden you will have been there for a few months working and suddenly have the brainwave that things are going alright! and then you start wondering where the time has gone!

If your flattie thinks it might be hard to get a job in her line of work she should be looking for any kind of work right now. on the plus side at least she's got a nice flattie to live with!

Aw shucks…hehe yeah I am reminding her to just keep going. I know how easy it is to get down on the whole thing. At least it’s coming into summer now…jobless/relying day-to-day on temp work in London in the winter is just plain awful.

Whatever you do, don't hand her a copy of the latest TNT mag - it says the working entitlement for the holiday visa is likely to be increased back up to 2 years! Bad news for Saffas though - the home office is likely to abolish it completely for them.

It can seem like a pain in the arse not being able to get a permanent job but she should think of it as a postive. Temp/contract jobs pay lot more, especially if you operate under a limited company. I reckon I earn about 20% more (net pay) than my perm colleagues who do exactly the same job and have similar experience - and that's thanks to be forced into temp work when I first arrived (cause otherwise I would never have considered it as an option).

What line of work is she in for her to say there are few temp jobs around? Perhaps her CV isn't doing her justice or she's not looking in the right places. Is she calling people or just emailing her cv around?

I am spewing about this! I picked the time to leave when they just doubled the price of the Working Holiday visa, here when they introduced the changes to the Highly Skilled (increasing price and having to apply back from home) and now this. Arghhhhh!

Just keep persevering. I'm freelancing too (fell into it by accident) and although it pays better than permanent there is always the stress of finding the next contract. My last job finished on Monday so am job hunting at the moment and I'll be very stressed if I haven't found anything by the end of the week. Can't do anything except hounding the recruitment agents and looking for other jobs myself. Sick of hearing ''not enough UK experience''

It's stressful but eventually it will work out. In the meantime, explore other options like bar or promo work.

yeah she works in labs. And it's hard to get into, so it's the £7 an hour office jobs for now.

She was upset yesterday as a 3-day job at that rate was cancelled and today she scored a £9 an hour job for potentially an indefinite time until she gets something in her career. So good news! I'm so happy for her. And very pleased to say I told her so.

Oh that sux about the visa. It should have been this all along, but at least they've moved in the right direction. Helen Clark does good!(I know she had been lobbying strongly for this).

The limited company thing is only worth it if you are making at least 12quid an hour otherwise there is no point.

Is it only a one year working holiday now? Or is it two years but you can only work for one?

Bummer.

heh, this thread makes me feel so much better about my predicament

I moved to Wellington late last year and while I have found a temp job it's hardly satisfying work (at least it pays well) and it gets frustrating having to wait around for the right opportunity to become available

so it's good to know it's not just a Wellington thing (it's a London thing and a Sydney thing too)

Im really worried about PFunk who will cuddle him?

I was worried yesterday when I was told my role doesn't really exist in London due to the cost of doing business here compared to other cities like Newcastle. However my skills have revealed a massive list of vacancies all over London, nice salaries too.

*phew*

They will be lining up for cuddles!

er, no.

I hear Mutant will be waiting for PFunk at the airport with arms wide open

snowflake: its a moving thing, not a city thing.

although moving to wellington from where, auckland? is hardly comparable.

I realise now that it is a moving thing although when I first got here I thought that it was because the local economy down here is so much smaller than Auckland and until now that has been my reasoning for the lack of opportunities

so it's good to hear it's not just a Wellington thing...


how is it not comparable? they are circumstances that people seem to have endured after moving to a new city...