HOW I STRUGGLED....THWC would have been the perfect solution...
I arrived in the UK at the end of August 2011 to do some traveling and then work in the hopes of saving and doing frequent short trips to Europe. Unfortunately, my plan has not worked out as I hoped.After doing some traveling, I arrived back in the UK at the start of November with around $2000 left and decided to settle down and find a full time position. With a university degree behind me in Communications and an array of work experience, I believed it would not be too hard to find a position.
I first started using all the websites like, totaljobs.com as well as brand republic and indeed.co.uk. I applied for literally hundreds of jobs, only got about 5 replies, and only one interview. When i attended that interview, I had an initial interview that went well and was asked to come back for an evaluation day. I attended this evaluation day and was offered the job at the end of the day. I was very excited and believed this was my big break, although, it was not until my first day that they informed me that it was 100% based on commission, that I would be working 12 hour days and that they did not pay for any expenses. With the job being traveling around London, and direct selling to people on the streets, it made no sense to stay. At this time, it was nearing Christmas and everything was slowly winding down and therefore was very hard to contact people at this time.
I then lost a lot of hope and asked friends that lived over here to give me a helping hand. They were very helpful and helped me to organise a meeting with a recruitment agent that they used when they first arrived. Although, the agency were very helpful at the beginning, with an interview in the first week, l have unfortunately not heard from them since.
I have now officially been looking for a job for 3 months and feel a little defeated with the end result of having to go home before I wanted to, due to severe lack of funds if i do not find something in the next couple of weeks.
I think the main reason for being unsuccessful is my lack of experience in my desired field (although I am only looking for grad/junior/entry level roles) and the sheer competition out there for a position. I also know a lot of employers would prefer to give UK permanent residents a job over people from other countries, in fear of investing time and foreigners leaving to go back home.
I believe the London Premium Pack would be the perfect solution for someone with minimal contacts over here and someone that is keen to stay and work successfully in the UK. Fortunately, l have my extended family over here as well as a british passport so I would not need all the aspects from the pack but in regards, to the work elements, l very much wish that I had been organised and purchased a pack like this one before leaving home. Not to only decrease the stress levels of finding a job, but also, to have the comfort of knowing that someone is there for you when you need it.
I would like extend a very big thank you to Natalie and her team for helping me just when I thought I had no options left. To any other travellers looking to go to the UK, the Jumpstart package is a must, I have so many friends how have suffered the same fate and we will recommend TWHC to everyone.
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