Java dev in UK – How to

How to find a job in London from other country?
(I was looking for a Java developer role and I found it, so all advices are dedicated to IT. I’m open to any comments and mistakes I’ve done. I’m definately not saying that it is only one way You can go, but it was my way.)

1. Ways to go:

  •  Recruitment companies – like Rec Works, Client Server, TEKSystems, Oliver Bernard, FunctionalWorks and many many others are a good way to start. (no advertisement, I’m just grateful for a lot of offers)
    How?

    – Find a recruiter from company on LinkedIn , tell him what you’re looking for, make a quick phone chat.
    (when your cv will be in a lot of places, you will get sick about ‘quick chats’ , but the result is worth it).
    – When you find a job offer posted by recruitment company, there probably is some contact to HR.
    – Maybe someone from Your country works there? Search it.
  • Job offers websites – indeed, totaljobs, dice, CWJobs and many others – are really useful. You can find a lot quite well filtered job offers. It gives you chance to send your application for a lot of position in very short time.
    Personally when I was desperate I was sending about 20 applications for a day.
    This again mostly gives you chance for quick chat with recruiter.
  • Send CV directly to company – no simpler way, but (correct me if I’m wrong) when companies saw Polish phone number and address I didn’t get any response from them. I haven’t sent too much applications this way, but I had no results.
  • LinkedIn jobs – mostly it comes to applicate through job offers websites like dice, but some companies announce recruitment this way. (and some big companies application forms are a nightmare)

2. Advices:

  • Make yourself visible for recruiters from target city:
    – Make sure that all your professional social network profiles are in english
    – Write a short note on linkedIn, goldenline and so on,  that you are interested in relocation to UK
    – Write a post on linkedIn about looking for a job there
    – Answer to any job offer you get, that you are planning relocation. No matter if recruiter is from your country or any other, they also talk and recommend candidates. (I get once through Polish recruiter to other one from Paris, who was looking for a developer in London o_O )
  • Prepare 2 versions of your cv, (they say that you should prepare your cv to each position, but I think that in IT skills are most important) really short one, for me it was 1 page with concretes only, second one with more details, but still no more than 2 pages.
  • Face to face interview sponsored by company – since I started to look for a job here, until relocation, I had honestly about 30 chats with recruiters about opportunities here. I can say that maybe 2 companies offers sponsored f2f interview in London. If you need to find job definately before relocation, make sure that You can take cost of flights on your own for an interview. ( like next week after first stage, 2 weeks maximum )

3. Market research and HR interview:

  • Make sure that you know how much you want to get. Both on permanent and contract employment.
    You can count it for example with http://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/
  • If your not speaking fluently in english, prepare some usefull staff, e.x. tell me something about you, what job you are looking for and a lot others from recruitment questions. You can make sure this way that your answer will be well shape and You won’t stuck while speaking. Write it once and just arrange answer in Your head.
  • Know your cv – this could sound fun, but make sure that You can talk about what You’ve done in the past and try to talk about it as interesting as possible. Recruiters ask you and while speaking make notes about past positions, experience and attach it to Your CV before sending to company.

4. Technical interviews:

  • First stage interview – telephone interview is short (10 – 45 min) talk with technical person. Sometimes it is chat about company, role, your cv and what you’ve done in the past. Sometimes it is just 10 technical questions with short time for your questions. But mostly it is a combination of both. If it goes allright, it is followed by face to face Interview.
  • One stage interview – Some companies prefer this way of recruitment. You can meet one day with director, technical person and HR, or only Team lead and someone from management. For me honestly it is much more comfortable to talk with person face to face than through telephone.

5. After relocation:

Personally I didn’t find job from home, I found it after relocation here. But what I can say, when recruiters saw english address and phone number I had much more offers. For example from companies which prefer one stage interview.
Also my linkedIn contacts network grows in English recruiters, it definately is advantage for future.

6. How it is to work here? Maybe in next episode.

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