It's been sometime since my last post coz of exams. But thoughts on careers, growing up etc never cease to deliberately "Take Control" of my day especially when I just really need that extra focus on my studies. Zzz.....
So as the date draws closer, it bothers me to think that I have not made the best use of my time here. Well ideally from the eyes of the 3rd person, the epitome of success after completing studies overseas is to of course OBTAIN a job overseas and perhaps settle there or come back home after 2-3 years of experience.
What most people do not know about is the journey towards getting a job here in the UK. It is to no surprise and I myself AM a victim this stereotype.
So let's go over a couple of key criteria's in which people hope or intend to achieve by gaining occupation here in the UK:
(1) Highly skilled professionals would most certainly find a greater avenue of opportunity here. Life sciences for example is a highly valued skill here and the government highly funds this area of research unlike back home. So there is no doubt skilled professionals would find greater solace by ensuring themselves a better opportunity of growth knowing that there is a ladder for them to climb.
(2) The $. Yes $ is perhaps the most enticing of rewards (considering the conversion rate) but truth to be told, is $ really worth the toil and labour? It may be overly naive of me to say this but will a back-office support role bring you far in a year or 2 knowing that all you are after is the 5X after conversion salary increase? Ever thought of what's left after income tax, council tax, RENT and other necessities here in the city? More on this later.
(3) Experience. True it is a one off get it now or probably never get the chance ever again to work here in the UK.
Personally I have no reason to side with point (1). Having diversified my skillset (and also bluntly de-emphasized my depth of expertise), I have chose to embark on more corporate roles within the telecommunications industry.
So why not here in the UK you may ask? Well let's perform a bit of a checklist. I am specifically looking at management associate programmes or roles within product management/strategy. OK lets look at the MA programmes. From my search, only Vodafone is offering such a programme. The catch? You'd had to be a UK/EU citizen. That's right people. Like the majority of firms (affecting mainly the more technically inclined industries to say the least) there is no incentive in hiring a foreign talent. This would just mean extra cost, extra formality and most importantly....... this would not address the local unemployment situation. Yea it's probably one of the strategies employed by the government to address the unemployment rate especially in the recent year on. First they took away the post-study work visa and now that limits UK companies to hire local graduates and only be allowed to hire a foreign graduate if they have exhausted their efforts to source a local hire. I can't comment on how effective this has been but from experience, I have been receiving rejections all year long and it seems to apply to my peers (bar the exceptional few who had internships last year or the really really really golden 1 or 2 individuals who secured consultancy or IB jobs). As for the other telco's here, they're pretty technical based and managerial roles are limited for experienced hires.
So what about the money? If you're earning at least 3000 pounds a month in London then yes you're off to a pretty comfortable life. Unfortunately the average salary for a fresh graduate in the UK is approximately 22000 pounds per-annum. That's about 1800 pounds a month. The basic income tax rate for the lowest salary bracket is 20%. So that leaves around 1500 pounds? So I'm paying 600 pounds a month for a ROOM. That's right a room. So let's say you're able to source a cheaper place to stay. Say 500 pounds a month. Let's put in 100 pounds worth of bills so that makes up 600 pounds. That leaves you 900 pounds. Lets deduct 100 worth of transport costs. So 800 purely for food and expenses. I may have sparsely approximated the facts and vaguely assumed very little from so much.
But I'm still thinking that working in the UK isn't as pretty as it seems. More importantly, happiness. There isn't just nothing like home. Most will disagree with me and say that I'm too pampered and that I have just shut these doors without even taking a peek to see what's behind them. Well that's true to some extent but what if I was just held back by other factors which just put locks on those doors? No one has ever thought of the fact if it would be hard to secure job opportunities having repeated a year of studies? Well to the few firms which put me through to interviews I am very thankful and it is my fault to have not made it past the recruitment. It is all part of the learning process and all I am hoping for is to learn for my next undertaking. But the rates have been lowered considering my grades. "Please send us your latest examination transcripts". The dreaded phrase which I have no intention of expecting even at this point of my examination. Well from experience, I practically receive rejections the next day after submitting my transcripts. Yea the ugly truth but not many will understand.
So I dare say that the main issue here is with perceptions. Most people think: You're spent the time and $ studying abroad. You should stay abroad. Personally I have this perception that EVERYONE in Oxbridge must be the brainy top scorers. I was probably right until the UKEC recruitment stages. I met this girl in one of the AC's. Lets refer to her as L. I've met L before in Imperial back in November through a friend. She was invited for an interview with company M which I really wanted and wasn't aware that they invited candidates for interviews. Unfortunately I never got any invitations from them and that really put me off a little but it motivated me to approach them personally :P Anyways, L received the invitation and I was really impressed. She struct me as a very brainy person and perhaps were among the top percentile in her course.
I met L once again in March and yes I still had the same perception. Intimidating in a way since we were more or less competing for opportunities in the same pool. A couple of days later it appears that L did not get through the assessments. I bumped into her a day later after the final interview rounds and we chilled a bit over lunch. So we talked about our so called "search for the dream career" goals etc and ended up spilling about my rumble through with my experience here at Imperial. Somehow the conversation developed into a less cheerful situation where she started to err.... tear up. She was very frustrated that she never got any offers from the fair. I tried consoling her by saying that her Oxbridge degree is an award enough to place you anywhere upon graduation. AND it was her turn to spill the beans. She was on a second lower and L says that she totally understands my feelings about being deemed an 'ugly grape' because of our pasts.
That conversation by itself made my whole day worthwhile. It made me realize that even great people screw up and it is through such experiences that we realize the more important meanings in life. In addition, it also made me think more on another person's perspective and to not put perceptions directly into judgement. Everyone has a story to tell so let us lend an ear. People have their reasons and lets not live our lives chasing another person's shadow. For the 3rd person saying "Man if I had the opportunity like you I would ensure that I would be working in the UK". So here's the question back to you,
"So what are you doing standing here and not making an effort to get there instead?"
Remember that there are always 2 sides to a coin ad you might only know what's on one side. Try flipping it over and you'd find a greater meaning by itself.
Until next time ;)
