What Exactly is a CV?

While job hunting in the UK, you’ll notice that many companies and job adverts will request that you send in a CV. Now, you’re probably wondering, what the hell is that? CV stands for curriculum vitae and is essentially the same as a resume. The major difference is that while resumes tend to be brief (1 -2 pages), a CV is expected to contain a lot more detail.

For a CV, you are expected to list your entire job history and describe in detail, your job title, your responsibilities as well as any achievements or merits earned at that position. As you can imagine, this can cause a CV to be quite long. This is expected though as most CVs should be a minimum of 2 pages long.

You can also include additional information on your CV that you would never put on your resume. For example when I was job hunting here, I put my nationality, British/American, to explain why most of my experience was in the US and to indicate that I have a right to work in the UK. While it’s not necessary to include this information, you can if you feel that it would be beneficial.

Looking for CV templates?  More information?
University of Kent - Lots of Sample CVs
CV Tips - CV Templates & CV Writing Tips

Using Your US Driver's License in the UK

For the few brave souls that want to drive on the wrong left side of the road, you can officially use your American drivers license for up to a year after you have established residency.  After that you are supposed to apply for a British license.  This is mostly because there is not a standard driving test in the US.  Each test differs based on the state where you lived. And instead of the reviewing all state driving requirements to see if they satisfy British standards, the government here has decided to just make all Americans go through the entire process.  I suppose its easier.  But its also a pain in the ass. 

If you obtain a provisional license during this period, you are not subject to provisional license conditions.  You can just go and take the driving test.  But if you fail, the test, then you have to go through the whole process again and provisional license conditions will apply.  These include things like having a learner's tag put on your car as well as having restrictions where you can drive and with how many people.  So if you get your provisional license before your 12 mos are up, BE SURE TO PASS THE TEST! Unless, you really want to take it again.

You could also just risk it and assume that if you get pulled over the police really have no way of knowing how long you've been in the country.  But I wouldn't risk it.

For more info: Directgov

Getting Here: Work Abroad Program

Now if you really want to come over to the UK to work and don't see a company transfer in your future, then you might want to consider coming over through a work abroad program.  One of the most popular is the BUNAC. 

BUNAC (British Universities North America Club)

BUNAC has been in existence for more than 46 years.  Their goal is to give students and recent graduates the opportunity to experience another culture.  They are a non-profit organization that has work abroad programs in a variety of different locales including the UK.

They offer an intern abroad program for the UK.  You can work as an intern for six months earning minimum wage.  The program has been recently re-hauled due to EU immigration laws.  So you will have to arrange for the position before applying for the visa.  Previously, they would help you get here and assist with you finding a job.  My how times have changed.

BUNAC will essentially act as your sponsor for a Tier 5 visa which will allow for you to apply for a visa before arriving in Britain.  They also offer:

• Help and advice with the visa process from the US
• An informative arrival orientation to fully prepare you for live in Britain
• Ongoing help and support during your time in the UK
• Assistance with National Insurance, tax and bank formalities
• Social events including trips to Paris and other parts of the UK and pub events

To be eligible, you must be:

• over 18,
• a full-time student 
• OR have been out of school for less than 1 year 
• have a valid passport 
• have an internship offer in the UK for up to 6 months.
• Have sufficient support funds ($1,500 for paid internship, $2,500 for unpaid internships)

Applications are accepted year round.  The cost of the program in $750.  However, please note that this doesn't include visa costs (128 GBP), your flight or insurance.

To find out more, visit the official website

Understanding Council Tax

What is Council Tax?

It is a local tax on domestic properties.  Now not all properties have to pay council tax.  Similarly, not all people have to pay council tax.  There are also discounts available.

How is It Calculated?

The amount of council tax that you pay is based on the valuation band afforded to your property by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and the tax rate that your local council has assigned to that valuation.  All properties are placed in a band according to their value in 1 April 1993.  (There are no current plans to carry out a re-valuation).   Below is a breakdown of the different bands.

Bankers Are Wankers! - Opening an Account (Student Edition)

Our last BAW! feature dealt with opening an account if you are in the UK for work.  But what if you're a student? Does the same process apply?

Well yes and no.

If you are a student opening a bank account you will still have to supply some form of ID (passport w/ visa), proof of address (certified copy of acceptance letter or similar such document).  But you will also have to have some cash to open the account and to prove that you can support yourself.  This can be in the form of student loan checks.

Again, the four major banks (Barclays, NatWest, HSBC and Lloyds TSB) will
require these basic things but may also have some additional requirements, so I'd be sure to confirm their eligibility criteria and requirements before I showed up for opening an account.  Please note that when looking for information about student banking you will need to look in the International Banking sections of these websites.  Any mention of Student Banking on the main pages applies only to permanent UK residents.

Again, most of the difficulties with opening any account here are due to administrative flakiness.  I've done a bit of research and it seems that the worst offends of student bank account flakiness are Barclays.  They seem to have a habit of either misplacing people's student loan checks or taking their sweet time to deposit them. Also unfortunately with Barclays, you can't get a debit card until your student loans have cleared.  But you can't check to see if the funds have cleared unless you have a debit card. It creates a fun game of which comes first, the debit card or the cleared funds?  And it can last FOUR months!

Don't want to wait four months?  Then I'd try opening an account with the other three branches.  And yes, this includes NatWest who seem to be rubbish at opening a regular current (checking) account but seem to get it right when opening a students account.   (Just as long as you bring a certified copy of your acceptance letter!)  Lloyds and HSBC seems pretty straight forward regarding opening student accounts.  I've not heard any horror stories about using either of these. In fact, the person that I interviewed about her nightmare with NatWest, went straight to Lloyds and was able to open an account within days.

