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UK Working Holiday
Draco_Auric
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm going to the UK on a working holiday visa in January, it allows me to stay for up to two years and work for up to one year.
Does anyone have any suggestions for good places to find a job and live while I'm there?
Are there good online resources for job and housing hunting?
Any other tips would also be appreciated.
Does anyone have any suggestions for good places to find a job and live while I'm there?
Are there good online resources for job and housing hunting?
Any other tips would also be appreciated.
Draco_Auric on
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@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
I'm coming over to try something new, and see some more of the country.
I really don't care what industry I end up in.
It's pretty small (about 250,000) but it's a great little town. It's mostly safe (the crappy parts of town are dotted around outside the city centre, so you should really have no reason to go to them) and it doesn't feel too big as a city. Loads and loads of great pubs (if drinkings your thing, if not well... You're going to the UK, you better learn to drink ;-)) amazing history, beautiful buildings. I walked past this every day:
and this
and it never gets old!
Job wise, well you really need to give us an idea of what qualifactions you have or your expected earnings. Are you wanting to work on a farm? Or as a labourer? Or in an office? Or in a bar? There are plenty of opportunities (although the economy is pretty rough at the moment so a lot of places have been firing) but depending on what you want to be working as a place like Edinburgh might be a bit expensive (it's not crippling like London, but apartment rental can be a bit pricey).
Do you have any interests/hobbies? Edinburgh isn't very good as a music scene for example so you might be better with somewhere like Glasgow for that (although I wouldn't recomend that anyone live in Glasgow).
When are you planning on coming over?
Bear in mind that I'm more than a little sentimental as I recently moved abroad from Edinburgh to Hong Kong to live/work.
With all the Polish people leaving because the pound has lost it's value and all the British people being too lazy to work it's actually a pretty good time as long as you're not a city employee. If you're willing to work, and have some good references it's pretty trivial getting a job and even minimum wage is decent enough to scrape by in most cities.
Anyways, proper advice.
Generally speaking I'd avoid London, yes it's an amazing place to go out, it's not really a great place to try and live though. I'd probably go for a University kinda Town/City place as they tend to be good for young people. Bath/Bristol/Edinburgh/Oxford/Cambridge/Yorkshire are all amazingly pretty places with lots to do.
Scotland is a good idea (I'm currently in Edinburgh so I'm equally biased - and yes I wouldn't live in Glasgow either).
Edit - oh and I am living in London and I love it. I grew up in the country and have lived in a variety of nice towns, university cities and capital cities and I still think London comes out pretty well.
As far as qualifications go I've worked mainly in customer service and I currently work in a bar. What I'd really like to find is the UK's craigslist or monster.ca equivalent.
I know the economy isn't looking that great at the moment, but it's like that pretty much everywhere, and if I wait until everything is perfect I'll never end up going!
I understand http://www.fish4jobs.co.uk is the in thing.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
Oh I meant financial workers. Money lenders/stock brokers/commodity traders etc. Basically people who ostensibly work in the heart of the city.
Yeah, Edinburgh has the National Museum of Scotland, The Scottish Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland, as well as a load of other bits and pieces, they tend to do Exhibitions all throughout the year so there's usually something to go and see. There's a few theatres around but it's not really my scene there's a good film festival on in the summer. And Glasgow's only an hour away by train.
The UK equivalent of craigslist is probably gumtree.co.uk if you're looking for things like flatshares etc. I'm sure other people probably have other recommendations. Not sure about jobs, we certainly have monster.co.uk and jobcentreplus.gov.uk is always a fair bet.
Anyway, if you are going for bar work, I suspect that will be ok jobwise in London, recession be dammed. London afterall has a long history of importing bar workers from the Commonwealth.
Gumtree is the primary source for flats/jobs for English speaking migrants (I think it was started by a migrant for this exact purpose) of the kind that you are. Of course you can use places like Monster, Fish4jobs, totaljobs as well, and IIRC they have a better range of serious jobs. However, based on friend's feedback Gumtree is great for stuff like bar work or casual labouring, as well as some serious work.
For flat hunting it is pretty good too - with the major caveat that you really need to be careful about fraud for any online flat hunt website. If it sounds too good it probably is, never send deposit or rent money until you've been inside the flat, etc. Although that probably goes for any online site I guess.
Bar work seems to be the thing to do as a Canadian/Aussie/Kiwi/South African.
Edinburgh was voted best place to live in the UK last year http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/best-and-worst/edinburgh-the-best-place-to-live-in-the-uk-08-06-03_p_1.html and has the highest ratio of gallaries to residents in the UK i believe.
The festival is great, theres an amazing buzz around the city although everywhere is more expensive to rent/shop. I'd definatly recomend that.
