Krystians life in Britain

Series Part 1: Do You have what it takes to move to UK ?

It's very important in every aspect of life to plan things, as one intelligent man once said “failing to plan is planning to fail”.

First of all answer yourself this question : "Why do I want to move to UK?"

So, why do you want to move to UK? Will you live here only for few months to get some cash from a work that you found through internet? Or are you moving with your family or planning to?
Or maybe you want to come for a year or more to study English but you would like to work part time so you can have some spare cash etc?

Whatever your reason/goal is I’ll try my best to provide you with tips, information and material that will help you.

Answering this first question is very important, not only because it’s important why you want to move to England, but also do you really want to move to England, and do you really have to do it to reach your goal?

Also, with clearly focused target it’s a lot easier to reach it and to succeed.

I would like you to think about it for a while, do you really want to face all problems with moving to England. Depending on your aim you will face different problems, of course most of them will be same, but there are some that will occur only in some cases.

In next parts of this series I will try to explain few main problems that you will face, and it’s only up to you to answer the question “Do I have what it takes to move to UK?”

Important thing is to realize that it’s nothing simple to move to England, most people who came to England can’t find job, many of them end up begging for money or asking in embassy to send them back to their homeland… Do you want to be one of them? I don’t think so.

Don’t understand me wrong, I am not saying that I am some super hero, because I work at office in England, I had good preparations made and a plan in my head, what I lacked was a blog like this one to help me to plan things, and to give me general output on stuff.

I’m also not saying that you can’t move to England and have a successful life without reading this blog, I just hope to make it easier for my readers, to share my experience.

Main topics that I will talk about in this series of posts:

- Problems that you will face coming to England
- How to prepare to journey
- What transport should you choose to come here – prices, websites etc
- Whether to move with friends or alone
- Transport prices within UK
- Prices for renting rooms, apartments etc
- General expenses
- Maybe even some slang :D

So stay put because in next days I’ll be expanding those topics.

Labels: foreign, how to start series posts, work uk england britain job agency temp job seekers

Posted by Sunlust at 11:17 | Permalink | Comments

Ok, thats a very short article, just to post the CV.

As I mentioned in one of my other articles, I'm going to post my CV.
Some of the informations are changed, in some places I left stars, because I consider my personal data as top secret.

It is a proper CV, made for me by people from a government sponsored agency that help to find a job, and it was accepted in few Recruitment Agencies, so I'm sure it's good.

Mirrors for download:

Mirror 1

Mirror 2


Everything that is in italic needs to be deleted and swaped with Your data.

Enjoy and put into good use.

Labels: cv, foreign, work uk england britain job agency temp job seekers

Posted by Sunlust at 11:42 | Permalink | Comments

This short article will explain how to obtain a National Insurance Number (NI number) in England, as the title shows, duh.

Getting National Insurance Number is essential, it's best to get it as soon as possible after arriving to UK, as it takes long to obtain it.
You can get a job without having one, but in a long run it makes life a lot easier, and it's free.

First thing You need to do is to call JobCentre Plus and arrange a meeting.

At the moment the number is : 0845 600 0643 (8am - 6pm Monday to Friday)

Jobcentre's plus site is : http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk

On that site You can find various different information on seeking job an such, useful.

Before making the call, prepare some documents, because usually they ask many questions, they will also ask for documents that You can provide to prove your address, that You work or actively seek for job and your nationality etc, and those documents will be needed during the meeting as well.

List of documents:

- Valid Passport
- Valid ID Card
- Two or more passports if of dual/multi nationality
- Home Office documents (more about Home Office agenda in next article)
- Work Permit (If you come from European Union then You won't need one)
- Letter from employer (not essential)
- Contract of employment - very important, ask your employer for one
- Evidence of actively seeking work (if you are unemployed, you can get it in your local JobCentre Plus)
- Payslips (usually recruitment agencies send them through post, so always save them)
- Mortgage agreement (I don't have one, maybe in future...)
- Rental agreement - again, very important document, it proves Your address in UK
- Letter confirming where residing - usefull if You don't have rental agreement
- Marriage / Civil Partnership certificate
- Birth certificate - not essential
- Deed poll
- Driving License - If You have one, not essential
- Police Registration Certificate


If You can't call, then there is a JobCentre Plus office in almost every city in UK, You can just go there and talk with an advisor regarding the meeting.

