Work in the UK

[Guest]

Although I moved back to the UK on 10th July I didn't start looking for work until my son started school on 28th August and I was offered a role today, starting Monday!!! The role is a very good match for my skills and experience (I hadn't got to the 'apply for anything' stage) and I will be getting a rate very much on par with what I earnt in Perth - at the current exchange rate £38 more a day and therefore in real terms quite a bit more!

 

I know it isn't rosy for everyone in the UK and certain sectors are struggling, I work in IT in the Finance sector which has suffered in the GFC and a lot of routine work is now done in offshore (I'll be managing work done in India) but I just wanted to post this to encourage people who are moving back that it isn't all doom and gloom. You obviously have to know your own market and i am very well connected (quite surprised how much so having been away five years), although for this one I did simply respond to an ad and got it on 'what I know'.

 

Good luck to everyone else returning, dreams can come true

[BritChickx]

well done x

[DonnaBB]

Congrats LR. What wonderful news

[Wellers and Whitehead]

Fab news, I also put the feelers out at my old job and told they would have me back in a flash, no vacancies at this minute, which suits me due to my current health, but maybe have two vacancies coming up soon. Plus my boss from several years ago heard I was back and informed me he had a vacancy and was I interested! Happy days...will be once I get my health back to normal!

[fourcorners]

Great news! Really pleased for you and sounds like everything is slotting into place.

[jen85]

Although I moved back to the UK on 10th July I didn't start looking for work until my son started school on 28th August and I was offered a role today, starting Monday!!! The role is a very good match for my skills and experience (I hadn't got to the 'apply for anything' stage) and I will be getting a rate very much on par with what I earnt in Perth - at the current exchange rate £38 more a day and therefore in real terms quite a bit more!

 

I know it isn't rosy for everyone in the UK and certain sectors are struggling, I work in IT in the Finance sector which has suffered in the GFC and a lot of routine work is now done in offshore (I'll be managing work done in India) but I just wanted to post this to encourage people who are moving back that it isn't all doom and gloom. You obviously have to know your own market and i am very well connected (quite surprised how much so having been away five years), although for this one I did simply respond to an ad and got it on 'what I know'.

 

Good luck to everyone else returning, dreams can come true

 

Thats great news well done! I'm worried for when I get there next year more so for my mum than me as I work in Insurance. Is there lots of part time work as well? Given we will be in the countryside it always seems trickier than the cities.

[VERYSTORMY]

Congratulations. I knew you would be fine

[Paul1Perth]

Well done LR. We've just returned from a holiday and you can see it's not all doom and gloom. We are from near Hyde in Cheshire and my wifes parents and one Sister still live there. It was pretty dire round there tbh, especially round the Hyde and Stockport areas. My Nephew is 23 and never had a real job, he's on an acting course in London at the moment so hoping something will come from that. We then spent a week or so near Melton Mowbray where my Sister, family and parents now live. It was new to us as we've never stayed down there before and don't know that part of the UK at all. My parents moved there about 5 years ago.

 

The difference between Hyde area and there was amazing, lots of nice little country towns but I think the biggest is the feeling that most people have a bit more money and are better off. Everything about the towns round there looked in better condition. Maybe it's just the rows and rows of terraced housing and cars parked wherever they can in and around Hyde that gave in a run down look. I think the North South divide has definitely got worse.

 

Didn't find the UK much cheaper than here either tbh. Some things are, like going to the pub for a pint, but we were paying around 15 quid a head for a pub lunch in nice pubs. Not cheap. Went for a swim with the youngster to Stockport and it cost us 7 quid return bus fare for about 4 miles and 5 quid each to get in the pool. Nowhere bear as expensive as Singapore where we spent a few days on the way back though. $14 for a bottle of beer and around $150 average for dinner for 3 of us. Nothing special either. Anyone who thinks Perth is expensive should go there for a week.

 

Great news for you on the job front though, well done.

[wolvesaussie]

Its not so great news for all the people who are out of work because it all got outsourced to India though... they really should make that illegal.

