Newly hatched at Heathrow

Something most newcomers find extremely difficult, not to mention frustrating and demoralising, is that of finding the right job. There is plenty of work out there and something I learn the hard way, is to put my pride in my pocket and get a job, any job, even if it’s not the kind I would ever have considered doing in the Southernmost Colony. Just getting in to the system can be a nightmare.

I am treated as though my life before never existed. Whatever I did and achieved and my years of experience in different fields on the other side of the universe, count for nothing here. Prospective employers have never have heard of the corporation I worked for before. Unless my Didactic Diploma was obtained here, it counts for nothing. Perhaps you were a well thought of pedagogue on the home planet, here you will find yourself considered an ‘unskilled educator’. Even if you were the Managing Director of an Interplanetary-Conglomerate and brought in millions each month, you will still be treated as though you served food and beverage in the office canteen. I learn quickly that despite the fact that I was at the top of my game and a Most Highly Thought of Being in my field, I have to be prepared to start again.

Now obviously, there are those who instantly find the job of their dreams and do not experience the newly hatched chicklet feeling. I’m very happy for them and I’m not bitter. Really I’m not. No, really, I’m not. This piece of wisdom is for those, like me, who have a nightmare of a time finding gainful employment where their skills and experience are appreciated.

My advice to prospective space travellers and those recently arrived on this planet is this; just do whatever you can till you find that perfect position. And yes, that just might mean doing a job you consider only suitable for “Previously Deprived Aliens”.

Consider working as Public Sanitation Technician, Family Environs Upkeep Manager, Transparent Wall Technician, Refreshments Overseer, Theft Prevention and Surveillance Officer or Wealth Distribution Prevention Officer …all perfectly acceptable and done by nice normal people like you and I.

And this is what I do, I take up the unenviable job of being an Alternative Pedagogue, which though soul destroying, does provide a good wage (I suspect most of it is danger pay), which enables me to accommodate and nourish myself till I find a place of employment where I am appreciated and not abused and/or threatened by adolescent and undeveloped Natives.

So you didn’t picture doing “something like that” on the New Planet? My advice? Get over it, roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. It doesn’t have to be forever...