job hunting... (Merged)

chunter

The UK pound has collapsed in the last year and a lot of the immigrant workers have headed off to Euro paying countries. You may well be swimming against the tide, if you intend leaving for a different country in the short term.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GBPEUR=X&t=1y

But hey, the people are great.

Pretani

chunter, would the strong Euro only benefit those immigrant workers who are exchanging their money to send back home? Is that the reason these workers now plan to work in Euro paying countries?

I don't know anything on currency rates, but would the high Euro mean I get more for my money (standard of living) if I was working and living in a Euro paying country rather than the UK?

maveli

Pretani wrote: »

chunter, would the strong Euro only benefit those immigrant workers who are exchanging their money to send back home? Is that the reason these workers now plan to work in Euro paying countries?

I don't know anything on currency rates, but would the high Euro mean I get more for my money (standard of living) if I was working and living in a Euro paying country rather than the UK?

The strong euro will help anyone in the border region.

seatzie

jammin if you live in newry and work in dundalk you may leave yourself open to exchange rate fluctuations- having to convert to sterling to pay bills, I know Newry will operate dual currency and you'll get cheap fuel in Dundalk, but if you're not paying anything into the UK in National Insurance that may, and I'm no expert, affect your entitlement to benefits now or in the future, perhaps someone who does this already could advise

tara747

SnowyOwl wrote: »

I think your salary expectations are realistic - though don't sell yourself short! I was quite shocked at how expensive it is here - not especially cheaper than London except for the price of houses.

:rotfl:

Are you serious??? Houses are waaaay overpriced here! How much did you pay for yours?

SnowyOwl_2

tara747 wrote: »

:rotfl:

Are you serious??? Houses are waaaay overpriced here! How much did you pay for yours?

Yes I am serious. The house I own is worth around £180k in today's market. The equivalent house in a comparable area of London would cost around £400k. Does that still make you laugh?

tara747

jammin wrote: »

What's worse, I'm English. And sadly, the "anti-English" mindset is still very present in Waterford. Not that the locals would want to admit it aloud, it's still very much within them. My friend's little boy (they're Malaysian, living here), came back from school once, and he told me about his history lesson that he had that day. The kids were told that, as they listen to the story being read, they were to "boo" every time the words England or English were mentioned. The little boy is only 9 years old, and I don't see any reason he'd have to make this up.


Short of West Belfast (hope I'm not offending anyone there), would there be any other areas that particularly might not be too welcoming, to a mixed English / Singaporean family of mum, dad and baby, with pretty much no political views?

Your story about that school really SHOCKED me, that is terrible and the teacher in question should be disciplined!! Have the parents complained?

West Belfast does seem to be a very cosmopolitan area with many people from other countries, the Feile always has lots of international events etc. Also you could try South Belfast, it is the nicest (IMO!) and safest of all. I would avoid the very loyalist areas of the city as your wife may become a target for racists (google and you will find plenty of stories of Asian people being treated badly in these areas).

tara747

SnowyOwl wrote: »

Yes I am serious. The house I own is worth around £180k in today's market. The equivalent house in a comparable area of London would cost around £400k. Does that still make you laugh?

Oh dear, comparing NI to London does make me laugh I'm afraid! Try comparing it to a similar house in a similar Northern English/Welsh town and see. If you bought it four years ago, chances are you paid less than £180K for it as well. As a multiple of average wages, house prices here are the highest in the UK. They're falling fast though, thank goodness, and should be sensible again at some stage in the next few years.

jammin_2

tara747 wrote: »

Your story about that school really SHOCKED me, that is terrible and the teacher in question should be disciplined!! Have the parents complained?

Appalling, isn't it. The children in that class will grow up thinking "boo" whenever they hear the words England / English mentioned, as they remember being taught to do this in school. Incidentally, when I was of school age, in my school in England, I remember learning about the Roman and Viking invasions of Britain, and of WW2. I don't remember being told to "boo" at all. I also don't hold any bad feelings at all, whatsoever, to Italy, Scandinavia or Germany (or their peoples).

The parents didn't complain. They don't speak English too well (they're Malaysians, in Ireland on work permits), and will be here on a short term basis and will be going back to Malaysia in time. I doubt they care too much, to be perfectly honest. But it shocked me, that the teacher in question must have seen this "booing" as nothing more than a bit of fun, but failed to see the damage that it will do to the children.

tara747 wrote: »

West Belfast does seem to be a very cosmopolitan area with many people from other countries, the Feile always has lots of international events etc. Also you could try South Belfast, it is the nicest (IMO!) and safest of all. I would avoid the very loyalist areas of the city as your wife may become a target for racists (google and you will find plenty of stories of Asian people being treated badly in these areas).

Thanks for the heads up. Will definitely check out South Belfast then. I appreciate you letting me know about avoiding very loyalist areas. I'm sorry to learn about the intolerance of Asian people there (though I'm sure that racism is commonplace in most big cities worldwide, sadly). Where would be the very loyalist / very republican areas the are best avoided?

Many thanks, once again.

SnowyOwl_2

tara747 wrote: »

Oh dear, comparing NI to London does make me laugh I'm afraid! Try comparing it to a similar house in a similar Northern English/Welsh town and see. If you bought it four years ago, chances are you paid less than £180K for it as well. As a multiple of average wages, house prices here are the highest in the UK. They're falling fast though, thank goodness, and should be sensible again at some stage in the next few years.

??????? My post stated "not especially cheaper than London, except for the price of houses". So what are you bringing up comparisons to English/Welsh town and arguing with me for?