[Quoll]

Well done LR! Onwards and upwards hey? I see a lot of opportunities down here - have been offered 3 jobs since I've been here but don't want to work! Just walking around our local shopping centre last week I counted there were Staff Vacancy notices in more shop windows than not! I do know of one bloke out of work but if he carries on in the workplace like he does to his wife, I'm not surprised - I wouldn't employ him either! I do think that some areas are gloomier than others though.

[Grecia]

Its not so great news for all the people who are out of work because it all got outsourced to India though... they really should make that illegal.

 

They certainly should in banks that have bailed out by the UK taxpayer. Our tax £££s should not be going to pay workers who live in another country (and spend in another economy) while we are also having to pay for the benefits of those made redundant.

 

Well done to Lady Rainicorn though :smile: I was jobhunting in London in March and got a new (and much better) job in 3 1/2 weeks - 2 of those weeks I was out of the country and virtually incommunicado.

[Guest]

Thats great news well done! I'm worried for when I get there next year more so for my mum than me as I work in Insurance. Is there lots of part time work as well? Given we will be in the countryside it always seems trickier than the cities.

 

I would love to work part-time but in my field no part-time work is ever advertised, I really have no idea generally but you do here that a lot of the jobs created are part-time or these zero-hours contracts. I have to be totally honest and say at the routine levels in Insurance (an area I do know well albeit only from an IT perspective) a lot of routine jobs are now overseas or are being eliminated by automated processes (the hidden - & not so hidden - agenda in at least 80% of the world I do is to make business system more efficient and therefore require less people)

 

I wouldn't want anyone to extrapolate from my experience to a completely different field and/or level. If I was still a Software Engineer rather than a manager, it may have been a different story.

[Guest]

Well done LR. We've just returned from a holiday and you can see it's not all doom and gloom. We are from near Hyde in Cheshire and my wifes parents and one Sister still live there. It was pretty dire round there tbh, especially round the Hyde and Stockport areas. My Nephew is 23 and never had a real job, he's on an acting course in London at the moment so hoping something will come from that. We then spent a week or so near Melton Mowbray where my Sister, family and parents now live. It was new to us as we've never stayed down there before and don't know that part of the UK at all. My parents moved there about 5 years ago.

 

The difference between Hyde area and there was amazing, lots of nice little country towns but I think the biggest is the feeling that most people have a bit more money and are better off. Everything about the towns round there looked in better condition. Maybe it's just the rows and rows of terraced housing and cars parked wherever they can in and around Hyde that gave in a run down look. I think the North South divide has definitely got worse.

 

Didn't find the UK much cheaper than here either tbh. Some things are, like going to the pub for a pint, but we were paying around 15 quid a head for a pub lunch in nice pubs. Not cheap. Went for a swim with the youngster to Stockport and it cost us 7 quid return bus fare for about 4 miles and 5 quid each to get in the pool. Nowhere bear as expensive as Singapore where we spent a few days on the way back though. $14 for a bottle of beer and around $150 average for dinner for 3 of us. Nothing special either. Anyone who thinks Perth is expensive should go there for a week.

 

Great news for you on the job front though, well done.

 

I suddenly realised the other day you hadn't been around for a while, then I saw your post about your UK visit.

 

I think we are destined to never agree - I am finding the UK cheaper in almost every respect but we are in Scotland, that said I have just spent a week in London and even then I was amazed how cheap it was. I ate a lot in my hotel because I was there on my own - the first day I ordered a sandwich for lunch, it was actually two sandwiches (4 slices of bread), chips and a side salad - £7.95. I had a friend over one evening - I had curry with rice and naan and he had pasta, we managed two bottles of wine (eek!) and it came to around £70. This was in a 4* hotel in the centre of London - the food wasn't fabulous but it's the sort of place they overcharge because they know most guests are on expenses!

 

BUT we had friends visit from Perth and they visited London, before coming up to Edinburgh and visiting us, touring the highlands and coming back down to Glasgow and visiting us again. We took them to a nice family restaurant where the three course menu is £11.99, they were very impressed and commented how EXPENSIVE they had found the UK!!!

