Working In India

[squirrel_hunter]

Does anybody have any experience of working in India, Mumbai to be precise? Failing that anybody have any experience of working in a foreign country?

Basically an opportunity has been offered to me to work in Mumbai for 6 weeks from the beginning of May. I think I know what my answer will be hence looking for some advice as I've never done anything like this before. What do I need to ask for, how will it all work, and any advice?

[maviczap]

6 weeks is feck all really, I'd go as it'll be over before you know it

Gets any injections done ASAP, get some health cover if its not provided by your employer

find out what you're going to get paid, where are you going to stay (is it safe, clean) + who's paying

Even if I wasn't going to make lots of money, i'd go for the experience, once you've done this it may open other doors for you.

[Jabba]

Gets any injections done ASAP, get some health cover if its not provided by your employer.....

..... an clear your local pharmacists shelves of Immodium. Then go to the local hobby shop and get a stock of those corks used when making your own wine :thumbsup:

You don't want Dhelli Belly for three of the six weeks.

[thulfi]

And watch your back. Some of my english born Indian mates went there for a medical attachment this year, and some interesting things happened - including having a snake lobbed at them as they were entering a cab.

Defo take tablets on the near certainty that you will get the runs.

But I'm sure it wil be fascinating.

[squirrel_hunter]

Gets any injections done ASAP, get some health cover if its not provided by your employer

find out what you're going to get paid, where are you going to stay (is it safe, clean) + who's paying

My employer will be providing health cover, but I'll probably take some sort of travel insurance out as well.

I will be staying in a hotel that they usually use for their visitors, I understand that these hotels (they have a selection to choose from) are mainly used by Westerners on business. Travel, accommodation and expenses are on the company.

However what do you mean by finding out what I'm being paid, should I be getting paid extra for this?

[DarrenSV650S]

Indiaaaaaa

Incredible Indiaaaa

[squirrel_hunter]

..... an clear your local pharmacists shelves of Immodium. Then go to the local hobby shop and get a stock of those corks used when making your own wine :thumbsup:

You don't want Dhelli Belly for three of the six weeks.

I think I remember some advice from Cuffy (http://forums.sv650.org/showpost.php?p=1221775&postcount=1) on this subject...

[Jabba]

I think I remember some advice from Cuffy (http://forums.sv650.org/showpost.php?p=1221775&postcount=1) on this subject...

Oh God...... I'd forgotten about that :lol:

[maviczap]

However what do you mean by finding out what I'm being paid, should I be getting paid extra for this?

No not extra salary, but if I work overseas I'm paid so much for meals and other personal expenses.

Working away from home, I like to know I not out of pocket. You have to buy everything and you can't just go to a cupoboard like you do at home.

So just find out what overseas allowances you are entittled to.

Plus don't forget India is not as safe as it probably once was. The Indians are friendly people, but its close to Pakistan and all the troubles there

[squirrel_hunter]

Even if I wasn't going to make lots of money, i'd go for the experience, once you've done this it may open other doors for you.

Oh and I almost forgot, I'm due to be served my notice at the end of May. So they would have to extend that until the end of the working visit. But this puts me in a bit of a situation regarding going for interviews...

[maviczap]

Oh and I almost forgot, I'm due to be served my notice at the end of May. So they would have to extend that until the end of the working visit. But this puts me in a bit of a situation regarding going for interviews...

That's a bit of a bugger then.

I'd go, as they're paying for it. Would you pay for a holiday to India yourself?

Tricky, depends on what commitments you have at home?

[squirrel_hunter]

So just find out what overseas allowances you are entittled to.

Cool, I'll ask about that.

Plus don't forget India is not as safe as it probably once was. The Indians are friendly people, but its close to Pakistan and all the troubles there

Yeah the most worrying site on the web for me is the Foreign Office Travel Advice (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/)

[maviczap]

Cool, I'll ask about that.



