HELLO From New Zealand

Wordsmith

Hi, Chev

I would add a blurby bit at the top. Along the lines of:

CURRICULUM VITAE

Chevalier

I am a highly motivated person, used to working both on my own and as part of a team. I am experienced in a variety of management and leadership functions and am used to working with people from all walks of life. I have excellent verbal and written communication skills, am proficient on a computer and a competent touch typist.

Add waffle as you think fit and change to match the job.

I’d also put in a Skills section as a bulleted list. I’d put it above the work history section. For example:

Skills and experience

• Computer skills
• Microsoft Office intermediate user (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Touch typing
  
• Communication skills (verbal and written)
• Time management (for myself and others)
• Team management
• Human resource management
• Financial management
• Fleet management
• Diary management
• Leadership
• Customer care (internal and external)
• Change management
• Proofreading
• Compliance checking
• Administration
• Car driver (clean licence)
• Bunny tracking

[FONT=&quot]Blimey – I’d give you a job!
[/FONT]

alioops78

De-lurking to say that I agree with Wordsmith to adding in your Skills and Experience as a separate area.

I'm an Aussie expat and having my cv set out with personal information first, then skills set and then work experience from most recent to oldest has always worked for me. I also included my hobbies and got asked if I'd pop round and do a bit of belly-dancing once by the lady interviewing me at the temp agency :eek:

Good luck, I know that it's harder down under at the time economically as my Dad ended up being made redundant last year after working 29 years for the same company. The economy seems to have started to take a hit a lot later than the UK has.

Alioops
x

taxi73

I'd go with what Wordsmith says as that really stands out

Lemon_Tree

glad you caught the bunny, we used to have one which regularly escaped, we found him on top of the garage roof more than once!

chevalier

Hi there
thanks for the replies guys. mind boggles about a bunny on the roof though.

chevalier

Wordsmith wrote: »

Hi, Chev

I would add a blurby bit at the top. Along the lines of:

CURRICULUM VITAE

Chevalier

I am a highly motivated person, used to working both on my own and as part of a team. I am experienced in a variety of management and leadership functions and am used to working with people from all walks of life. I have excellent verbal and written communication skills, am proficient on a computer and a competent touch typist.

Add waffle as you think fit and change to match the job.

I’d also put in a Skills section as a bulleted list. I’d put it above the work history section. For example:

Skills and experience

• Computer skills
• Microsoft Office intermediate user (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Touch typing
  
• Communication skills (verbal and written)
• Time management (for myself and others)
• Team management
• Human resource management
• Financial management
• Fleet management
• Diary management
• Leadership
• Customer care (internal and external)
• Change management
• Proofreading
• Compliance checking
• Administration
• Car driver (clean licence)
• Bunny tracking

[FONT=&quot]Blimey – I’d give you a job!
[/FONT]

Thank you thank you thank you. Wow Word that is awesome. When I thought about it I realised that I HAVE done the things on your list! So I pretty much copied and pasted it straight as is, well except the bit about bunny tracking.

We will see how I go with the latest application I have sent in.

In other news my DS1 is now a size 7 shoe. I am in shock.

chevalier

Have been invited to my nephews wedding in Spain next
April
Now bear in mind we have already come back from here to a nieces wedding, I feel we have set a precedent....And should therefore come back. But it is a 4 DAY affair as the brides parents are VERY well off. Eg on one day the men go and play golf and the women go to a day spar. My first thought was, oh yes and who the heck looks after the kids? (who have been invited). Then the next day there is an evening do, then the next day the wedding and then the next day a swanky brunch thingy. So my next thought, is who is paying for all this, because if you have to pay for the golf/day spar etc etc etc, then there is NO WAY I am going to convince OH that we can afford to go.

BUT

This would also fit in with my desparate need to come home. I am SO homesick. I am really getting to the point where I want to come home.

Thing is everything is working out ok for the rest of the family. OH has his job, is able to socialise with them a bit. But on the other hand he has no real friends here.

DS1 and DS2 have pretty much settled. Ds1 only really wants to go to the UK for legoland LOL. Ds2 doesn't really remember the UK. For example his kinde memories are here, his memories of school are here.

The boys have a decent social life, not brilliant, ie not many play dates etc, and that really makes me sad. On the other hand they got to cubs/scouts and play rugby league, so they do interact with people.

Thing is next year is DS1 first year of secondary school. There is a mag here that publishes league tables. Out of 50 secondary schools in the Auckland region, the two local school rant 37th, and 45th or something like that. So not exactly stellar performances. Yes some of the higher performing schools are private, so one could argue that they have an unfair advantage. But the two local colleges are surrounded by some of the richest communities in Auckland, and STILL they don't perform....It really worries me.