 

About the only thing I have found much more expensive is beauty salons (although the quality is much higher) and we are spending more on wine too (although I think that'll go down once we get the hang of it, I have been tipped off on a £3.33 bottle at Asda)

 

We have been to Singapore a couple of times, we stayed at the Sentosa Spa and Resort in a family suite on both occasions - fabulous Definitely not a place to drink - we got wise the second time and bought duty free wine to take with us at Perth airport. Though I do remember buying cocktails by the pool and a peacock attacking my OH's for the fruit and smashing it - heartbreaking LOL!

 

Not a place I would like to live for sure - I always enjoy a good natter with taxi drivers, bar staff etc. and it seems like a hard place to have a quality of life, even for children. I was surprised though to find they have one of the highest life expectancies in the world (certainly above Australia and the UK) I thought they would all work themselves to death.

 

Glad you haven't disappeared, I want to retain positive memories of Perth and I'm sure you'll keep on reminding me all that is good there

[paul1977]

I was back in December last year and the uk is 50% cheaper than perth.. No if,buts or maybe about it. The dollar was very string at the time

[Guest]

Its not so great news for all the people who are out of work because it all got outsourced to India though... they really should make that illegal.

 

I agree in principle though I don't think you could effectively make it illegal and if you did it may result in more job losses as companies pull out of the UK entirely. Many, many people will buy goods and services overseas if they can get it cheaper - just look at all the people in Australia who buy things on-line from the UK or US.

 

What is needed is incentives to keep jobs in the UK - just like the car manufacturers were incentivized to come here. The cost of unemployment is huge, not just on benefit payments but a massive amount of additional costs for example healthcare, lost taxes (not just on income but council tax, VAT etc.), reduced income going into other businesses etc.

 

I have a friend who specializes in advises companies outsourcing their IT, ironically he is out of work at the moment and he messaged me congratulating me and saying could I get him a job....he was involved in the outsourcing at the company I am going to...I was very tempted to reply - 'I could have done but it's all been outsourced'!

 

Business is there to make money and the only way outsourcing will stop is if it hits their bottom line by consumers buying their goods and services from elsewhere in protest. Very few people are prepared to put their money where their mouth is even if they can afford to.

[Guest]

I was back in December last year and the uk is 50% cheaper than perth.. No if,buts or maybe about it. The dollar was very string at the time

 

You can't really compare prices using the exchange rate though, salaries are not tied to the exchange rate. I do agree with you that most things are cheaper but I have had to keep telling my OH that he has to at least double the UK price to compare with Australia and then not to forget I will be earning less! It turns out I will be earning more (if I doubled my UK rate $250 a day more!)

[Johndoe]

I was back in December last year and the uk is 50% cheaper than perth.. No if,buts or maybe about it. The dollar was very string at the time

 

There ya go again with your sweeping generalisations :wacko: Everything is 50% cheaper is it?

[Paul1Perth]

I was back in December last year and the uk is 50% cheaper than perth.. No if,buts or maybe about it. The dollar was very string at the time

 

We only got back last Thursday and didn't find that at all. What did you find 50% cheaper other than a pint in a pub and booze in supermarkets? I didn't go shopping as I hate it but my missus did and said the cheap stuff there is same as the cheap stuff here, all made in china and lasts about 2 washes. Lunches out were around 15 quid a head, we went to some nice places around Melton and Rutland water though so they might have been a bit expensive.

The strength of the dollar hasn't changed that much.

 

Spoke to a few people who were desperate for the good weather to hang around for a while as they were determined they weren't switching on the central heating till October as they couldn't afford it.

[Johndoe]

Spoke to a few people who were desperate for the good weather to hang around for a while as they were determined they weren't switching on the central heating till October as they couldn't afford it.

 

Even though it's 50% cheaper????????? Bloody cheapskates! :wink:

[paul1977]

Mate I found everything but petrol and rail fares cheaper.. It is hard to say how much cheaper as we mostly do earn more.. I just find it hard how they can justify charging the prices they do here.. You are allowed to earn a good living and live somewhere where prices are cheaper.. Yes thing do sometimes go on special sometimes but I personally am not the type of person to wait for it.. It's all about opinion and we clearly think different about things. I'm sure if you go to the poor areas of perth and ask people can they afford to run the aircon all summer you might be surprised that many can't.

