honeymommy

Not quite right..... We came back to the UK last year. Hubby is in IT... Unemployed when we arrived, he applied/was interviewed and offered a permanant contract within 2 weeks of arrival. The wage is good, the hours are better than in the US and he gets more vacation time. He allways keeps his eye out for other jobs coming up and on a weekly basis is sent many well paid IT jobs to apply for, all with a good wage attached. He chooses to stay in his current job because he enjoys. He is also 40 which we thought would be a problem, but wasn't. So although a lot of people say IT careers are nonexistent we have found the opposite. We live in the South of England.

ScotsmanInTexas

Well whatever you believe and if it's worked for you and your husand then great. However the IT industry in the UK completely sucks. There is no career security in the UK. I would agree with the majoirty who will say that IT careers are non-existant. The wages are poor when compared to even Germany or France (nevr mind the USA) and the cost of housing and taxation is ridiculous. Outside of the South East work in that industry is hard to come by.

snowbunny

Perhaps people who have taken a career break in order to raise children are looked upon slightly more favourably than those who travelled the world for a few years, but not much. As someone who has just returned after searching for a full-time gig for three years, I can tell you that many recruiters would admit that I had next to no chance of getting any given job because I had a break in service. A manager at a company I previously worked for said once, "If a mother leaves her job to take care of her kids, it's because she doesn't love her job enough to be a good employee."

I do think in *some areas* the UK offers more opportunities atm than the US if only because they are slightly behind the outsourcing curve. However, the generalisation of "IT" is so broad that while most sectors are experiencing job cutbacks, a very few are in demand. I believe that most of us could be easily retrained but age discrimination is pretty rampant as you have noticed.

ScotsmanInTexas

The UK government could but won't encourage retraining right now. In the past year the emphasis has been on importing skills from outside the UK rather than working with what we have. Some come as asylum seekers, some as illegal immigrants and some as Migrant workers.

It has been argued that in the case of 2 people sharing the same or similar qualifications one a native British person and one a 'migrant worker' - the migrant worker will be given preference in the job-market and on the housing lists. It is interesting to note that the Scottish Parliament (or at least First Minister Jack McConnell) wants to import skilled people from abroad to fill vacancies in preference to actually training anyone locally!) Ironic fact is that the majority of the list of jobs that can't be filled are mostly unskilled! Yet McConnell argues a case for importing skilled migrant workers. That is a window to what is actually happening across Britain. I left Britain end of January. I'm also a member of the Labour Party, but no one can convince me that the state Britain is currently in, is a good one or that the long-term future looks all that prosperous. The high pound right now is damaging British exports and manufacturing. Long-term damage to the economy can only result in recession and lay-offs. My brother in Oxford just sold his house because he is worried that a housing slump is on it's way, so he's renting now until he's ready to buy again for less money.

But anyway I've said my tuppence and in summary: If life was all that great in the UK - I'd never have left the place. The US is a place of opportunity, where there are opportunities for ambitious people. Your post code isn't used against you or decides whether or not you get the job or whether your kid gets into College. The vast majority of American people don't imagine themselves better than they are or have false airs and graces. I remain patriotically British and never will surrender that right, but well I call a spade a spade and I'm telling it like it is. Seen it for myself!

snowbunny

And you live in Houston.... I'm speechless. Can I borrow your rose-coloured glasses cos I could really use them.

(I love England -- the weather sucks, but the weather in Houston sucks in a completely different way.)

ScotsmanInTexas

Yes summer here is too hot for me, thankfully there is air conditioning! Winter in the UK is much too cold for me, solution is travel when it suits me. Seriously though yes I do like Houston.

It's not at all how people outside the place imagine it to be. It is very multi-cultural even cosmpolitan - can't say that about most of Texas mind you. Maybe the next person wouldn't see it quite the same, but remember I'm married to a Houstonian and it's like moving to any place really. Someone from a place appreciates it in a different way outsiders never will. I've seen the place as she sees it and you know what? I like it!

It's like me. I'm from just north of Glasgow, and I've heard all the rubbish about Glasgow from people who have never actually been there or maybe visited it briefly or heard of one tiny area of a large city and had an opinion set in their minds. I happen to like Glasgow because I'm from there and know it for it's finer things. I'd feel a lot safer walking through Glasgow for instance than I would walking through Edinburgh and I have lived in both cities! Yet people from outside would think Edinburgh was quaint and welcoming (when it's actually not) and that Glasgow was scarey (which it can be same as any big city, but really it isn't that bad.)

A friend from Liverpool said much the same about his city one time and how it's all part of it's character people from outside the place have an opinion without having every lived there. There's a stereo-typical image says he 'when you tell someone you are from L'Pool they feel like going to the car-park to check their car stereo is still there' I know exactly what he means.

Houston really isn't that bad!

snowbunny

I love the Pool. There just ain't that Scouser vibe going down in Houston. And Houston is a helluva lot bigger with worse traffic. Pollution is debatable.

I've a fair few Weegie friends. Haven't been there yet but do plan to go. Must admit I've heard the ned problem is pretty awful -- www.glasgow-survival.co.uk is rather daunting. But then again, England has chavs.

ImHere

Out of interest Scotsman, how long have you been here?

ScotsmanInTexas

A total of 13 months. Altogether it's still quite new to me in many ways. What I've seen of it, I actually like. I mean you don't have to go far outside Houston to find things I don't particularly care for, rednecks and all that stuff. In comparison to other parts of Texas it's isn't that bad. Dallas after dark, I found scarey to the max. San Antonio I liked a lot and felt very comfortable in. Austin is so clean and they play my kind of music! Also been in Chicago - which reminded me of Glasgow even had pubs and double decker buses. Washington and Louisiana.

http://www.glasgowsurvival.co.uk/ <<< Pretty nasty site by the looks of it! Seems to have more in common to chewing the fat than reality.

jjmb

thanks for all the replies. To be honest I am scared sh**less about going out into the big wide world again. Having been looking at the job ads, most want 1-2 yrs experience or/and bi-lingual. I am sure I will be fine once I get a job, but its the getting that might be a bit difficult. I sure there aren't that many American women or men who take off 19 yrs from working.

I see from your previous posts ScotinTX that you are currently job hunting. Have you received your SSN yet? I applied for mine just last week and got it today, so there really is no hurdle to jump now other than sheer nerves.

ladylisa

Good luck to you, I hope you find something soon. If its any consolation I know how you feel..and its scarey! :scared:

nxylas

Excuse me? If you fail here, it's because you're a loser, and Jesus doesn't love you any more.

Big Vern

He must f****** hate me then