In 2006, after 5 years of working in Italy, I decided it was time for a completely different experience.
So it was that at the dawn of 30 I found myself leaving for London.
I was lucky, in a certain sense, because I was able to find work from Italy, so when I arrived in London I already had a job, moreover I was not alone in this adventure, but there was the girl with me who would later become mine wife, and in addition there was a former college friend of mine who already lived permanently in London and could give me some advice.
I stopped in London for a couple of years in which I worked for an American multinational that taught me a lot from a professional point of view, and in my opinion this was already worth the effort and uncertainties related to the transfer. The London experience, however, enriched me beyond work and should be seen - with hindsight - as an experience of personal and professional growth.
I have to admit it wasn't easy. Understanding English was a problem at the beginning (and something more), when I arrived I was struggling to understand what I was asked to do and it took me about six months to get to a satisfactory level with the language. English. However, being in a multicultural working environment, it happened quite frequently that there were requests for clarification on what was said. Especially in conference calls it was common to be asked to repeat or reformulate a concept, so I too got used to asking for clarification with some frequency. There are several ways to ask to repeat something in English and it would be good to know them http://inglesefirenze.blogspot.it/2013/01/10-modi-per-chiedere-di-ripetere-una.html.
How does a resume have to be to be considered positively by foreign recruiters? What should you expect from a first job in London? It is possible to find a job in London from Italy, perhaps it is even better to look for it from Italy, especially if you already have a job that you don't want to leave without first having a valid alternative. Moreover, the costs to organize a few stays in London are now acceptable thanks to low cost airlines and lower than a permanent transfer.
To look for work in London from Italy you have to get organized.
For example you will need to have a resume in English that has been checked by someone with experience, you will have found job advertisements that interest you, you will have written a cover letter in English for that job, you have probably done a site survey in London, asked information to friends and acquaintances and so on.
You can take a few Fridays off and plan a series of long weekends in London to interview, go to employment agencies, test the waters.
My preparation began with the reading of a book that I consider essential to support any job interview, the text is called "Great answers to tough interview question". It is obviously written in English and serves to understand how to answer the questions of recruiters, whether they are companies or agencies.
If you have yet to sharpen your English, this book contains exactly the vocabulary you need to learn in order to be interviewed in English.
The other piece of advice I can give you that has worked great for me is to be specific in the position you are looking for. If you don't know what you want to do and you don't already have a defined profile it will be more difficult to apply for a specific position. Once you have decided what you are and what you would like to do in London, make it clear in your CV what experiences you have in that particular role, large or small. This will serve you for two reasons: on the one hand it will make your CV more relevant and on the other hand, the keywords entered will be used by recruiters to find you through keyword searches within their databases.
The third and final piece of advice, at least if you are looking for work from Italy, is to organize in advance a mini-series of stays in London at a distance of 15 days from each other, but book well in advance in order to take advantage of the cheaper rates than low cost airlines.
The agencies and companies you interview will appreciate your organizational skills. In my case it worked.
It is also possible that you may find yourself having to accept a lower level job than your current one, but in some cases it will be the price to pay for not already having work experience in an international context.
In conclusion, the two-year experience in London, in my case, has paid off. Having worked in London, having acquired international experience and an excellent knowledge of the English language, guaranteed me considerable attention from the recruiters of companies and recruitment agencies, something that I had never encountered before.
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