In the US - I was a Customer Service Supervisor and Task Force Team Leader but I JUST got my degree before we moved over, so I was hoping to move up a little bit (and get AWAY from Customer Service) (Prior to that, I was a full charge bookkeeper for a company in Atlanta.)
Here - Nothing. Apparently I'm totally unemployable. I tried on my own for 6 months but only got three interviews. Two of the interviews panned out with a job offer, but they both paid £13,000 for jobs I REALLY didn't want to do anyway, so I passed on them. I finally gave up and sent my CV to a bunch of agencies last week. One called me today; they have a FRONT LINE customer service position they'd like to me apply for. It pays £15,000 (woohoo ![[smiley=disappointed.gif]](https://www.talk.uk-yankee.com/Smileys/classic/disappointed.gif "Disappointed")
). (But in my opinion is still CRAP.)
*sigh* I guess it's money and I should just be greatful. I go in tomorrow to meet with the agency and if I'm interested, I go for an interview on Friday. I'll let you know.
Well, £15,000 is certainly better than £0, isn't it? The pay cut I took to move here was a slap in the face, especially since I turned down a promotion and a raise to move here. I was supposed to head up the American Airlines project at the Dallas office of my company. I was going to get a $20k raise (bringing me up to $80k) and a promotion to management...AT THE AGE OF 25. Am I sick about it? Hell yes. Did I pick myself up, brush myself off, swallow my pride, and take an over-the-barrel job here for sh*t pay and no respect? Yep. Bills gotta get paid. However...I'm the highest paid analyst here and I'm the youngest and second least-experienced of the bunch. Read on to see how I did that.
What is your degree in and from which institution did you graduate? That makes a difference here. If they've never heard of it (and they haven't heard of most universities) that's a strike. You won't have any GCSE/O levels or A levels, but you CAN (and should) put down honor societies from HS or college...also your SAT score (present it as xxxx/1600 and give the percentile if you know it) and any achievement tests/AP tests that you took. If you were in the National Honor Society, say "National Honor Society." Don't abbreviate it to NHS. If you were in who's who, leave it out; they know it's a big scam. If you were a national merit semi-finalist, include that; they don't know what it is but it sounds good. Don't give them your PSAT score, though; you'll have a tough enough time explaining the SAT/ACT to them. If you took the GRE, LSAT, or MCAT, include those scores if they were impressive. If you were in any honor fraternities, don't just put Beta Beta Beta....say "Beta Beta Beta National Biology Honor Society" or the FULL name of the honor fraternity. The British don't understand the difference between Beta Beta Beta (the actual bio honor society) and Delta Delta Delta, so you'll have to spell it out for them. Incidentally, if you were in a social sorority, leave that OFF your CV. They are NOT impressed by it. I learned that the hard way (yes, I was a sorority girl).
Me, I was a straight A student in high school...graduated top 1/5 of the class with honors. I took five AP tests and scored an average of 4 (out of 5) on them, and took three achievement tests with an average score of 720/800. My SAT was 1350/1600. Sounds impressive, but it's utterly average! Use anything from high school or college to make yourself a more attractive candidate....qualifications, test scores, and honor groups, even American ones, can mean ££££ here.
