With Residency Comes Responsibility

All of a sudden I find myself with some choices to make. Most importantly, and financially urgent, I need to decide what kind of job I want. I have my online teaching job, but as I still only have two students I realize that just isn’t going to cut it. Even if it would eventually pick up, I need something more reliable. Maybe I’ll be able to keep doing it on the side for a bit of extra cash.

My first thought was to go to any local business and apply as soon as possible. I walked around the day after I heard they had approved my application to see if any places were advertising that they were hiring. I saw a couple cafés and other small shops with signs in the windows and filed them away in my memory for when I actually had the card. I also looked online to see what jobs were being advertised in the area. These jobs would most likely be minimum wage, but I would be able to just go, do my job, and come home. I have to admit that does have a certain appeal after years of spending my “free time” doing never-ending prep for my classes. Also, I might actually be working and earning money faster than I would if I tried to go for a job that required more qualifications.

The only other possibility I could think of was trying to get a job as a teaching assistant in a primary school. I’ve been thinking about the possibility of becoming a primary school teacher and that seems to be a step in the right direction if I do actually want to do that. I’ve even seen some advertisements saying they might give you a placement to help you get your qualification the following year, which would be amazing. I just sometimes wonder if I teach because I want to or because I think that it’s my only possibility if I want to have a career.

Outside of the service industry, that’s really the only thing I’ve ever done. I tried to find a different kind of job once. I spent a whole summer unemployed, using up all my savings while I dedicated myself to finding any job that my degree qualified me for and with which I could possibly use my Spanish. After a few months of applications and some random unsuccessful interviews, I ended up working at Starbucks, which I honestly really liked for the six months I was there before leaving for Spain.

I didn’t realize that I would have to call and make an appointment to get a National Insurance number in order to work in the UK. I had heard about it but thought maybe I would just get one assigned to me along with my residence card. Think again. Supposedly, it’s easy enough to get though and I have made my appointment for this Tuesday.

While I was figuring all this out, another employment possibility popped up out of nowhere and it actually sounds pretty interesting. It’s not teaching but I do seem to be qualified for it and I’ll be able to use my languages! They called me yesterday and I have an interview next week. I’m not going to say any more for now, though. If it goes well, I’ll explain more about it and how it came about. However, my interview skills are rusty at best and my nerves are through the roof. Wish me luck because I’ll definitely need it!