Long Long and a loooooooooog wait....finally succeded

[Mohanfromblr]

Guys
I am here to share happy news from my side.
My History:
Valid Tier-1 Visa From: 01,Nov,2008
Date of Entry in UK: 21, Dec, 2008
Domain/Expertise: Java/J2EE.
From Jan,2009, I haven't applied for much of IT jobs since the market was discouraging and I concentrated on some odd jobs. Meanwhile I changed many locations in UK and travelled between India & UK for personal reasons. Not much happening for me until Dec,2009. Almost one year of my valuable IT career is wasted.
Finally got a small contract offer in Dec,2009 and continued up to March,2010.
Now the Story begins:
Fresh Job hunt started in April,2010................
Tens of 1000's of job applications (Jobserve, monster, total jobs etc)
1000's of Phone calls (not sure how many of consultants are fake)
100's of Hrs of negotiations with consultants
10's of pre-screening process (written tests both online/offline, initial telephone interviews)
24 (No. of interview calls (for F2F) after pre-screening)
2 OFFERS FINALLY
Surprisingly both came with in 2 days gap.
One in London & one in Glasgow (both IT majors in financial domain)
London Offer: 31k
Glasgow offer: 35k
So with little hesitation I accepted Glasgow company's offer.
Thats the good news I wanted to share.
The best part of it is that I need to accumulate payslips/bank stmts. for my visa extension at least from Nov,2010 as my visa expires in Nov,2011. So I got the job at the very best time.

Budget: Spent around 800-900 GBP of personal money for travelling apart from 6 companies which paid to/fro travel reimbursements.

[t1s2010]

Very heartening indeed.
Kudos to you Mohan. Your words telling level of your joy, fulfillment and sense of accomplishment.

How were the levels of your interviews with final two companies?

Since, you are a battled soldier with shining armor, can you share your thoughts on business analyst (capital markets/IB) job opportunities at present in UK/London?

[Mohanfromblr]

Very heartening indeed.
Kudos to you Mohan. Your words telling level of your joy, fulfillment and sense of accomplishment.

How were the levels of your interviews with final two companies?

Since, you are a battled soldier with shining armor, can you share your thoughts on business analyst (capital markets/IB) job opportunities at present in UK/London?

I am no way qualified to comment on Capital Markets as my entire experience is on developing IT (Java)Business components and have never seen practically how the components I have developed generate revenues for the companies. But since you have asked, I can reveal something about whole job scenario in UK. Some moment started in Feb,2010 and interviews really started for me since May,2010 only.
A lot of moment seemed to be there during Jun-Aug period then again Sep & Oct were dead. The job interviews were very typical.
Out of 24 F2f interviews, only 4 were related to (Java)FX trading. Got rejected after F2F.
I think this can give you an indication about your market but then again I am not sure that my words are right w.r.t your domain.
On a whole my experience says that -------------All IT Prof.s if you are in India......Please stay there....nothing much happening here in UK at the moment...but UK will come out of recession totally with in 2 years (I am praying for it)

[kenfrapin]

ENGLISH guys....look at the way you write - if you practice to write properly with the right grammar and tense, then you will also speak correctly which will then improve your communication skills a lot!!!!

It's an absolute nightmare reading the last 3 posts with just apalling use of the English language - so please start correcting yourselves right now to start improving yourselves!!!

KP

[desperado1306]

@Kenfrapin

I have been reading quite a number of posts on this forum and I observed that you are quite a critic. It intrigues me to know a little more about you. If it's not too personal, can you please throw some light on your background. However, your suggestions are very useful though those offended couple of people earlier, I appreaciate your posts because you don't always encourage unnecessarily and may help people to improve their skills.

Cheers!

[kenfrapin]

Not sure if that's a compliment or a poke but its fine.
I have given a lot of details about myself so just search for it - its all there in one of my first posts on this forum.

I joined this forum after being a long time observer and got seriously fed up with the nonsense and illogical reasoning behind a lot of posts - those who advised did not give a clear picture of why they said what they said and that, for a person seeking info, is of no use.

As a result, most of my posts are very detailed as I make every effort to explain a situation and then the reasoning behind it. I tell it as it is with no bias to any one person or anything in particular. I absolutely dislike biased views that are not applicable to all but have a very negative effect on this forum. Dont just go posting things, claiming to know it all without giving a reason for it - making an assumption is a horrible habit - and I hope to correct that while here

Cheers
KP

[desperado1306]

@Kinfrapin

As you once mentioned, I wasn't hunting down your posts but just stumbling upon your responses in various threads. Lets go for a binge when I am there

Apologies guys, didn't mean to hijack this thread, all yours now.