Especially for DS1. He tested gifted (well they both did) but he is also dyslexic. I dread him going to a mediocre school and not being supported. Yet all his friends will go to one college especially.....but then their parents wouldn't even think to send their kids anywhere else.

Oh I don't know. It is SUCH a bloody struggle here. We are just breaking even each month. OH goes on and on about can't spend money can't spend money. The suggests we go a 20 min car journey to a different cinema, so that we can see the film at a better time. When with a bit of effort we can see the same film 5 minutes down the road, and the tickets cost less there too. GRRRR. And yet when I have mentioned going to the same area for shopping, it is a waste of petrol......SIGH.

And you know what he does dimly realise that there is a problem. We were talking the other week, and he actually said that because he spent a lot of his childhood away from the UK he doesn't feel any pull or tie there. And that if I wanted I could go home to see people if that would help. All I wanted to say was not that won't sodding help, because I don't want to come back.

I have already tentatively suggest coming home, and he basically said no, and would worry about our marriage surviving if we did go back. So nothing like a little bit of pressure.

I guess what really has brought this to a head is me having a bit of an epiphany the other day.

When we first talked about moving over this way, I really dug my heels in about coming to New Zealand over going to Australia. This was because the last two moves were because HE wanted to move, not me. Especially the move from Gloucestershire to Bucks. I was just getting to really fit in abit and we moved.....

Anyway, I really pushed for New Zealand. And this week I finally admitted to myself, that HE was right. We should have gone to Australia. (And I guess Gargrave50's thread has also brought this home too). Our standard of living has gone DOWN here, not up. In Australia it would be a little better than the UK, not due to the salaries, but due to the cost of living being a lesser proportion of your salary.

So do I tell him he was right. Do I tell him I want to go home and I am serious. Do I suggest that maybe we go to Australia and have another go there?

Ahhhhh
And I still can't find a damn job.

And I am already stressing about my mum coming to visit for Christmas....

Horace

Awww Chev (((hugs))) - rather than coming back here I would be inclined to move to Australia. Here is pretty awful at the moment with increased levels of joblessness and decreased levels of pay - even food prices are rocketing. Our weather sucks at the moment too with probably the worst summer in living memory where we have days where we can get a month's rainfall in 24hrs.

NZ is probably a good place for a holiday but not to live - unless you are a sheep as there seems to be lots of space for them. I think your standard of living would be better in Australia than here for sure and certainly for NZ.

As for going to weddings in Spain, I would decline due to the cost of getting there. It seems like an unnecessary expense and money would be better spent on other things (eg a move to Australia).

Word has given some good advice regarding CVs - I must admit that I change mine a fair bit and I am finding it a struggle to find work here in the UK despite years' of experience.

moo2moo

Chin up chuck. The grass is always greener somewhere else. Being here wouldn't make any difference whatsoever. In fact the difference in the cost of living since you left would shock the heck out of you. Hell even a whoopsied loaf in the local village shop is £1.28. Fuel hovers around the £1.40 a litre mark. Car insurance is insane and unemployment is so high its a joke. We're currently interviewing for a teaching assistant with an annual salary of £8K. Lost count of the applications but the stack of CVs reaches 2' high and includes head teachers, deaputy head teachers, senior teachers, newly qualified teachers and a veritable deluge of TAs. Thats for a job in a nursery unit where the vast majority of their day will be spent helping them get dressed and undressed for PE. Theres no point returning here. Your friends have all moved on. Whilst they'll make time to see you if you're here for a week or two very few will fit you in long term. That door has firmly shut. Harsh but sadly true.

As for the wedding. Your niece will get married whether you're there or not. Send her a gift and a card, phone her and tell her you're thinking of her. You're not obliged to go. Don't feel guilty about not being there.

Instead scrape some cash together and take OH and the boys to Australia for a holiday. Get away from it all. Have a meltdown or three. Have something to look forward to.

And as for schools... the standard of schooling is largely irrelevant. Those children who work hard and choose to succeed always will through sheer effort regardless of the school. League tables don't mean much at all. You can put the thickest kid in the best school in the area and he'll still be thick at the end of his time there, league tables won't change that.

What you can do is work with your children outside school. Make sure they've understood their classes, do their homework to the best of their ability and teach them yourself outside school. Visit museums, art galleries and go for walk identifying native birds and plants. There are thousands of things thet they will never be taught in school.

