Indie88

Hey all;

Apologies for posting a "question" in here but as this is not country-specfic I couldn't see anywhere else to post it.

In the next 5 or so years I would like to move abroad as I can't escape the feeling that I don't want to raise children in the UK and also that the UK is not exactly the prettiest picture compared to some places out there. Add that to the fact that for the money it costs to get a horrible 1 bedroom flat here you can get a 4 bedroom house on the continent and suddenly a move abroad sounds good.

I appreciate that unemployment rates are high in a few of the countries I am thinking of and this is what I view is probably the biggest stumbling block. I have no "skills" or a trade and we were originally looking at going to france - a place I have heard the unemployment rate is astronomical. We plan to spend about a year before we actually go for the move learning the language (I was fairly fluent at one stage so I'm happy that a year would be enough with lessons) but I've only ever been a sales person in the UK.

Should I perhaps be looking at English speaking countries? Is this an impossible pipe-dream while-ever I have not got an appreciable trade?

Thanks for anything you can tell me;

Lewis

maltaman

Hi Indie88, have you considered Malta as an option, good climate, safe for children (and adults), mostly English speaking, there is a well known British call centre here that employs mostly English speaking people, test your sales experience.

Indie88

Thanks - I hadn't thought about that - I currently work in a call centre so it wouldn't be a leap, job wise.

Quick question - can you flush your toilet paper there??

EDIT: I ask because I went to Turkey on holiday some years ago and that was a real bug-bear for me.
Just had a look at maltese property and I don't think it's quite what we want. Holidaying in Italy we thought about moving there but everything is so run down, house-wise, for the price. That's what attracted us to France, some of the property is almost unbelievably cheap.

maltaman

Toilet paper is not a problem, wet wipes are though, have had to enter the drainage system on more than one occasion, property is quite expensive but renting is very reasonable here, i drove through France a couple of times and didn.t see anyone, maybe they were all sleeping. Hope you find what your looking for.

Jerseygirl

Hi and welcome to BE.

As this thread has turned into a discussion thread about Europe I am moving over to our General Europe forum. I'm sure you'll get lots of replies from our members in that forum.

We have a team of concierges who will help you find your way around the forums if you get a little lost. You can find a list of their names at the bottom right hand side of this page.

Complaints or problems should be addressed to a moderator...Mitzyboy is the mod for the Europe forums but if he's not around any mod or admin will be pleased to help you.

BTW I was amazed to find there are quite a few toilets in the US where there is a bin to put toilet paper. Yuk!

Indie88

Wow, 50,000 posts - that's one helpful moderator!

Thanks Jerseygirl, had a look around but couldn't work out where to put the thread. I live in Yorkshire at the minute - where did you live when you were still here? Are you happy you moved?

Jerseygirl

I grew up in Sheffield. Have lived in the US for 15 years. Some days I wished I'd stayed in the UK...other days I'm glad I had the opportunity many would give their right arm for.

Experience as much as the world as you can while you are still young...you can always go home.

Indie88

Heh, I was born in Sheffield too.

I hope someone else without skills comes to light.

Lorna at Vicenza

Hello,

you talk about a possible move in the next five years and that you have no skills ........ so what about doing a course and getting a certificate for teaching English, like TEFL?

Most language schools do not pay loads but you can supplement your earnings with private and one-to-one lessons.

It could be a foot in the door in some countries .......

Azarel

Hi Lewis,

You say you have no skills, but you must have had jobs in the past. There must be something you're even moderately skilled in (even if not technically qualified). You might need to identify those abilities. You should also take into account your needs from a life abroad. It's not enough just to want to get out of the UK (although I can certainly appreciate that sentiment!) but also what you need from a life abroad. You mention kids - do yu have kids already? How much will you need to feed and educate them abroad? Are you married? What are your OH's skills and in what way would he/she need support or offer support? How old are you (employability may be more or less age-related in other countries). There are a whole lot of variables to consider.

The unfortunate reality is that no skills usually equals no job, especially if you don't even have the basic language skills. Put the boot on the other foot and pretend you had a small business. How seriously would you consider an unqualified, unskilled candidate who you couldn't even speak to in your own language? It'll be hard, really hard.

Other posters have already mentioned going to an English-speaking country to avoid the language problems. You might also consider things you could do where knowledge of English is an advantage (things like teaching English, copywriting/editing, voice overs, and so on spring to mind). These are rarely reliable or well-paid jobs but a person could get by doing them under the right circumstances. Maybe if you just need an extended break from the UK you could work for someone in exchange for food and accommodation for a few months. There are programmes for this. It would at least give you some idea of how life is in that country and of expat life in general, even if it's not a long-term engagement.

Best of luck!

Indie88

Hey, thank you for the reply - that is certainly an idea I hadn't thought of. One would hope I would be capable of teaching my own language!

Hello Azarel; I will be 23 in a month; I worked here in department store for 5 years, and currently work at a call centre. If I had followed a career path, it would have involved Marketing, I think. So I have skills in selling and to some degree organising people but I don't have skills in say nursing or carpentry. My other half works for DHL doing administration/organisational work. To answer your other question, no, I don't currently have children, but I plan to in 5-10 years.

EDIT: Also, the full intention is to spend about a year doing intensive language classes before any move.

Azarel

Hi,

I think someone else mentioned call-centre work. That really might be your best bet then, although it'll still be hard to get into. I have some acquaintances who work in an IT call centre here in Romania. It's not selling, exactly, they deal with clients' problems at the simpliest level (is your PC plugged in?) and then if it's something more complicated they escalate it to the geeks to solve. It's more of a virtual front desk. The majority of their clients are from out of the country so they almost exclusively work in English, French, German, etc. Obviously the local language is needed for day-to-day office life, but I doubt there's a person who works there who doesn't know English.

You might find there are call centres who would like to employ someone as a native speaker to deal with clients in English speaking countries. I doubt they ever advertise such a position, so you'd probably have to find these companies yourself when you've decided where you want to live and cold call them and sell them the idea. Basically, you'd have to make your own job. It'd be hard work, but you could end up landing something.

Domino

What do you mean by "no skills" ? ?

Do you have what the recruitment people call "transferrable skills" ? ?

What are you doing now that brings in the dosh ?

In the course of preparing for a move off the sinking ship, what can you learn that you can take with you ? For example, Australia is always advertising for people with certain skill sets - so can you get training in something they need?

Can you identify a market for your skills in a particular country or that there is currently no one with those much needed skills ?

Are you able to promote yourself and\or the business to ensure the gaining the maximum amount of work you can take on (never take on too much, that can lead to a failure in the same way as no business)

You need to sit down and do a 5 Year Plan, who you are, what you want to be and where and with whom.
Also do a SWOT Analysis on yourself and your ideas...
thats
Strengths (of your and yours to succeed)
Weaknesses (of you and yours that will slow or stop the venture)
Opportunities (such as free training or working for a co that wants to transfer you to another country, or a rich relative that will provided seed money for a business venture)
Threats (that will stop you from achieving your goal - such as an impending court case where you could lose your licence if you are a taxi driver, serious competition, no money etc)

Sri all questions - but the idea is to put you into the right frame of mind and target your energy and finances towards a goal - be it a golden villa on the beach or an alpacca farm in the Andes.

rgds