After You set the meeting, it usually will be in few months from the time You call them, they will send a letter on address that You provided.

It will contain the time and date of meeting, documents You should bring with yourself, etc.

Then, after the meeting it takes another few weeks to actually get the number, they will send you a form first, then a plastic card with number on it, don't loose it!

Now, if You are already employed, then provide Your employee with Your brand new Insurance Number.

Whether You will be looking for a new job, willing to claim JSA (Jobseeker's Allowance - more on it in following articles) person that will speak to You over the phone will always ask for You NI number, so have the card in Your wallet, same as debit card and ID, etc.

Labels: foreign, National Insurance Number, NI, work uk england britain job agency temp job seekers

Posted by Sunlust at 23:32 | Permalink | Comments

Let's say that you just arrived in England. Most people come to England without knowing where to search for work.
In this short article I'll provide few tips from my own experience, even though I live in UK only for 8 months, I consider myself as a "professional Job seeker".

There’s few things that you should have with you most of the time:

- Passport - They will ask you for it when you will try to open a Bank account and at any recruitment agency, and when you will want to rent a room/ apartment,
- Driving License - If you have one, maybe you don't realize, but if you come from any country that is a member of European Union your driving license is valid in UK, and for about 20£+ you can exchange your driving license to a UK one - really useful in getting a job,
- National Insurance Number Card - When you first arrive to England you won't have English National Insurance Number, but once you get it, carry the card with you at all times,
- CV - Essential for getting a better job then manual one, and in some agencies they will ask for a CV whether you look for an office work or for a manual one.

Recruitment Agencies and such

Not many people realize that England is a great place to find a job! It really is. You have not only Recruitment Agencies, but also government-sponsored companies that will help you with your CV (I'll provide a good CV example in other article), with confidence during an interview, and that will advice you where to look for a job suitable for you.

Unemployment in UK exist only because of English teenagers who are too lazy to work and rather have two kids and live with parents and claim benefits then study or get a better job. I see it every day, 15 year old girls with a child or two and a young chav who isn't even sure if it's his kid. (Sorry for off topic)

As soon as you get to the place in England where you would like to live sign up in every recruitment agency and remember that keeping good relationships with people who work there is essential for getting a job, because only from those people it depends whether they get you a job or no.

Call them often!

When you work for a Temp Agency, then sometimes they will have nothing for you, that’s why it's best to sign up to few of them. But when you are without a job call them, once a day, just asking if there is ANYTHING you could do, they won't mind, they are used to it, so you better get used to it too.

Of course, there are downsides of getting a job through Recruitment Agency. An agency earns money each hour that you work. They "sell" your work to a company that they cooperate with, so that company, pays let's say 8£ per hour of your work, but you get only 6£, the 2£ left goes to recruitment agency.
It's a good place to find first job, just to make some money for living, so you don't die of hunger, but in a bigger perspective it's best to find a job through Job Centre or Friday-Ad or any newspaper that posts job offers.

Keep improving!

In your town, even if it’s small, there has to be a library, there usually you will be able to find out about free courses. Maybe there’s Learn Direct, maybe something else, but there has to be something that will provide you with free improving your skills.
It’s very important to show your employer that your skills and personal development are essential for you and that you are willing to invest energy to learn new stuff.
Most people come to England with some education and some skills and just stay same, get any job and generally stop improving. The key to a real success is to keep improving, learning new stuff, not to be stagnant.

More on this topic in few days when I gather more info and get used to my new job.

Labels: foreign, work uk england britain job agency temp job seekers

Posted by Sunlust at 02:00 | Permalink | Comments