WORK BRITAIN EXPLAINED

All the best tips and insight from the road!

Scott, worked on the London Eye doing tourism work

It’s amazing seeing another culture through another person’s eyes- and this would never have happened to me without a little help from IEP

IEP and BUNAC were great in the UK getting me all set up, so I have continued with SWAP here in Canada. I wanted the security of getting everything done with legal numbers, bank accounts, registration and meeting people as well.

Any tips?

Get a job and get a place to live when you get there. Don't wait for the banks and the employers to come to you- go and grab it or you'll get poor real quick!

Amy, recently completed IEP's Work Britain program and worked various jobs throughout London!

The program exceeded my expectations, as I really felt that I would only use BUNAC as a back up service. Little did I know that I would end up in the BUNAC office on average once a week, meeting new people and checking out what social activities were on the calendar!

I met some lovely, like minded international travellers from all over the world in the BUNAC office who had arrived in London at the same time as me. There were five of us that ended up living together, A French guy, an American guy, a Danish girl, a Canadian girl and ME! It was a great melting pot of cultures and we all learnt so much about each other. We managed to squash ourselves into a spacious one bedroom apartment in the very cool Notting Hill.

I found it really easy to find a job through the support services that BUNAC offer. With only very limited retail experience, I had an interview and consequently a job after three days of arriving. I worked as a telesales consultant selling Apple Mac computers. The funny thing was that I didn’t know anything about computers, however they were willing to train me on the job which worked out well!

I still keep in contact with so many of the friends that I made in London through work and through BUNAC. I found that the British are very keen on the after work drinks (and not just on Friday). It could have been any day of the week when someone would rally the troops up for an ale after work at the local pub!

Having been my first big overseas adventure and being fairly young, I learnt many things from my time away. I learnt to live independently, I gained a sense of adventure, I feel that my time away has broadened my mind to see and accept all the world has to offer.

I was fortunate enough to have travelled to many cities in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland on my weekends while I was working. I found it so cheap to fly over to mainland Europe as well, even for a weekend. For instance, I paid 2 pounds for a flight to Venice!! On top of that, I spent 3 months travelling Europe visiting around 20 different countries and cultures.

Having lived in Notting Hill, we had no choice but to be a part of the infamous Notting Hill carnival. With 2 or 3 million people walking past our house in the space of a weekend, you can imagine the excitement and chaos. A highlight was moving our couches and bathtub (filled with ice and beer) out onto the sidewalk to soak up the atmosphere. Passers by could pay a fee of 50 p to use our bathroom!! It was an unbelievable experience just to see the vast amount of people packed in one little neighbourhood - our neighbourhood!!

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