I think I must be the only person who got a job within 5 days of landing in London....
But then I cheated - I had been job searching on the Net since November when I got my visa!
I decided to be an au pair because it offered me the flexibility to study during the day time (when the kids were at school) and also took care of my room+board. And yes, I loveeeeeeee kids and I infinitely prefer to do a childcare job than fry chicken or serve customers... so I put up an ad at Gumtree.com and had several interviews before coming to UK...
It was terrible going to these interviews, though... I had to dress like an Arctic explorer, find the routes on the internet, blow up money on transport (which sucked, bcos I usually had to take 2 trains + 3 buses to get to the houses), and meet each family with the same smile and answer the same questions. I also fell sick on those days, and had to cancel out of a few ones.
I had shortlisted 2 families on my list - the first one was ideal, as there was only one child to take of. Unfortunately, the family never contacted me after asking me to call them.
The second one was a family with 2 middle schoolers and I really liked them - it was a single paents family, which was perfect. But the next day, they said they had chosen another au pair based on references. Oh well.
The third was a family of five living in Richmond Park, and really not on my list! But from the moment when Mom picked me up at the bus stop till she dropped me back home (yes! she really did that!), I had such a lovely time at their house, meeting the kids, who were real poppets. The Mom was really warm and Dad really didn't talk that much - my perfect combination of employers! - and the kids appeared to really like me, and when I saw the hopping deer on the park, I was so content that I said then and there that I would be their au pair!
Yes, I am nervous, and yes, I know I will make mistakes. But somehow, I am feeling happier at this moment then I was when I became the managing editor of a website!
I decided to be an au pair because it offered me the flexibility to study during the day time (when the kids were at school) and also took care of my room+board. And yes, I loveeeeeeee kids and I infinitely prefer to do a childcare job than fry chicken or serve customers... so I put up an ad at Gumtree.com and had several interviews before coming to UK...
It was terrible going to these interviews, though... I had to dress like an Arctic explorer, find the routes on the internet, blow up money on transport (which sucked, bcos I usually had to take 2 trains + 3 buses to get to the houses), and meet each family with the same smile and answer the same questions. I also fell sick on those days, and had to cancel out of a few ones.
I had shortlisted 2 families on my list - the first one was ideal, as there was only one child to take of. Unfortunately, the family never contacted me after asking me to call them.
The second one was a family with 2 middle schoolers and I really liked them - it was a single paents family, which was perfect. But the next day, they said they had chosen another au pair based on references. Oh well.
The third was a family of five living in Richmond Park, and really not on my list! But from the moment when Mom picked me up at the bus stop till she dropped me back home (yes! she really did that!), I had such a lovely time at their house, meeting the kids, who were real poppets. The Mom was really warm and Dad really didn't talk that much - my perfect combination of employers! - and the kids appeared to really like me, and when I saw the hopping deer on the park, I was so content that I said then and there that I would be their au pair!
Yes, I am nervous, and yes, I know I will make mistakes. But somehow, I am feeling happier at this moment then I was when I became the managing editor of a website!
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