MMA... I'm not too sure. Do you mean training or watching? I don't have any experience of either really, I think that maybe most big live fights are in London/Manchester. For viewing on TV, you can subscribe to a cable package that should have the fights, can be quite expensive though depending on your package.
As I say, take what I'm saying with a pinch of salt. I love the place and miss it hugely, but there are loads of other great places too. The website linked above might have other suggestions.
As far as MMA goes I'm primarily interested in continuing my training, and maybe getting an amateur fight or two. One of the gyms I found in Edinburgh mentioned that they prohibit to the head and knees in amateur fights, and strikes to the head on the ground in semi-pro fights, anyone know if that's a common thing?
Right now I'm planning on flying into London in January, and staying there for a week or so to catch all the museums I missed before. I don't think I'll be staying there though, one place was offering a bed in a shared room for £104/week!
That is over priced. I live in zone 1 (think central) and I live in a lovely little shared house with an en-suite, on a very quite side street, close to multiple travel points and I pay 110 pounds per week. I found this on Gumtreee one year ago. You should be looking 50-70 at most for a room share, otherwise you are being ripped off
It is not something you need to be worried about in any way. London especially is vastly multicultural, being the capital, but I doubt there will be anywhere that you'll run into trouble for being a different colour.
There are always the people who spoil it for everybody, of course, but it's vastly comparable to the US.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
Like others have said, it's not that bad but does depend where you are. I live in a really mixed area and it seems fine generally. Lots of London is really multicultural. Of course the fun bit is that a lot of the racism seems to go on between different ethnic minority groups, and as a white guy I miss all that.
I have lots of fun going around with Indian friends. Security guard will say hello to me, then follow them around. The security guards are invariably not white either.
Still, saying it's 'really easy to get beaten up' is not correct. I know a lot of not-white people, and I've never heard of any of them being beaten up for race reasons. Because they have money and/or are being drunken idiots, possibly.
Are you doing this through Bunac? If so how much money are you planning on bringing, because unless you find work and a flat right away their guidelines are just not enough. Seriously.
I'd also recommend Scotland, but i disagree with all the hate for Glasgow, i'd even venture to suggest that those saying they'd never recommend anyone live here, have never lived here. Theres far more going on and to do in glasgow, and its cheaper, and edinbugh is only an hours train away if you were wanting to do the tourist things there. Also, better access up the west coast, which would be something you'd want to do if living in Scotland i'd say.
I can probably answer any other questions or concerns you have about the holiday visa thing though.
Edinburgh by contrast has a much more 'comfortable' city layout - it's smaller, there's more identifiable landmarks, there isn't a big fuck-off motorway running right through the middle of it - and you don't get quite the same impression that you're going to be stabbed to death if you walk into the wrong part of town with the wrong coloured shirt on.
Of course, despite the overbearing sense of fear, poverty and urban decay in Glasgow, as a people they are traditionally considered more friendly than in Edinburgh, which has a reputation for being a bit snobbish.
Glasgow has a great nightlife and great shopping, but as you say it's only an hour away and a visit every now and again is enough exposure for me!
2 went over about 6 months ago to live in the Brighton area. They have both come back, unable to find jobs.
2 more went over to Edinburgh about 4 months ago. Only one has been able to find a job.
The UK's job market is a bit crap right now, so just be warned... Take plenty of up front cash and don't bank on landing and finding a job immediately.
As an example of foreign friendliness in London: First job I had here - there were 5 of us, 3 British born, myself and a Ghanian. Second job - 15 temps - all foreign born, our supervisors were 90% Commonwealth citizens and the supervising partner a Kiwi. Third job - all the senior, long serving staff were British, but two thirds of the junior staff were EU or Commonwealth born My current job is about one third foreign born (Commonwealth) and two thirds British born, with the majority of the latter being the children of migrants. I can't say I've ever knowingly been the victim of any discrimination in the workplace based on my national origin or race (not that white, English speakers from NZ are likely to in the first place)
I'd recommend Bristol in that it's in a very pretty part of the UK and has pretty good rail links to London and Birmingham. The city itself is fairly smallish and has a good feel to it with a fair bit of green space.
Think of colonisation like an odd yo-yo - you send the poor and hungry out to the far side of the world, then a hundred years later we send our young over.
If you are coming to Scotland, and i guess this occurs in other places in the UK as well, don't be lured by hotels or other places in smaller towns or in the country that offer you work with room and board. they often don't pay a decent wage, after taking off ridiculous amounts for the room etc. and your stuck there working 6 days a week. Around my home town is fairly bad for this.
A problem you may have not coming through BUNAC is being able to set up a bank account here, and having an address to which you can have things sent before you have found accommodation. I remember getting the bank account set up even through BUNAC was fairly hellish, but there may be an easier way.
