“Do you have a vacancy here”, I asked.
“There is none for the moment but you can leave your CV and we will just ring you in case we will need one”, replied the manager.

This is the common scenario I experienced when applying in shops. Managers usually took the CV but who the heck knows if she will just put it in the bin or use it for scratch. Many shop managers give hope to applicants despite knowing that they have no vacancy to offer. Many are not direct or not honest to applicants and they haven’t realized how costly it is for poor people to print CVs in London in this time of recession and the worst part is that they are giving us false hope.

Is that the way small firms in the UK do business for blue collar applicants?

--o--

“Please fill out the form and send it back on or before…”, as stated in the letter from the company.

This is another weirdo recruitment process in modern London because, despite of the existence of computers and emails, many companies still require professional applicants to fill out forms instead of just analyzing their own printed CVs. Then after filling in and mailing the long form, applicants still might not hear back from the company. No communication at all even just a phone call.

An experienced English guy told me that he applied for a Head of English vacancy; he sent a covering letter and curriculum vitae through snail mail and then after weeks he still did not hear anything from the school. He believes that schools (or companies) should be polite and inform him whether his application is successful or not.

Is this the proper way UK companies recruit professional applicants?

UK Recruitment Culture 2009 @ The Walking Tower

The United Kingdom is one of the main importers of Filipino nurses. In fact, I think that almost all hospitals in the UK have at least one Filipino nurse. There is even a joke that without the Filipino nurses in the UK (also in the US) the country’s healthcare system would be paralyzed.

The Filipino nurses are in demand in the UK because of their ability to speak the English language. They are also known for being hard working, hospitable, caring, and of course “professional”. They even made a name in the international community because first world countries like the US, Canada, and Australia are highly satisfied with their services. With that, there is no reason for the United Kingdom also not to employ Filipino nurses.

The Filipino nurses in the United Kingdom are ‘kinda successful. They work twelve hours a day and seven days a week by means of banking into different hospitals during their normal day off. They have saved lots of money (pounds!). They will be the rising millionaires when they go back to the Philippines and, therefore, they are constantly reminding and greeting us Filipino domestic workers in the UK, “Uy kababayan, I am a nurse! You?”

We usually drink alcohol when we are socializing in bars because it brings chemical enjoyment reaction to our body. It gives us new spirit that boosts our confidence to talk and to entertain others. It is normal and acceptable in most parts of the world.

In the first world like the UK, where people don’t usually talk to each other and pay more attention to what they call ‘individual spaces’ I discovered that many are into ‘binge drinking’. It is a modern term for drinking heavily with an intention to make you dizzy or intoxicated in a short period of time.

It is common for young adults or youths who are into drinking experimentation in many countries but I believe it is more of a regular thing in this work-beer UK country. The culture is this “mate, I don’t know you for now but I will know you in a few hours, just let my finish my 6 pints”.

I might not have a concrete statistics of how heavily people drink here, but ‘hey man’ just look around and see how fat the bellies of these white British guys are.

I was a Pantene shampoo user in the Philippines but not anymore here in London because it was quite expensive here. There were GBP1 Pantene shampoos in some poundland shops that were made from other country but it was quite different because the quality was like a fake one (not sure if it was really fake).

Anyway, see the two different Pantene shampoo pronunciation.

UK: ‘Pan-TEN’


Philippines: ‘Pan-TEEN’ (ending part of video)