Dual Citizenship
I have Dual citizenship and have parents still living in the UK.
I worked as a Systems Admin / Network / Desktop / Scada Telecoms Support for a large Government Organization here in Australia and had done 8 years I had my long service available to me so I could take a 3 month paid Holiday.
Four of My I.T Colleagues between 1998 and 2001 had left where I worked and had got work Visas (They were not Dual Citizens) and gone to the U.K.
They had been emailing me back letting me know that the money was fantastic compared to here and the work was less demanding and fewer hours and they were having a great time.
Re-union
I decided to have a reunion with my parents and family and check out the Job Market in the U.K during my paid leave.
I had a minimum criterion for jobs which, from the reports I had been getting, would be quite easy to attain.
32,000 Pounds +, Car, 36 hr week with overtime at appropriate rates for above 36hrs, location anywhere in Buckinghamshire.
First it was hard to find many jobs that fitted my criteria which I had the skills for. I did not find one in the first month.
I found one in August that fitted the criteria and secured an interview and I was one of seven, then one of three for a second interview but the guy that used to work there 9 months previously (Spoke the language of the company’s country of origin, which came out during the first interview/test which we were all in the room together for half a day), and obviously had a lot of inside knowledge secured the position over me.
Reduced Criteria
As the jobs seemed so few and far between, I decided to reduce my criteria just to see if I could secure a position in the U.K.
24,000 Pounds + for Normal UK working hours being the only criteria.
I applied for five jobs between Mid – August to Late September, 3 systems admin, 2 desktop support. I was asked to attend interviews for two of these and was offered the positions one was for systems admin and one desktop support.
I decided not to accept these jobs after talking with my wife back in Australia as the pay was only marginally higher than here in Australia, and the cost of housing is so high in the U.K.
Returned Home
I went back to Australia and applied for another job in a different state which paid more that the government job and had more autonomy and a lot more company perks, I secured this position and am presently enjoying this work.
However I check the U.K job sites to see how the trends are going and might take another shot at it when the conditions/pay are right again, it really looks as if I dipped my feet in the U.K Jobs Market at the worst possible time…
I was being conservative and waiting for my long service so that I could have a job to come back to if it didn’t work.
If I had taken a risk in 1999 and just resigned and gone to U.K I would probably have earned more money in those two years than working for 10 with the Australian Government.
Love your site – very informative.
Regards
Aussie IT Guy…
