Jobs in Retail Chains and Retail Banks ....

[Sher]

How easy is it to get a job in retail chains or retail banks in "Customer Service" / or as a "Trainee Store Manager" / or as a "Teller" on an HSMP ?

Any experiences .... good, bad, ugly?

[Rog]

Though I was a manager in a Bank in my home country, I could not get a job in any bank here. From my interviews, they have not really evaluated my banking experience or knowledge but I could make out 2 factors going against me. First of all due to visa being less than 1 year at the time of interview no one was willing to offer a permanent or responsible position. Also second point I felt was that though my English is fluent they indirectly suggested my lack of British accent and non use of local phrases and catch words as going against me. It is surprising that HO have given HSMP based on banking experience when no bank respects the HSMP visa after coming here. I have only heard of IT programmers or persons from Medicine/pharma background being successful with well paid jobs in HSMP. I would be glad to hear if any one has fared better in banking/finance.

[zeke]

Rog,

It sounds like you have a number of unpleasant and unexpected dynamics working against your goal of working in your chosen profession/area of expertise.

You may be interested in the thread I started 08 November 2008 in the "Highly Skilled Migrant Programme" forum on this board. The name of the thread is "Sharat -- where are you?"

Good luck, Rog...

[zeke]

Link to the above-mentioned post at Immigrationboards.com

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 0935#10935

[f2k]

Though... It is surprising that HO have given HSMP based on banking experience when no bank respects the HSMP visa after coming here. I have only heard of IT programmers or persons from Medicine/pharma background being successful with well paid jobs in HSMP. I would be glad to hear if any one has fared better in banking/finance.

i think the HO are doing the right thing in offering whoever meets the criteria the HSMP. again i look at it as another positive aspect of HSMP. this is how i look at it. many people have said on this forum how difficult it is to get interviews or job offers by virtue of being overseas. with the HSMP your chances are greatly increased, you are making the first step and getting to talk to companies and agencies and getting interviews. another thing is that having established were you are 'lacking' in experience or skills With the hsmp you are in a position to make amends. E.g you could start looking at jobs at a lower level than what you were doing and then get in and prove yourself or once you have on your CV that you worked for HSBC in Canary Wharf, other companies might start making more notice. The other thing you mention is the language barriers, true you might speak fluent English but the problem is we all have different accents depending on which part of the world we came from. So pple from you home country can hear you perfectly someone from south London might have difficulty hearing you in the same way that you would have problems picking up the Scottish or Irish accents, while it is advised that you should go out oneday and suddenly start using all the phrases you heard on TV, it might take time to redefine you accent, and whatever better way to do it than by working in say customer relations or even as a shop assistant in Tesco, or Sainsbury, or any other job were you meeting a lot of people
Now the whole beauty of HSMP is that it allows you to do all these jobs without having to apply for another visa. Its not ideal but if you finding it hard to break into the market then you might have to look at such drastic measure

[MWazir]

Rog,

I dont come from a banking background but I come from a trading/IT background. In the industry I work, pure "non-techies" in the operational jobs, or dealers or traders or business development managers have some kind of FSA backgrounding.

For many jobs in the financial industry, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), is the UK's financial services regulator and requires individuals to hold an Approved Examination. Also the employers tend to favour such applicants where such an examination is not even mandatory/

Here is FSA's website
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/

Can you find out if it is the same in the banking sector for the jobs you are trying to look for? Because it may not be applicable to you. If it is then for someone of your experience an approved examination or certification will not posse a big challange while at the same time enhance your CV to your potential employer.

Hope this helps. The first job is the hardest and things should become easier thereon. Good luck!

[Sher]

F2K,

The moot point is : Would jobs with say, Tesco or Sainsbury be available to an HSMP ?
I should think so .... as they not high paying and require minimal training, if at all.
Another set of jobs that might be available could be customer relationship in hotels.

But I do not know for sure. I might jolly well be wrong.

A Request :
Can someone on HSMP actually ask a friendly 'desi' Retail Store Manager on this while shopping for the week .... in London or elsewhere.
Will be extremely greatful.

A word of caution: Pls. ask with such serious 'intent' that the Store Manager assumes this person is likely to land up tomorrow, armed with his CV
This is important to evade a non-serious, 'candy' reply.

[MWazir]

Yes you can working in Tesco, Sainsbury, asda etc. There is not a lot of pay in it. About £700-£800 a month + the employee discount for shopping

One of my friend's wife (she wasnt working as she came on a dependent visa but was looking for something that would keep her busy during the day). One day she went to the neighbourhood Tesco for shopping where she is a regular. It is run by desi people. She didnt ask them for a job, in fact the lady at the till enquired if she would be interested in working for tesco and introduced her to the manager.
They understand that there are a lot of indian families where the spouse (usually educated well spoken and skilled) does not work either by design or by circumstances and if someone lives in the nieghbourhood and would like to do a bit of work, then why not. It makes sense for both parties. My friend's wife agreed and she worked there for 6 months before heading off to do a full time university course.

[Ajay Kumar Singh]

mwazir

One day she went to the neighbourhood Tesco for shopping where she is a regular. It is run by desi people.

I wonder are there any store which are not run by desi people ?