Benedix - Creating and Developing City Leaders ?

To those of you who are not familiar with Benedix, this is a combination of a recruiting agency with some sort of a training centre ("Training and career advice for the banking and finance sector"). To begin the process, the candidate is requested to participate in a 1-day workshop that the agency is holding (costs 35£ or so). After the workshop, the agency picks the more potential candidates for its 'candidates pool'. I attended such a workshop recently and here are my 2 cents.

1) The workshop itself was well-organized, even though many participants attended. It is basically a long lecture (by a city professional with excellent presentation skills) that covers the following: the financial industry in general, mapping the relationship among all the different players, some overview of major possible roles, interview skills 101, and mainly - lots of motivational 'coaching'.

2) Along the day, every (potential) candidate is called for a 5 minutes interview - reviewing CV, aspirations, etc. I guess that the agency bases its decision on this interview.

3) On their website one can find several sources of information about the industry and in the near future (planned ...) about current vacancies. Further workshops are offered on specific subjects

I was not one of the 'chosen few' - received no feedback what so ever after the workshop. Except for the overview of the industry and roles, the workshop was not too effective for me. I was hoping to get some real advice and analysis of my strengths and weaknesses and more 'tailored' recommendations.

Bottom line - guess that Benedix might be suitable for certain people, probably not for me.

London Related Songs

A musical relief from the so far pragmatic posts - I've found the following article on Wikipedia

List of songs about London

Due to the fact that I am quite a music fan, I took the liberty and chose some songs from the list (just a warm-up). You can find a small YouTube window on the right column of the Blog with the playlist of those songs' videos. I am certainly planning to add more songs shortly. In the meantime, please feel free to comment with your favourites ...

Opening A Bank Account (Kafka Sytle)

People have warned me that opening a bank account in the UK is not going to be a simple task. Well, they were certainly right.

In order to open a bank account in the UK, one should provide an OFFICIAL proof of address (a letter from your parents won't work) and preferably salary slips, etc. There are some alternatives for newcomers (such as yours truly) who are not able to provide such documents. For example, HSBC has a scheme called 'Passport Account' for which you should provide evidence of your home-country address (before moving to the UK). The rational is preventing money laundering.

I won't get into too many details but after going to HSBC 3 times, for different documents, and getting refused I decided to go with plan B. This plan costs 35£ but is (1) simple (2) quick (3) actually works. I used the services of an agency called 1stcontact. This agency handles various things - from tax refunds, money transfer to (drums roll ...) - opening back account. They offer (for those above mentioned 35£) the KickStart package - which includes an orientation meeting in which you meet a representative of the bank (HSBC / Barclays / Loyds, whatever you choose), fill out some forms and that's it. Your account and debit card are ready in a few days.

Just be aware of this plan B, in case you start losing it ...

Job Hunting Is No Big Fun ...

Having the HSMP Visa, I was quite confident in my ability to secure a job in the UK (I am an experienced IT / Telecoms project manager). So, we (my wife and I) decided to relocate and start job hunting in London. Apparently, the 'credit crunch' was not part of the plan. In addition, I haven't realized the following factors:

• I have NO networking or leads in London
• My previous employers are not familiar in the UK market
• The London IT market is highly software, and more specifically - financial software, oriented. The other 'hot' sector is the Web / Internet / New media (you name it). Anyhow, these are not my strongest skills.
• There are hundreds of recruitment consultants and agencies, and a similar number of job sites. I have found it extremely challenging to achieve some sort of steady work relations with those consultants . Namely, I am just one of lots and lots of other candidates ...
  

So, to cut a long story short, I was able (which involved a very exhausting and painful process) to go for several interviews. Passed some first-rounds but, until now, haven't been able to get a proposal. So, I keep looking. BTW, I would appreciate any tips or advice, based on your personal experience. The sectors that I am focusing on:

• Telecoms
• Semiconductors
• Web / Internet
• Venture Capital

Here is a list of some of the more useful job sites that I have come across (each of them has its own pros and cons):

• REED
• Job Serve
• Planet Recruit
• Monster
• Job Site
• Executives On The Web

HSMP VISA

So, I relocated to London with my wife a few weeks ago. The idea was (and still is) to broaden our horizons and acquire some experience (life and work) in a global city - London certainly qualifies as one. One of the main reasons for choosing the UK is the ability to accept a work permit without finding a sponsor or a position in advance. This enabled us to relocate and look for a position while we are in London (sounded like a decent plan, at first, but matters are actually trickier than I thought- more on that in the upcoming posts).

I am going to focus on the HSMP in my current post since I know that 99.9% of the people are not familiar with / aware of it.

This type of VISA is a work permit (a very flexible one) for 2 years (can be extended, see below). The idea is quite simple - UK government is encouraging 'talented' people to relocate to the UK.

It is quite easy to estimate if one is entitled for this VISA - aggregating 'good' points for each of the criteria (see below) and checking if the sum is greater than 75 (greater - you are on the right track).

The criteria are very clear and simple:

• Previous earnings (in other words - the average salary in the last 15 months)
• Education (Bachelor Degree, Masters Degree or PhD)
  
• Age (the younger - the better)
• Past work experience in the UK
• Proving a certain level of English (taking the IELTS test)

The advantages of this visa are the following:

• As mentioned, no need for sponsorship in the UK.
  
• Deterministic criteria - one can estimate his chances in advance.
• The VISA also entitles the spouse / partner with a work permit.
• No need to show enormous amount of money in advance.
  
• You can work in any sector / occupation.
• Can be extended to 3 additional years (very similar criteria). Afterwards, one can apply for permanent residence / citizenship.

The shortcoming are:

• Need to take the IELTS test.
• Need to carefully fill out the forms - the office is quite strict.
  
• Fees (not that expensive, but substantial) for taking the IELTS, application and VISA issue by the UK embassy. Other fees such as translation / notary might be neede as well.
• Limited to 2 years (opposed, for the example, the US 'Green Card').

there are numerous agencies that offer the service of filling out the forms, translating and notarizing if needed, and even sending the application on behalf of the applicant. These services are quite costly but, from my experience (I decided to pay for such a service) - a good agency can really simplify matters. So, I guess it is up to you. My suggestion is to consult those guys because they estimate one's qualification for the VISA.

Below you can find some useful links on the subject:

Link to 'HSMP' at Wikipedia
Link to the official HSMP site (UK Border Agency)
Link to official IELTS site

Please don't hesitate to comment, ask for clarifications (please bear in mind that I am no expert) , testify or provide tips from your own experience, for the benefit of other readers.