Yeah the most worrying site on the web for me is the Foreign Office Travel Advice (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/)


Having read Mark Beaumonts book about his round the world bike ride, the only place he got mugged was the good old US of A.

Places like India, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Afganistan, he had no problems at all.

Just be aware that India loves its bueracacy (?)

So maybe not too much to worry about

Lots of beggars in Mumbia I understand

[timwilky]

Only visit india but never worked their.

I have worked in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Dubai, France, Germany, Switzerland.

At the end of the day you are hired help and whilst your talents are being paid for. You are despised for being there, doing a job that a local should be doing.

In most of the world, you are treated with respect. Especially from those you are working with. After all they know why you are there and what you are doing. But at night having a few beers you are just another Brit and fair game.

My twin broths claim to fame was he was the first Englishman to break into Edinburgh castle in 500 years as he led a team tunnelling a new entrance. He got grief from the locals for being a sassenach ******* taking their jobs. He got backup from the crew he had recruited who informed the angry gentleman that the sassenach had given them jobs, taught them tunnelling techniques and would be leaving a newly formed Scottish division of the company behind when he finally did what the gentleman was requesting and he feck off back to England.

My advice after having a near accident in Sumatra. Make sure your medical cover allows for full repatriation. Take a comprehensive first aid kit that includes sterile needles/syringes dressings etc. Talk to a proper pharmacist or if you have a company medical dept they should be able to provide something.

[squirrel_hunter]

I'd go, as they're paying for it. Would you pay for a holiday to India yourself?

Tricky, depends on what commitments you have at home?

Not got any commitments here really other than I'd like to have a job to come back to even if its just for an additional month, that gives me time to get a new one before I have to start using the redundancy fund.

As for paying for a holiday to India, I wouldn't. But then I never would of thought to have gone. It would be a heck of an experience and I'm already thinking about what I can get up to once I'm over there...

[Richie]

I think DavePreston used to work in a call center over there.
Well I can't understand a word he says most of the time and his inglesh is not too hot most of the time...

;0) ;-)

[squirrel_hunter]

And this might be a bit of a silly question to those that have worked abroad, but what do you do on the evenings?

[Amanda]

Do you want specific information on working in Mumbai??

My ex worked over there recently for 4 weeks. Was offered 2 year secondment but he is taking redundancy starting in June.

I won't be able to speak to him now but could call him tomorrow if you let me know exactly what it is you need.

[squirrel_hunter]

General and specific information, both really. If he's been out there recently how did he find it? How is it for a Brit who barely speaks English to get on over there? How is working overseas? Do you get much free time to explore?

Any information would be great as I've never done anything like this before so I should really find out what I'm letting myself in for first.

[anna]

Go have a great time, stop faffing!

[timwilky]

And this might be a bit of a silly question to those that have worked abroad, but what do you do on the evenings?

Eat, drink and socialise

Top up on the quinine in the traditional ex pat manner

[Amanda]

Do you get much free time to explore?

That's the only answer I do know. His company viewed it that he was over there to work and made sure he did. I remember asking if he went to explore the slums as would have been an insight. He said that he was pretty much working 12 hour shifts and was knackered so was going back to the hotel to eat and sleep.

I will email him and see what he says about the rest.

[Philbo]

Depends entirely on your company and the type of work you're going to be doing there. If the work has any sort of planning or schedule ask to see it. Are the time scales re-alistic, are you walking into a nightmare?

I travel a bit with my current job, and it's nowhere near as glamorous as people think. You tend to see the local airport, the the hotel, and your place of work. In my line of work, you get to site, (a dirty big power station or oil refinery in the middle of nowhere is the norm), work 10 maybe 12 hour days, then back to the Hotel, showered, dinner, couple of beers, bed. Repeat until the jobs done then go home.

If working abroad is new to you then it will be good for the CV. Especially if your bieng made redundant. It tells any potential employer that you current employer feels you can be trusted to do the job and represent the company dispite the difficult circumstaces.

