Finding a job - Is it worth going through SWAP?

Hey there,

So here's the situation. I'm 21 years old, recent graduate from music school and am looking to make the move to London sometimes this year, hopefully a bit after the holidays.

My biggest fear is to get there and find myself unemployed for too long and have to come back home. So I decided to look up organizations who do help with visas/bank account/general paperwok and also claim to help you with the job search process.

So far, I've looked up SWAP, Global Work and Travel and AIDE. SWAP says it will help you through the job search process, GWAT claims if you do not have a job after 7days of arrival, they will provide you with a per diem amount of money to help you a bit while you search, and AIDE guarantees you a placement in a pub or hotel. While SWAP is the cheapest, one of my friend from Montreal said she felt very left to herself and not being supported all that much. An ex-participant of AIDE, which is the most expensive program (1500$) says that it is possible to do the work yourself and that I shouldn't spend all that money with AIDE.

My question is the following; have anybody on here travelled with those organizations? Would you recommend going on your own and browsing through Gumtree and other classifieds to get a pub job? I am a musician, and would only use those organizations or a pub job for that matter, to get a entry in the UK and then hopefully try to find something music-related to do after settling a little bit.

Let me know if anybody has advice on that, and please, message me if you are looking for a travel buddy to go to London sometime this year!

Hi. I'm afraid I can't be of much use at the moment, but I'm going over to the UK for two years under the YMS visa, and I am going through SWAP.

I've found the SWAP experience awful thus far. The person I deal with at the travel agency wasn't very up to date on the policies and things of the YMS visa, the person who deals with UK visas at the main office went on vacation for a week so I was left missing my ideal leaving date. I kind of feel left out of my own application. I wasn't given any control over it really. I'm waiting on the outcome of my application, it's with the High Commission at the moment. So I have to wait for them to contact SWAP, and then SWAP to contact me. Then I get to go back to the travel agent I deal with (after SWAP sends my visa down to them of course), and then I get to go. For whatever date the visa is valid for. Today is the day I was hoping to leave, for the third time.

I'm not sure if SWAP is going to be of any help job wise at all for me because I'm not staying in London. I'm headed for Chelmsford, Essex. But seeing as no one else has replied to you (and I know how that feels) I figured I could at least confirm that someone out there has read your post and cares to help. So when I get to hear about any help with jobs, I'll let you know.

Hi,
I'm actually in London at the moment. I'm in Essex in East London (zone 4). I arrived just this month after spending a month in Birmingham. Although its only been 2 weeks or so, I'm finding it pretty hard to find work here, and I actually have a decent array of work experience: worked in department store retail and had a couple positions working for municipal and federal gov'ts, but times are really tough of over here.

From what I'm hearing, SWAP doesn't sound so good. I'd probably pass on it, unless its free. AIDE sounds great, if they can guarantee you a job, because, believe me, its a competitive market. But $1500 seems too expensive, especially when you consider that you may not know where the location is, and that the pay will likely be around £6 an hour. On a side note, I was actually turned down by a bar, despite an awesome interview, because they were concerned that I lived too far, about an hour and a half's travel by tube/bus.

Anyway, there are a lot of job agencies. However you should know that each specific location specializes in a specific field like admin, PA and secretarial; or accountancy; etc... Depending on the area, they can be very inconspicuous, making them really hard to spot in a crowded scene. And some agencies receive hundreds of CV's (resumes) a day and may, as a result, be very dismissive right off the bat, but don't let that get you down. Present yourself to agents and employers with energy. People over here are not anti-social, but they won't engage you, unless you engage them first. But if you can get them talking, your chances should improve greatly. Another thing to be prepared for is that many agencies/employers want UK work experience. Don't know what to tell you about that.

I don't want this to seem all doom and gloom. On the contrary, there are a million employers out here. Finding a job on your own will just require patience. It took my friend 2 months, but she found something. As for me, I don't have that luxury, so I'm re-evaluating my working holiday. By that, I mean the 'working' bit.

Best of luck.

Although I haven't gone through it myself, I'm personally under the impression that SWAP isn't very useful and you could probably do everything yourself. I doubt those organizations help you with job searching per se, but they would just point out to you which job sites to look at, which I'm sure you would be able to find on your own.

I've already obtained my YMS visa and, in hind sight, the process was very straight forward (at the time, I was very stressed out about getting everything together!). I'm finding this forum to be a great help and I'm compiling all the information about setting up a bank account/getting a national insurance number, etc, into a document so I have a checklist of things to do when I get to the UK. So I think that doing your research and being organized is key, and your money would be better spent on living expenses when you get there.

Hi everyone, I'm new to this, but I am going to apply for a YMS visa and want to be in London in Feb of 2011. And I want to know how the job market is in london.

I have a background in accounting and a university degree in it as well. Will I be able to find anythign related to it?..or will i be only limited ot pub jobs?..i dont' mind finding clerical things as well..but i'm hoping to find somethign career related..and also contemplating if it was possible to change into the marketing field.

My question is..how is the job market search with a YMS visa..as well..is there discrimination against Canadians?..specifically i'm also asian..

Any replies would be REALLY helpful as i'll be coming alone..and it's really daunting to read some of the forums..

Cheers,