[aspirant99]

On a whole my experience says that -------------All IT Prof.s if you are in India......Please stay there....nothing much happening here in UK at the moment...but UK will come out of recession totally with in 2 years (I am praying for it)

Hmmmm....quite a statement to make.....anyways congratulations for being successful in the job hunt!!...

However, it is my fervent request not generalise your views and tell various aspirants not to do what they really want to , in this case i.e seek a job opportunity in the UK...let them decide for themselves after reading your posts/experiences...

[kenfrapin]

Im totally game a for nice night out and lots of drinks - I start my weekend drinkin on Thurs nights anyways - you are from Mumbai and Im from Mlore/Blore so catching up on drinks will be super fun
Hopefully you are not too old for me or vice versa...ha ha....



KP

[wunder]

One in London & one in Glasgow (both IT majors in financial domain)
London Offer: 31k
Glasgow offer: 35k

31k in finance in London sounds rather low

[kenfrapin]

One in London & one in Glasgow (both IT majors in financial domain)
London Offer: 31k
Glasgow offer: 35k

31k in finance in London sounds rather low

Quite shocking to see that companies now are ready to even go that low and think people will accept such an offer - Most Consulting and Product companies pay fresh grads nothing lower than £28k - £30k in London so £31k in Finance domain for a guy with experience is really not fair - shows how bad the market really is these days!!!

KP

[Mohanfromblr]

One in London & one in Glasgow (both IT majors in financial domain)
London Offer: 31k
Glasgow offer: 35k

31k in finance in London sounds rather low

Quite shocking to see that companies now are ready to even go that low and think people will accept such an offer - Most Consulting and Product companies pay fresh grads nothing lower than £28k - £30k in London so £31k in Finance domain for a guy with experience is really not fair - shows how bad the market really is these days!!!

KP

I dont have any true experience in Banking Domain. A few components that they are looking for matched with my CV and I did well in the interview.

[Mohanfromblr]

ENGLISH guys....look at the way you write - if you practice to write properly with the right grammar and tense, then you will also speak correctly which will then improve your communication skills a lot!!!!

It's an absolute nightmare reading the last 3 posts with just apalling use of the English language - so please start correcting yourselves right now to start improving yourselves!!!

KP

Dear Kenfrapin
Thanks really for your suggestion. I come from one of the premier institutes of India (in Engineering) and have a proper Convent Education in India.
I am writing just casually most of the times and did not bother much about the grammar. I observed that grammatically our English is far better than native English people especially when writing. But when it comes to the accent & tone, we are obviously far from native people.

[kenfrapin]

Many people are divided on the option of
1. Securing a role in a new domain with a pay cut
2. Sticking to current domain with decent salary

While both options have their own pros and cons, I feel that, in your case, the pay difference is really big. It is really good to get a break into the Finance domain and Banking because that will open a lot more avenues within 3yrs time. That being said, many companies, whether they admit it or not, use your previous salary to offer a new package and that will cause a huge issue.

I do hope you know that, unlike India where a great salary hike is 30% and the worst possible is 5%, nothing similar exists in the UK.

If you stick to this current £31k job, dont expect to move much at all. There is usally a mandatory 2% rise given to account for inflation and performance related bonus which can be 0 or upto 50% of your salary and more. Rest depends on what the company have told you about hikes but it will never go beyond 10% a year - of course, Banking is a crazy industry so who knows what will happen if your company makes an amazing profit in the next few years - in that case, only the banking industry gives out fat bonuses

If, instead, you get a role in your current domain with experience, an average London job will not pay less than £45k - this is just to give you an idea of the steep cut you are taking. And if you plan to live in London, then you really have to budget because £31k is not enough to have a relaxed life and save as well. The bottom line, still remains the same and that is you managed to secure a perm job and entered a new domain - and that's good for you

And regarding your English - if you state you are educated in a Convent school and premier Engg institute(makes no difference to language skills though) then even in your sleep you should not write this badly. I am sure your English teacher would give you a right rap on the knuckle if they were to read your posts

All the best
KP

[Mohanfromblr]

Many people are divided on the option of
1. Securing a role in a new domain with a pay cut
2. Sticking to current domain with decent salary

While both options have their own pros and cons, I feel that, in your case, the pay difference is really big. It is really good to get a break into the Finance domain and Banking because that will open a lot more avenues within 3yrs time. That being said, many companies, whether they admit it or not, use your previous salary to offer a new package and that will cause a huge issue.

I do hope you know that, unlike India where a great salary hike is 30% and the worst possible is 5%, nothing similar exists in the UK.

