Temping
In London
BUNAC Program ~ by Johanna
Lee
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| March
2005
After graduating
from the University of Chicago with a BA in Philosophy during the summer
of 2002, I chose a program that had never been seen at the Registrar’s
office, my BUNAC form. Fulbright yes, but BUNAC? As the Registrar personnel
looked in curiosity, I hung my head in disappointment. BUNAC had been my
last “common denominator” resort to living in a major European city directly
after graduation, excluding the option of au pairing and teaching English;
those roads had just been too trodden and I wanted my own unique experience.
Being immigrants
to the U.S., my parents tried to warn me that England was different, they
were based on a class society, and if I went over there, I’d be ranked
with the lowest of the lows. (And when a Hong Kong friend visited me in
London in September, she likened my situation to a recent Chinese immigrant
that did not speak the language.) I then told my parents that we were living
in 2002 and that the world wasn’t like that anymore, plus I graduated from
a prestigious university, how hard could it be. So I went to London on
June 17th, ten days after graduation with a six month reservation in a
triple room with an international Christian student dorm in South Kensington,
which later became the only wise decision I made in London. |
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Along with
the work visa, BUNAC offers participants a half day orientation in their
London office. The day I attended there were about twenty-five other fresh
Americans. In their office, there were folders containing the information
of previous BUNAC participant employers, recent queries from restaurants,
hotels, bars, and temping agencies for temporary workers and lists of temping
agencies specializing in different fields. I started calling the temping
agencies listed in our BUNAC handbook and by the fourth day, I was finally
invited to register at a temping agency’s office. Most temping agencies
that I called were either not looking for new candidates or I was told
to send my resume to so and so and would be contacted if a position became
available. The registration process took close to three hours and consisted
of a typing test, Word and Excel knowledge test, a spelling test and a
short interview. Not all places had spelling tests but when you walk into
a temping agency, you really go in with no credibility. During the interview,
the recruiter told me there was a position with a renowned architecture
firm that had worked on the Millennium Bridge and would pay nine pounds
an hour (which turned out to the be the highest rate I would be offered)
and needed someone with a good sense of humor and a good attitude to file
drawings all day. Plus, I would be working with a lot of fun Australians
that were also in the same position as me. When asked by the recruiter
how did that sound, my mind was trying to comprehend how it would be like
to file for eight hours a day and so the burst of enthusiastic and appreciative
joy did not escape me but rather a very weak unsure, that sounds alright.
Needless to say, that position was given to someone else and I was never
offered another position by this temping agency. By the end of my stay
in London, six months later, I realized that my reaction should have been
an affirmative “That sounds fabulous!” In total, I ended up registering
at three more agencies.
Along with
contacting temping agencies, I was also going to websites such a Reed employment,
Graduate Recruitment, and Monster.com. I emailed the contact information
of former employers of past BUNAC participants and tapped into my university’s
alumni contact system. Later on, I eventually started stopping by shops
and filled out applications (by October I started lying and added Banana
Republic, sales assistant to my resume). Even further on, I went to the
various university career centers where part time student positions were
posted and started picking up their career magazines and also the Loot,
a London classifieds. But when I was just looking for office work, three
weeks after I arrived in London, I was finally offered a database researcher/office
helper position with an American Intellectual Property rights lawyer, who
had basically one major client, the grandnephew of a famous Spanish poet.
The company consisted of the lawyer and his assistant working from his
house in the semi-ghetto areas of Hammersmith. Every other day the ‘office’
would receive resumes from Americans trying to find work through BUNAC
so the threat of being fired was always present. After a week, the trial
period, I was almost made redundant because I wasn’t “office savvy” enough
but wasn’t really let go/willingly quit till three weeks later. In mid-August,
I was able to find another position with another American lawyer this time
immigration law and also through the former employer list provided by BUNAC.
Ironically this lawyer was the antithesis to my previous employer except
for his bipolar personality. Located in Mayfair a few blocks from the American
Embassy, my job was to audio-type for eight hours a day but then a week
and a half later I was fired for being too slow at typing and also having
an unconfident telephone voice.
Another three
weeks later, I found another job, also from the list of former employers
provided by BUNAC as a receptionist in an office rental building in Mayfair.
By this point in mid-October, I was desperate and took the position although
the environment and employer seemed strange. After I was hired, I found
out that my employer wanted me to call him Prince so and so of Mogol and
linked his heritage back to Genghis Khan and his great grandmother to Indian
royalty. After three days, when the accountant finally came to the office
and I was not alone in the building, I quit without pay because I felt
he wasn’t mentally stable.
At this point,
November was approaching and I only had a month and a half more to my London
work visa. On my last and final attempt, I found a job with the Belgian
Food Company, a little hole in the wall situated on Oxford Street and even
this was not easy. I wasn’t put on the rotation schedule till two weeks
later and then only for ten hours a week. By now, my London situation had
turned so ludicrous I just had to laugh about it.
Many aspects
of the whole BUNAC scheme place the American recent graduate or college
student in a very vulnerable and disadvantageous situation. I eventually
learned that people from all over Britain, Europe, Australia, and Canada
were trying to find work in London and all four groups have longer work
visas than Americans. Yes, the Americans could have gone to Edinburgh or
any other location in Great Britain but the majority stayed in London.
While Europeans can legally work in Britain, Canadians and Australians
were able to work in Britain for up to two years and they were not required
to be recent graduates. So literally, Americans were fifth on the hierarchical
employment rung because of their limited six month visa and literally no
work experience. In addition, I found that employers that knowingly hire
individuals for three or six months were difficult to work with and therefore
relied on the constant turnover of employees provided by BUNAC. I had had
opportunities to work for the London Eye or the children’s shoe section
in Harrods but had applied when my visa was already too short since I had
initially tried to find an office position. I realize now that for someone
with a six month visa it’s more satisfactory to work in a bar or in a place
that can give you a true London or Great Britain experience. By December,
I had discovered that the fastest way to find employment in London was
to pick up the Loot right when it came out and immediately call for the
position advertised.
To contact
Johanna Click Here
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