So they're dyslexic.Deal with it. Get hold of an ACE dictionary and a copy of Alpha to Omega. Work throught the exercises with them. They're bright kids, they just need to find a different way of getting thier ideas out of their head and onto a sheet of paper. Perhaps memory maps will work for them.

I was paranoid that DD1 was going to have a hard time at high school and would struggle all the way. Instead its been like watching a caterpillar transform into a butterfly. She takes part in everything thats expected of her and more, she has an afterschool activity every day of the week, she goes to sleepovers with firends, shes forever being invited to the cinema and the park. And yesterday she was most proud to be one of only five children in her year of 300 to be presented with the Head Teachers award for continuously outstanding effort and attitude. Better still we've been summoned to the school on Monday for a presentation ceremony in front of the School Governors when the pupil of the year is announced. I couldn't be more proud if I tried. This is that self same kid that cried at the mere thought of going to primary school, had no friends, and struggled every step of the way.

At the end of the day moving back to the UK wouldn't solve anything for you. You'd still not have a job, nor would the OH and your financial stresses would be far greater than they are now. Worse still your mother would be closer. That would be enough to put me off Is there a diplomatic way of telleing her not to visit at Christmas? Perhaps because you'll be in the middle of a move to Australia? Who knows.

There must be something you can do to get out of the house whether its volunteering in a charity shop or joining a craft group or the WI there must be a kiwi alternative. What makes you happy?

Thinking of you

mooxxx

Wordsmith

Hi, Chev

I feel for you, I really do. I know how hard it’s been for me moving away and I don’t have the added pressures of an OH, children and no job. I don’t have friends, but I do get to meet people (not all of whom I would particularly want to) through work. I too have longed to go back, but when I think of the reality of it, it just isn’t possible – for reasons that would be all about me, me, me, but wouldn’t be very helpful to you.

You’ve had some great advice above – I can’t comment on the children situation, but what Moo has said sounds eminently sensible. So, at the risk of teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, I’ll list what I would hope I would do in the same situation. Disregard or otherwise as you think fit – and call me a interfering cow if you wish (you won’t be the first). I am assuming that your OH would be able to get a transfer to wherever he wanted and so haven’t factored that in.

1. REALLY think what you would be going back to in the UK. Horace and Moo make some good points on this.

2. Write down everything you dislike about living in NZ and by each point note how you think it would be better in the UK, and then how you think it might (realistically) be better in Aus.

3. Write down how you think you could make it bearable living in NZ, and then how you could try to make each point happen. (This is a biggy, I know – I know you want work, I know how hard you’ve tried to get it; I know how you long for friends and how you’ve gone out of your way to get to know people … but is there anything else you could do?) And if it did happen, would it be enough to make you want to stay, or would you still want to leave?

4. Think about whether your marriage is strong enough to want to keep it together. That’s said rather baldly and it’s no one else’s business but yours. But how do you feel about what your OH said? Would it be the end of your world if you and the children returned to the UK and he stayed put or went wherever he wanted?

5. Suggest to your OH that you go for a break to Aus (to the place you would most likely move to if OH’s job transferred there) – if you can afford it - to get an initial feel for it. Talk to your OH and lay your soul bare – admit you might have made a mistake (through lack of knowing what it would be like) and tell him how you are struggling (don’t assume he knows – make it a proper heart-to-heart). Offer to try again in Aus (in the stronger position for starting afresh from the lessons you have learnt moving to NZ). Put a time limit on it – if after, say two years in Aus, you feel the same, tell him you WILL be moving back to the UK.

6. If it was me, I’d not go to the wedding in Spain. It is just added pressure at the moment. You have a perfect excuse – you live too far away and it is just too expensive. Or, is there any chance you could go on your own – enjoy it for a break and to see family – if you are saying to yourself even that would be too expensive, then you have your answer about whether you should consider going as a family.

7. Can you tell your mother there is a possibility that you might be moving at the end of the year (whether truth or not) and so it would be helpful if she could put off her trip until into next year?

Now is the time to take action. Once the children move into senior school you will beat yourself up about them moving. At their ages, they might moan about moving away, but especially if they haven’t got particularly close friends they will be resilient enough to cope. In the long run, a happy mummy will be worth the short-term upheaval.


On the work front, is there any possibility of working for yourself? Offering your many and marketable skills to small businesses? Starting an on-line business? Look at those skills and think what you could do with them. Don’t wait for job ads to come out, write to businesses telling them why they need you.

None of this is easy, but if anyone can make things change for the better, it will be you Chev.Good luck.