If you stick to this current £31k job, dont expect to move much at all. There is usally a mandatory 2% rise given to account for inflation and performance related bonus which can be 0 or upto 50% of your salary and more. Rest depends on what the company have told you about hikes but it will never go beyond 10% a year - of course, Banking is a crazy industry so who knows what will happen if your company makes an amazing profit in the next few years - in that case, only the banking industry gives out fat bonuses

If, instead, you get a role in your current domain with experience, an average London job will not pay less than £45k - this is just to give you an idea of the steep cut you are taking. And if you plan to live in London, then you really have to budget because £31k is not enough to have a relaxed life and save as well. The bottom line, still remains the same and that is you managed to secure a perm job and entered a new domain - and that's good for you

And regarding your English - if you state you are educated in a Convent school and premier Engg institute(makes no difference to language skills though) then even in your sleep you should not write this badly. I am sure your English teacher would give you a right rap on the knuckle if they were to read your posts

All the best
KP

Thanks again for your valuable suggestions.
I never write to prove my English Communication skills. This forum really helped me a lot right from the day I thought of applying for Tier-1 Visa.
I owe a lot to the senior members of the forum.
Still I bet my English is far better than most of the people in India.

[kenfrapin]

Still I bet my English is far better than most of the people in India.

And I agree.
Regarding your job, if you take the one in Finance, stick on for a min of 6months and then start looking out for roles once you are comfy and have some domain knowledge. I usually recommend sticking to a company for a year min but since they have the gall to offer just £31k, you can try to get a better pay and if anyone asks why you are quitting, you can very easily give the paltry salary of £31k in expensive London as the best ever excuse and they will buy it coz you are being seriously low balled this time

Cheers
KP

[wabuthu]

CONGRATULATIONS on the new job mohanfromblr! and excellent post as well, i quite liked your writing style, how you narrowed it down from tens of thousands of applications to the 2 final offers! posts like these keep us all encouraged. All the best

Guys
I am here to share happy news from my side.
My History:
Valid Tier-1 Visa From: 01,Nov,2008
Date of Entry in UK: 21, Dec, 2008
Domain/Expertise: Java/J2EE.
From Jan,2009, I haven't applied for much of IT jobs since the market was discouraging and I concentrated on some odd jobs. Meanwhile I changed many locations in UK and travelled between India & UK for personal reasons. Not much happening for me until Dec,2009. Almost one year of my valuable IT career is wasted.
Finally got a small contract offer in Dec,2009 and continued up to March,2010.
Now the Story begins:
Fresh Job hunt started in April,2010................
Tens of 1000's of job applications (Jobserve, monster, total jobs etc)
1000's of Phone calls (not sure how many of consultants are fake)
100's of Hrs of negotiations with consultants
10's of pre-screening process (written tests both online/offline, initial telephone interviews)
24 (No. of interview calls (for F2F) after pre-screening)
2 OFFERS FINALLY
Surprisingly both came with in 2 days gap.
One in London & one in Glasgow (both IT majors in financial domain)
London Offer: 31k
Glasgow offer: 35k
So with little hesitation I accepted Glasgow company's offer.
Thats the good news I wanted to share.
The best part of it is that I need to accumulate payslips/bank stmts. for my visa extension at least from Nov,2010 as my visa expires in Nov,2011. So I got the job at the very best time.

Budget: Spent around 800-900 GBP of personal money for travelling apart from 6 companies which paid to/fro travel reimbursements.

[prisat]

@Kenfrapin

I have been reading quite a number of posts on this forum and I observed that you are quite a critic. It intrigues me to know a little more about you. If it's not too personal, can you please throw some light on your background.

Cheers!

thumbs up

[kenfrapin]

@Kenfrapin

I have been reading quite a number of posts on this forum and I observed that you are quite a critic. It intrigues me to know a little more about you. If it's not too personal, can you please throw some light on your background.

Cheers!

thumbs up

Oh Indianinworld - am I that negative and impractical with my views??? You know I do try to be optimistic when it's required and relevant based on a particular post.



KP

[prisat]

@Kenfrapin

I have been reading quite a number of posts on this forum and I observed that you are quite a critic. It intrigues me to know a little more about you. If it's not too personal, can you please throw some light on your background.

Cheers!

thumbs up

Oh Indianinworld - am I that negative and impractical with my views??? You know I do try to be optimistic when it's required and relevant based on a particular post.



KP

Ooops... Sorry. That was never meant to hurt the recipient or anybodys sentiments. I didnt even read the names / signatures. I just read the previous comment where it started with job hunting and then a conversation that read about english communication.
that is all.... Sorry again