Working in the UK - my story

The last time I wrote on this blog was just over two years ago. So much has happened since then. So many changes, so many people have crossed my path that left as quickly as they entered. Not for any specific reason, only because that’s the way life sometimes works.

I have been in the UK nearly three years now and every time I think about it I get slightly stunned because it doesn’t feel like three years at all. In some ways it feels longer and in others, it feels less.

When I last wrote I was working for an insurance company. I hated it. Absolutely hated it. I didn’t like the job and it was miles away from my house; considering I didn’t had a car at the time, took me absolute ages to get there and get back. However, the people I worked with were absolutely amazing and I am still quite close with a few of them. We went from being colleagues to being actual friends.

From there – via my manager at the time – I had the chance to leave that job and get back to my industry – financial services. He knew how unhappy I was working in Insurance and when he was told about a project closer to home and within my expertise, he put my name forward and I was invited to attend in interview. I got the job but unfortunately that project was relocated to London just a few months later and as I wasn’t keen on leaving Bristol (like everyone else in my team), we were all made redundant.

From there I proceed to work for one of the biggest banks in the world where I stayed for 1 year and a half, before leaving and join a SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) that specialises in a very niche area of financial services. I did it for two reasons:

1.       Working for a Bank that big, your work gets unnoticed, there is no way you can make a difference (I tried, it didn’t end well) and there were too many egos around from people whose only purpose in life is to feed their ego by mistreating staff members. I can’t cope with that and I was getting more depressed by the day;

2.       Working for that SME would give me the rare opportunity of working for a niche market where there is not a great deal of information around and therefore I would be able to enhance my skills and gain that knowledge.

Unfortunately – as I came to realise – people with big egos and small minds can show up no matter how big or small a firm is and that SME ended up being a disappointment. I worked countless hours without asking for overtime because I genuinely felt that the point was to take pride in my work ethics and ensuring the clients would receive the best outcome possible considering the amount of fees charged by the firm. How stupid was I? I know but hey, you live and you learn. On the other hand, there’s nothing quite like coming home, laying your head on your pillow and feeling good about yourself. Knowing that you’ve done for someone what you would like for someone do for you (if it was the other way around) is priceless. There’s no price tag on that. It’s your own pride.

But anyway, having work ethics doesn’t take you far if you work with big egos and small minds and I left that company 6 months after joining. Worth mentioning that people with big egos were not even a hand full. Nonetheless, the detrimental effect that people like that can cause on the long term, is substantial.

I am currently working for another SME in the same industry as the previous (with some differences especially in relation to the type and nature of investments the client can obtain but I’m not going to get into the technical details and financial jargon as there is no point) and I am so happy. I work with people who are all committed with the client, who are all committed in working together; building the firm together and most importantly, they care about their staff members.

Never ever I was verbally abused here, never ever was I ever made feel that my opinion and ideas are useless and that the effort I put in my work is unnoticed. On the contrary, just a couple of months after joining I completed two sets of training for staff, I have a career plan designed by my line manager and the way he conducts the team subsequently has a positive effect throughout the business. All departments work together with the same goal in mind: the customer.

Everything happens for a reason. And I feel so blessed to be where I am now.

There’s a well-known expression that goes like this “Had to kiss a lot of frogs before finding my prince charming”; well, I believe the same could be applicable to my current work status.

I sometimes think how my career was boosted in less than three years. It’s light years away from what it could ever be boosted in Portugal unless I knew person, X, Y or Z. Well, not weird really. Here, if you work hard, you will be rewarded – unless you work with people with big egos and small minds! Then you’ll probably face a lot of challenges and brick walls and doors slamming in your face. I would advise you to leave, if you’re in that situation. It’s a waste of your dedication and energy.

The UK (in relation to work) it’s a bit like America (land of the free and land of opportunities) but in a European style. Probably a bit classier. Oh and with tea. An awful lot of tea!

At this point in time, I am saving to buy a house. I have a part-time on the weekends as in order to get a mortgage in the UK, you need – in average – about 10% of the value of the house in cash to give as a deposit. I started my first shift this weekend and oh boy, do I have stories already! But I’ll leave those stories for another day J