Everybody who moves to a foreign country has to face it. Looking for a job is stressful enough in your own country, not to mention a different one. Let's face it, we all come here without experience from the destination country. In my case, the UK. The majority do not speak fluent English, so they have an extra stress to deal with. but even for a person like me, fluent in English, I have to make certain sacrifices to reach my goal one day.
The first one was starting with a job I had never done before, and which has got no relations to my previous profession. As a previous very experienced teacher I was used to manage my time, my projects, the way I wanted to teach and even who I wanted to teach. As long as I reached to targets for the schools I worked for, or as long as my private students passed their language exams, nobody ever told me how to do my job. "Just do it with the results you produce and we are happy."
When I came to the UK I had no UK equivalent qualification and I had no idea how I could have it. All I heard was that I need to do extra college years to get my degree here. I had no money and time for that, so I started to look for something else instantly as I needed to earn money. Customer service is a job most people would start with who speak English at a communicative level. So I sign my first contract. I hated it. My boss was horrible, and English customer service is really different from Hungarian. Here you have to be humble, always full of apologies for no reasons, harshly 'licking asses for very little money' (apologies for the language...). That is really not my nature, but I have to do it as it earns my living. People here in the UK are very cheeky generally when it comes to customer service, as they know that in harsh capitalism all companies will do anything to keep customers and to attract more. So we end up people complaining about the barista not stirring their tea at a coffee shop, about a meal being awful but they eat it fully, and so on. I have so many stories that I regret I have never collected them in a book as it would be worth to publish.
Central London is the worst of all, there people are extremely rude and they would go any distances for a free drink or meal or a refund. So I have been dealing with this for four years now.
Partly it was my fault.In 2013 I found out on a Facebook forum in a Hungarian group that with a teacher degree we can actually apply for the UK validation through the National College for Teacher Training for free. No need for NARIC, the organisation who qualifies foreign qualifications. I will always be grateful for that person who shared the link as still, even on the website of The Department of Education they never mention this free option. So I sent my degree and I got my QTS back in about two weeks. And ever since, I never did anything, just started now. You can ask why.
As I mentioned previously, self-esteem is highly ruined in most cases with foreign workers. We come here as somebodies (doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, etc) and all of a sudden we become nobodies. I have been shouted and looked down so many times that finally I started to feel very little. And that is no good for starting a professional life. |Even though I speak really good English, I did not dare to apply for teaching positions. It is better now, as in posh Surrey from my posh customers got the re-assurance and self-esteem I needed. Yes, because if these rich and usually highly educated people think I deserve more, than I may believe it. Thanks for that for all my customers here :)
Another factor is being comfortable. When somebody starts working for customer service, money comes relatively quickly and you never have to fear that there will be no more work. It gives you the feeling of security. And let's admit, after the constant uncertainty and insecurity of living in Hungary, it feels so good. This feeling keeps us, and kept me, in this role for years and years. Also, in my case, my other half learnt to speak English, became a chef, which is a highly needed role here, so I now he will always have a job, even if I need a bit of time to change.
Right now I am also studying medical administration. I really want to work for the NHS, which is the National Healthcare System in the UK. I always wanted to work in healthcare, but at home teaching came quickly, I was good at it and too busy to ever consider changing. One great advantage of living in a foreign country is the new chance to build a new you. That is what I am doing now. Even if it is a bit slow, it is constant and I know it will happen one day. I have friends doing the same, respect for all who struggled years to learn a language and get qualifications later to start a new life here. I have couple of friends who used to be nurses in Hungary, saving lives in intensive care units or other departments, and then they were doing cleaning jobs, or old people care for years to develop their language skills and get UK experience or Canadian experience. That is really big and brave! I would never be that brave to go and live in a foreign country without speaking the language decently. I am proud of all my friends.
Well, this is all for today. The cores have been told, and I don't think any of the topics should be discussed too lengthy. I am wishing everyone a nice evening.
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