[jen85]

I would love to work part-time but in my field no part-time work is ever advertised, I really have no idea generally but you do here that a lot of the jobs created are part-time or these zero-hours contracts. I have to be totally honest and say at the routine levels in Insurance (an area I do know well albeit only from an IT perspective) a lot of routine jobs are now overseas or are being eliminated by automated processes (the hidden - & not so hidden - agenda in at least 80% of the world I do is to make business system more efficient and therefore require less people)

 

I wouldn't want anyone to extrapolate from my experience to a completely different field and/or level. If I was still a Software Engineer rather than a manager, it may have been a different story.

 

Thanks Lady Rainicorn, I don't do direct insurance over the phone and I know that is mostly overseas now via call centres so that wouldn't effect what I do, its a very big industry with different areas of service so fingers crossed!

[Paul1Perth]

Mate I found everything but petrol and rail fares cheaper.. It is hard to say how much cheaper as we mostly do earn more.. I just find it hard how they can justify charging the prices they do here.. You are allowed to earn a good living and live somewhere where prices are cheaper.. Yes thing do sometimes go on special sometimes but I personally am not the type of person to wait for it.. It's all about opinion and we clearly think different about things. I'm sure if you go to the poor areas of perth and ask people can they afford to run the aircon all summer you might be surprised that many can't.

 

I wouldn't be surprised at all but then again they don't need to. We have aircon and used it about 10 times the whole summer. We found every day stuff like parking, public transport, going for a swim (when you can find a pool that is not pensioners only or some other reason it's closed), petrol, cup of coffee more expensive than here. Also the traffic is so horrendous, especially in cities, that you would have to be desperate not to go by pubic transport, which is not cheap but cheaper than paying for parking, if you can find any.

[Aunt Agatha]

Congratulations LR! Although the UK clearly isn't the land of milk and honey, it's also nice to hear its not all doom and gloom either. I'm hoping my OH will find a good job in the IT arena (a different area of expertise to yours though).

 

We found groceries a good deal cheaper when we were in the UK recently (compared with Brisbane) but thought meals out were comparable.

[Guest malkamlka]

Good Work LR. That is what you have to do - settle back quickly and get on with your life. No point in dwelling is there?

[bunbury61]

Well done LR. We've just returned from a holiday and you can see it's not all doom and gloom. We are from near Hyde in Cheshire and my wifes parents and one Sister still live there. It was pretty dire round there tbh, especially round the Hyde and Stockport areas. My Nephew is 23 and never had a real job, he's on an acting course in London at the moment so hoping something will come from that. We then spent a week or so near Melton Mowbray where my Sister, family and parents now live. It was new to us as we've never stayed down there before and don't know that part of the UK at all. My parents moved there about 5 years ago.

 

The difference between Hyde area and there was amazing, lots of nice little country towns but I think the biggest is the feeling that most people have a bit more money and are better off. Everything about the towns round there looked in better condition. Maybe it's just the rows and rows of terraced housing and cars parked wherever they can in and around Hyde that gave in a run down look. I think the North South divide has definitely got worse.

 

Didn't find the UK much cheaper than here either tbh. Some things are, like going to the pub for a pint, but we were paying around 15 quid a head for a pub lunch in nice pubs. Not cheap. Went for a swim with the youngster to Stockport and it cost us 7 quid return bus fare for about 4 miles and 5 quid each to get in the pool. Nowhere bear as expensive as Singapore where we spent a few days on the way back though. $14 for a bottle of beer and around $150 average for dinner for 3 of us. Nothing special either. Anyone who thinks Perth is expensive should go there for a week.

 

Great news for you on the job front though, well done.

 

As i have been saying paul , there are thousands of places like , and better than melton mowbray , here in the u.k ....if you live in the right area with a few quid in your pocket its a great place to live .