Do you know anyone here already?
(Sorry, my keyboard doesn't have a pound sterling key)
Rent:
A 1 bedroom with kitchen and probably living room in a nicish (studentish) part of town : 550-600
1 bed in a 2/3 bedroom apartment in similair part of town - 300-350
For a deposit you will have to pay first months rent, plus 1 months security deposit - so between 600 and 1200
You will have to pay Council Tax, which is a mandatory tax on all residences. It's based on the value of the property and the location. My council tax last year (between 3 people) was 1500, so 500 each a year (paid monthly, not annually)
TV license which is paid per property is about 15 a month I think.
Broadband, Basic Cable tv and landline telephone will be about 20-30 a month depending on if you get a good deal.
Mobile phone will be 15 a month upwards.
Membership to a gym will be about 40 upwards (MMA gym might be more or less, I dont know).
Groceries shopping really depends on what you eat. I've been out of the country for a while and I was terrible at shopping anyways so I can't really advise here. If you like to cook though there is a farmers market every saturday and a great company called East Coast Organics who will deliver a crate of fresh organic vegetables, herbs, fruit and bread to you every week for 10+. Highly recomended.
Bars are about 2.50 a pint of beer. Clubs are 4-10 entry.
Gigs are 10-50 (depending on the band).
Healthcare is free, dentistry you will have to pay for.
Bus travel is quite expensive (an all day ticket multi-use is 2.50, a single is 1.10). Trams are currently being installed so traffic is a bit mental. I wouldn't recomend planning on buying a car, parking is a bitch. Definatly hire one for a weekend to go travelling up north.
Edinburgh festival shows are all about 10 (bar some of the bigger shows/comedians who are more like 20-30). All bar prices go up (tourist tax).
Electricity will depend on size of your flat, how many people you are splitting it with, and wether or not you have a gas cooker/oven. Maybe plan for 20+ a month.
Clothes... Depends on what you wear. Retail industry is doing shit at the moment so expect lots of sales Especially in January.
Sorry, this post just turned into a big brain fart of all the expenses I could think of. Hope some of it helps.
Is HSBC a common bank in the UK? I took a look at their website and apparently they can get me a UK account before I leave. What about Barclays? I think my current bank has a reciprocal agreement with them. What was the problem you tried to open the account from overseas Kalkino?
The advice to wait until May before I come over sounds like a good idea, but my wanderlust is kicking in and I can barely wait until January to leave!
In the UK though, as long as you're with any major UK bank you will be able to withdraw cash at almost every ATM free of charge. So unless you anticipate having to visit your branch often HSBC would probably be good enough.
Oh well I have LloydsTSB as my bank, who also had a reciprocal arrangement with my bank back home. So I set it up with them but just had a lot of messing about + a fee to pay. Whereas friends and family literally walked just into HSBC and got bank accounts, and generous credit cards too. Although this was all before the Credit Crunch so who knows what it is like now
Another place worth thinking about if you are considering Scotland is Aberdeen - there are huge amounts of jobs available there due to the North Sea oil rigs and constant demand for skilled employees. Tis a bit more expensive than Glasgow/Edinburgh though, and not as interesting culture-wise though. In fact as a city it is a bit bleak and the local accent there is even harder to understand than glaswegian :P
To be honest I would probably recommend Edinburgh - its got the healthiest mix of culture, employment opportunities and accessability.
Don't get me wrong, I love Glasgow, lived here for 10+ years now, and the people are generally great, but like Szechuanosaurus said above, it really isn't the most accessible of places, and there are definately some areas you want to avoid.
Also, as mentioned above, Gumtree is a great site for looking for jobs/places to stay, should add as well that it has city specific sites too like glasgow.gumtree.com and edinburgh.gumtree.com. Also www.s1jobs.com and www.s1rental.com are good for the Glasgow/Edinburgh areas.
£700 a month sounds about right for living expenses, more so for London definately, mebbe a wee bit more if you are thinking about Aberdeen/nicer areas in Edinburgh.
Oh, and another suggestion for temporary accommodation if you are struggling to find a flat is to contact local universities/colleges and see if they have anything spare in terms of student halls of residences. These are almost always available to rent outwith term time (summer mainly), and are occasionally available during termtime due to student dropouts etc. Advantages are - cheap rent (£70-£100 per week), free electricity, free heating, and usually free internet. Prob have to share toilets/kitchen/showers etc, but soo worth it if you end up sharing with a bunch o hot young student lassies.
My job had me working up in Aberdeen over the summer and the company, being the cheapskates they are, put me up in Robert Gordon Uni Halls - enjoyed every minute
I'm not sure why, though, because if you're not a student you'd pay the council tax anyway, not the landlord, I think.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!