Hi,
Nine months ago I moved with my oh and animals from Australia to Scotland. My oh was born here and wanted to return to his family after many years living in Australia. I however was born in Australia and have come over on a Ancestry visa. We also packed up everything and bought over all our furniture. As you can imagine this has been an extremely expensive exercise.
I totally love it here in Scotland but the issue is both of us are really struggling to get work and our finances are depleting fast. I had a very well paying job in Customer Service Management in Australia that I loved, I also have Airline Management experience. For some reason nobody will even look at me, I have applied for entry level right up to management jobs, but nothing.
We have also struggled to make friends here, this not without trying. Yes we have my partners family, but I really need friends of my own. Sometimes I feel so lonely having nobody to talk or just to have a coffee with.
We were meant to get married in February, another reason for moving to the UK, but had to postpone due to not finding work. We have rescheduled for later in the year, fingers crossed.
it has always been my dream to marry my oh and to live in Scotland, but I desperately need work and friends. If I did return to Australia it would mean leaving my partner and FurKids behind until I had a job in Australia and could save the money to bring everyone back, this could very well destroy me doing this.
i really don't know what to do. Has anyone got any ideas of making friends here and any employers that would be OK with employing someone from Australia.
Sorry to hear you are having these problems, I hope you get to a resolution soon.
Would it be worth looking south of the Scottish border for a while and getting any job possible, and keeping an eye out for something else in the location / job sector you want when it comes up?
Generally, i have found that good friends can come from working somewhere new, so the job may be the key to meeting new people and getting on the road to sorted.
I do hope you both all the best, and that this sorts itself for you.
in terms of socialising, the best thing I have found is to join clubs or groups involved with activities you enjoy... maybe a playing a new sport or taking up a hobby. Unfortunately these things do come at a cost.
If youre out of work maybe try some volunteer work to fill your time. You will then be out with other people and this may open up some sort of opportunities for you in terms of paid work
I'm sorry I don't have any real advice for you, me not being from Britain and all. I can relate to what you're going through though, and have had a similar experience when I left all my life's plans and a good carreer for love and moved to another country. I wasn't able to remake my life (work wise and socially) the way I imagined, I did feel discriminated for where I came from rather than being able to count on my CV, and it did destroy me and almost our marriage too. It took me almost 10 years to come to the conclusion I NEEDED to get out, at whatever cost, even if that meant losing my husband. It all worked out for us, as we made the international move together to a place I should be more fine with and he is fine with also. What I'm trying to say is that these things take time. Both rebuilding a life in a new place and coming to the conclusion it's not working to the point you're willing to pay a high price to start living the life you feel it's been taken away.
However, please don't mind me saying, there might be a cultural issue too. Europe is very much different to other continents' cultures, not as welcoming, not as accepting, not as including. There's a much more conservative and burocratic way of living, hierarchy is also more important than in some other "western" cultures. I am European, and I am not saying this to be mean. It's just what I experienced by travelling extensively all over the globe.
I have no useful advice other than I wanted to send you positive vibes and virtual hugs hon. I really hope this gets going better for you and your OH.
I live in the US and here sometimes foreign workers need a special visa that can be an issue for employers, but I am not sure what it is like in Scotland and if that is an issue. I did think the volunteering was brilliant advice as it may help you meet more people and get you active and develop a possilbe work reference locally.
Thanks everyone, some great advise here. The volunteering option is something I've been attempting, but again, nobody appears interested in taking me on.
I have a working visa and a NI number, so can work here without any issues. The only difficulty, so I've been told, is that it is harder to contact my referees. I think that's the big sticking point cause the employment agencies have said my CV is impressive and should I be a UK/EU citizen I would have been snapped up in a flash.
I very much agree about the cultural differences as you mentioned era, coming from a very multicultural society like Australia is a bit eye opener. Not saying the UK is not multicultural it's just I suppose Australia is still a relatively new country.
thanks again everyone.
Keep strong and hope for the best. We did it about 10 years ago. We left South Africa for the UK, all we had was the suitcases we traveled with. I think the first 2 years were the hardest. To us it felt like because we were not born there, we were outsiders. I think in the 8 years we were there we only made one really close friend.
The wifes family all moved to New Zealand from SA and we had not seen them in 8 years so we decided that we would do it all again. As you say things are different, we find people here in NZ are more open and friendly.
Wishing you the best of luck and hope things come right for you.
Hi and welcome to the forum 😊
Could you get copies of references from previous employment sent to you? Then you could hand them over at the interviews? Then the companies would have your reference and a phone number or email to verify them?
Sorry I'm not much help. I think we're a friendly bunch in the UK, just shy. The best place I think to meet people at, other than work, is at groups. Either a slimming club or if you take a class in something, especially if it's a fun one, like an art one or if you're into sports a sporting one. There's always people like me at sporting ones that just have to laugh and make jokes to get themselves through it. 😉
Australia to Scotland though, wow, how's the weather been treating you? That must have been a massive adjustment in itself.
I have scottish friends born and raised there that cannot get a look in for a job either. Sadly the economy and jobs market is doing very badly all over the UK right now, nationals aren't having much luck getting jobs either.