A good alternative to all of this banking drama can be to not open an account at all.  If you have a Bank of America account you can use any Barclays ATM free of charge.  So as long as you keep funds in you BofA account, you can have access to British sterling.  Of course that becomes a pain, if you want to pay bills etc.  However as the UK is quite old fashioned, you can pay all of your bills here in cash by depositing cash directly into the companies account.  They all have one.  Just check your utility bill the next time you receive and it and look out for their banking details.

Bankers Are Wankers! - Opening An Account

If you are not fortunate enough to come to the UK via an intra-office transfer where most of your banking needs would have been sorted for you, you unfortunately will have to navigate the frustrating and tedious waters of opening a banking account here.  Now the reasons for this being so difficult is that:

1) credit does not transfer internationally
2) terrorism laws
3) Piss poor admin at UK banks (more on that later)

Now the fact that your credit score does not transfer to the UK could be really great if your US credit score was the same as your shoe size.  Or really bad if you had immaculate credit.  Either way, you will have to start over fresh here and that means having NO credit.  Therefore the banks will be a bit leary about having you open an account and will make you jump through hoops accordingly. There is also the anti-terror laws that have pretty strict residency requirements.  So you will inevitably have to prove your identity several times and you also need to prove that you have a job.  Trying to open an account by depositing a large of amount of cash without any job willl be frowned upon.


The four major banks here are: Barclays, NatWest, HSBC and Lloyds TSB.  Their requirements differ slightly for each account but at the very minimum you need to provide:

 - Your passport w/ visa
 - Proof of your UK address. (ie a utility bill)
 - Your official letter of acceptance for a new position or a pay stub for any current position that you have

Now this all seems simple right?  So what's with the title, Bankers Are Wankers?  Well firstly, its amusing, at least to me. And I could get into the fact that everyone masturbates, so it's really not that inaccurate either.  But I'll save THAT discussion for another day.  The real reason why Banks are Wanks is that their administration is rubbish.  Even if you have all of the paperwork I've listed above and then some,  they will inevitably still take their sweet time to open an account.

The worst offender seems to be NatWest.  I have spoken to a few people and they all tell the same story.  They walked into the branch.  They filled out all of the paperwork and provide appropraite documentation.  They were promised their debit cards in a week's time.  But their debit cards never came.  Instead they had to return to the bank several times to fill out the same forms and submit the same paperwork because it as misplaced or incorrect or .  I spoke to one friend who went through this merry-go-round for SIX MONTHS and in the end he just gave up and went to Barclay's where they managed to open his account in 5 days.  So in short, go to Barclay's or Lloyds TSB as they seem to not have these administrative issues.

But if you know in advance that you'll be coming to the UK, HSBC has this amazing Passport account that will allow you to open your account before you've even stepped foot in the UK.  The requirements are similar to the one above, you just have to show proof of your overseas address as well as prove that you'll be in the UK for more than a year.  The proof of staying past one year seems to trip up some people because if you can't prove that then they'll decline your application.  Don't fret.  If this happens, just open an account with Lloyds TSB or Barclays when you arrive.

Some other things to keep in mind...

Barclays has an agreement with Bank of America.  So you can use your BofA debit card at a Barclays ATM without incurring any charges.  The same goes for if you are using your Barclays card at a BofA ATM.

If you have a US HSBC account, you can not convert that into a UK account.  Apparently they are two completely different entities.  So while it may be nice to try and open an account in the US to use in the UK, it doesn't quite work that way.  I know because I tried!

The Joys of Working for a British Company

Despite my many grumblings (£100 gift certificate to Mark's & Spencer is not the same as a bonus, just saying), there are a few perks to working for a British company.

Minimum 25 days vacation

Just typing that seems outrageous and awesome at the same time.  Thanks to an EU directive, all EU countries must give their employees a minimum of 25 days vacation. Note, that this does not include national holidays. I still to this day have no idea what to do with all of this time and equally wonder how I survived with the measly 2 weeks that I was given in the States.  Oh, wait, now I remember.  I was conveniently sick on Mondays and Fridays.

Pub Lunches

It's Friday! And after a long week in the office, there is nothing better then getting together with a few co-workers and celebrating the forthcoming weekend with a glass of wine or three if you work in my office! 
Got a bit drunk? It's okay.  It seems to be perfectly acceptable to return to your desk a bit tipsy. After all, you were just at the pub.  Your boss may even be a bit offended if you came back completely sober as it would show you're not a team player!

9 to 5 really means 9 to 5

Now I'm used to 9 to 5 really meaning 9 to 6 as you have to account for your hour lunch.  Not so in the UK where you effectively have a 7 hour work day as that one hour between 9 and 5 is blocked off for lunch and nothing else.  Also the moment and I mean the very second that the clock strikes 5, your office will be deserted.  You'll know when its happened, because the office will suddenly become so quiet that your typing will start to echo throughout the building. 

Unlimited sick days

Again, this is an alien concept to me.  The first time I asked HR about sick days, they looked at me completely baffled and asked "How can you put a limit on the number of days that you're sick? If you're sick, you're sick."  Translation:  You have unlimited sick days. Now keep in mind, you have a legal obligation to produce a doctor's note if you have been sick for five consecutive work days. Most companies will require you to fill out some sort of sick leave form upon your return to the office and you won't get full pay if you are sick for an extended period of time.  However, if you wanted to call in sick for four days due to a  last minute holiday to Spain nasty flu, there really isn't anything that you're company could do to stop you.  But you might get a few questions about your amazing tan upon return so be sure to cover up!