Important for me: Your kind advice seeked!!

This forum happens to be one of the most pragmatic places I have ever come across in my life. Hope this will be helpful for me in this case too.

Im at an important stage of my life where I have to take a decision and perhaps for the first time I have taken so much time to take any decision. Thought I will share this here and I am sure I will be able to learn a lot from your experiences.

I am 33, married with one kid, Tier 1 (General) visa holder (got in Sep 10), UK Business Graduate, working for the market leader of the industry I am in, at a very senior position and drawing quite a handsome Salary. I have been applying for different jobs from my home country (where I am working currently) but it doesnt seem to work. I am expecting at least a 70K job to start with otherwise it wouldnt make no economic sense to move. My Tier 1 visa will get expired in November next year which means I should reach UK ASAP and my earnings should start from october this year.

However, the point is that my career is at the peak here and going to UK would mean that I will have to resign and go to UK for good without a job in hand. But at the same time, I dont want to miss this opportunity as I have lived in UK before, I loved it and I want to get settled there. I know one has to take risk but I am not too sure about the UK market these days but I am confident if I make to interviews I will definately make my way through. However, I have now realised that leaving job at the peak of your career is not easy either.

I would appreciate if you could kindly suggest as to what would be the right approach in your opinion to embark upon this journey. Pls. advice.

Thanks in advance.

RAK78 wrote:UK Business Graduate, working for the market leader of the industry I am in, at a very senior position and drawing quite a handsome Salary. I have been applying for different jobs from my home country (where I am working currently) but it doesnt seem to work. I am expecting at least a 70K job to start with otherwise it wouldnt make no economic sense to move. My Tier 1 visa will get expired in November next year which means I should reach UK ASAP and my earnings should start from october this year.

Given your age, you have quite a few years of experience to back your application however, there are a few points to consider when trying for a role in the UK
1. A starting salary of £70k though not impossible is very improbable initially
2. Depending on your exposure, domain experience, international/ global work experience etc you could look at higher salaries
3. As you have not mentioned specifics of what you work on, your niche skills, there is no way anyone on this board can provide practical advice so would help if you elaborate on your experience and area of work

All said and done, though the market is opening up with more jobs openings, those earning in the region of £70k have either worked in a big company and come up through the ladder to that level or have 10 to 15 years experience if taken as a lateral hire....and once again, its tough, extremely tough to expect £70k but as I dont know your professional background I cannot state how easy or difficult it will be for you

KP

Thanks kenfrapin for your prompt reply. Appreciated!!

I fully understand and respect your view regarding 70K starting job. In my current job, I make approx. 40k per annum and its a very good salary here and ensures a decent living standard. Nevertheless, one has to sacrifice at times for global exposure keeping in view the long term perspective but the question is to what extent. Pls. share your views on this.

Re niche skills and my area of work, I am a Supply Chain professional (General Manager) primarily and have more than 9 years of experience in Automotive and home Spam industry. I look forward to your kind advice.

Take some leave and come to UK and explore the market. No one can give you best advice.

Make sure you register your CVs to some UK agencies as soon as you arrive to UK

Agree with Sky_High, you need to personally assess the market given you are an experienced candidate so will have your own skill set which may or may not be highly regarded in the UK market - and only you can find that out

Further, 9 years in Supply Chain is good though I can give absolutely no credible advice for the Home Spam and Automotive industry as I am a pure IT Consulting professional.

The quickest way to find out is
1. Register your CV on some of the well known websites - jobsite, reed, monster uk, planetrecruit etc
2. Hunt for sites and recruitment agents specializing in Supply Chain, use linkedin to expand your network and see how it pans out
3. Finally, apply on company career sites directly. Supply Chain is everywhere so you know the standard companies that you'd like to get into, and apply on their Europe/UK sites and see how it goes

Given you have a job back home that pays well and have commitments, my advice would be to do all you can to get an idea of how your profile holds in this market before packing bags and just coming out here and hoping for the best. Its not easy and it just gets that much tougher for roles that pay in advance of £50k - yes you can hope to bag a role that pays in the mid £50s and all I said above will help you understand better. Aiming for £70k is good but given the number of people available, companies in the UK dont tend to budge a lot UNLESS you have a fabulous profile. And you will know soon enough once you get yourself on the net for everyone to see you.

Wish you the best
KP

Thank you very much indeed Sky_High and kenfrapin for your quite valuable suggestions. This will certainly help me in devsing an appropriate strategy to meet this objective.

I would highly appreciate if you could pls also share your opinion as to what kind of time frame I should have in mind for staying in uk in order to get a job, if i lower my benchmark job from 70k to 60k. Pls also inform which are the famous/reliable recruitment agencies in UK apart from those who have v.strong websites such as monster, reed etc. Thanks