How to find a job in England?

I’ll warn you right away that this is very, very difficult to do, given the traditional conservatism of the British and their love for all kinds of recommendations. Outsiders are treated with caution here, and it will be very helpful if you can get recommendations from one of the “locals”. What to do if in England you do not have a single living soul, who could vouch for you? Then you just have to go the traditional way, which is used by millions of immigrants from all over the world.

So, for starters, I highly recommend getting into the country on any visa. Undoubtedly, it is best if it is a student visa: in this way you will kill two birds with one stone: you will get into the country with the opportunity to calmly look for work, plus you will receive a quality British education that is quoted all over the world. The downside here is that English education is not cheap at all: the cost of an annual Masters program in the UK is at least 12 thousand pounds. Plus the inevitable costs of renting housing and other necessities of life. Therefore, estimate your financial capabilities and evaluate whether this option suits you. If your local bank agrees to give you a student loan, great, because you definitely have nothing to catch in English banks until you become a resident. Hoping to earn money to pay for education while in England is a very risky option: it is not known how your fate will turn out and whether you will be able to find a job. You don’t want to wander the streets of London without a penny in your pocket, where temptations are at every turn? That’s right, so calculate everything in advance.

If there is no money from the word at all, then the only option is to try to immediately find a job in England, bypassing the stage of education in the country. This is much more complicated: the British disdain any education other than local, and your experience in distant and mysterious Russia is hardly of value to them. Therefore, it will be very useful if your resume contains lines about work experience in international companies: big names like Microsoft or L’Oreal will certainly play in your favor. In any case, you will almost inevitably have to somehow get into the country physically: you understand that no one will conduct interviews and take you to work via Skype. And be prepared that you will have to pay for the trip to the interview, alas, out of your own pocket: one can hardly count on the generosity of the British in this matter.

Websites for job search in England

The two main job search sites in the UK are Monster and TotalJobs. Plus, be sure to check the websites of specific companies for open positions. It is highly recommended to have a specially sharpened resume for each vacancy, plus do not be lazy to write “catchy” accompanying letters (Cover letter) – the British really read them, and this is your chance to stand out among hundreds of applicants from all over the world for a specific position. The Linkedin social network also works well – there have been cases when headhunters of companies themselves contacted valuable specialists through this site. Therefore, it is highly desirable to have an always up-to-date resume in English with the obligatory listing of your skills and qualifications (it is for these keywords that company personnel search for candidates). If luck itself has not knocked on your door and job offers do not flood your email inbox, then you can act proactively and try to independently end up with companies on your LinkedIn profile. Do not forget – you must show yourself as a truly unique specialist in order for the company to become interested in you and invite you for an interview. Interest in you must be really strong, because in order to hire a specialist from outside the EU, a British company will have to go through a long bureaucratic path, which includes a two-stage advertising of a position in local media, known as a labor market test (to make sure that the local the market cannot offer candidates of the same level), plus issue a sponsorship certificate for you, thus vouching for your integrity while working in the company. The word gentleman still carries weight in old Britain.

With a sponsorship certificate number (CoS number) and a job offer in hand, you will be able to apply for a UK work visa. If the UK company that wants to hire you does not have a sponsorship license that allows it to issue sponsorship certificates, then if they wish, they can get one. You can read about how a sponsorship certificate is issued here.

I would recommend looking for a job in London, as there are much more potential employers and salaries are significantly higher than in other cities in the UK. However, do not forget that a tourist visa does not give you the right to come to England in order to look for work. However, it is possible that, having arrived as a tourist in the country, you can get so carried away by it that you want to stay and try to find a job. In this case, you formally do not violate anything. And yet, I would strongly recommend that you study the UK immigration rules before traveling.