Six weeks isn't a long time really, probablly worth the gamble.

[fizzwheel]

Go what have you got to loose. Its only 6 weeks it'll be over before you know it and its another thing to add / list on your CV.

Not been myself, But I did get sent to the USA for 3 weeks by a company I worked for.

It was fantastic, the point about expenses is a valid one, but if its a regular thing they do it will probably all be covered anyway. It was for me. Living in a hotel for that length of time wasnt fun, but the people I was working for took us out for a few evenings and showed us some local places and I think I got to see a side of America that maybe you wouldnt see if you went on holiday. I wander if you might get a similar experience.

I didnt have a lot of free time and saw the inside of an awful lot of airports, it just meant that the free time I did have I made the most out of.

Like I said go, you have nothing to loose IMHO.

[madcockney]

..... an clear your local pharmacists shelves of Immodium. Then go to the local hobby shop and get a stock of those corks used when making your own wine :thumbsup:

You don't want Dhelli Belly for three of the six weeks.

I certainly would stand down wind of him as I would know where those corks had been and I definitely wouldn't want to be killed by high velocity corks! http://forums.sv650.org/images/icons/icon7.gif

[squirrel_hunter]

I've seen the work plans, I have helped put them together so I'm happy that they are realistic. I wouldn't do it if they weren't. For reference I am a professional Code Monkey and am basically going over to transfer knowledge to the team that will pick up my sections development. Therefore I'd expect its the same office hours that I run now, which should give me a bit of free time especially on the weekends, but I will check the hours I'm expected to work.

Yep I'll be doing it for the CV and for the experience.

I would really like to have a chance to explore India in the manor to which I am accustomed. So suggestions of where to go, what to see, and what to do will be good. The only down side to this is I'm the only one going over so any traveling will be on my own.

[Amanda]

Reply for my Ex ......

Hi,

I think the first thing to mention is that the majority of Mumbai is very visable as being a third world city in a third world country. Poverty and homelessness is everywhere around you and
it certainly is not a clean place at all with rubbish everywhere - even the office I was working in wasn't particularly clean.
Having said that if your staying in one of the nicer hotels (I was in one of the 5 star one's while I was there) it's very much like chalk and cheese - the hotels are amazing and the food is second to none.
Security in and around the hotels are very good, and every vehicle is fully checked before being allowed in.
I was still advised (by colleagues) not to use the tap water in the hotel, so I used bottle water when brushing teeth etc, and likewise for evening meals.

In terms of security the hotel advised me not to venture out after dark, and the only time I did this was with Indian friends - I certainly would not have felt comfortable going out alone anywhere,
primarily due to the number of beggers around on almost every street corner it seemed.

I was lucky to have a chaffeur driven car to and from work/hotel, so never had to worry about public transport (rickshaws), although they looked like fun to be in!
Although being in a chaffeur driven car was good (most of them are mercedes over there), whenever you stopped you would have women/children banging on the window begging for money, so that certainly got a bit of getting used too.

While I was there I didn't have much opportunity due to work commitments to venture out even at weekends, although I think if you went outside of the city and into the countryside
you would probably see a different (nicer) side to India.

English is widely spoken in hotels, restaurants and you can certainly get by with little to no knowledge of the language (I only know the very basics hello, goodbye, thanks etc.)

Personally I would not work out there for 6 weeks, purely based on missing home comforts and the fact you feel slightly imprisoned with the constant barrage of beggars, coupled with the fact my work days were extremely long.
If you have quite a bit of spare time and can venture further afield then maybe 6 weeks wouldn't be so bad.

Hope this helps!

[squirrel_hunter]

Thanks for that Amanda, and pass my thanks on to your ex. Really useful and ties in with some of the other things I've read. I think 6 weeks will be my maximum out there as well as I'm on my own but I do want to try and get a couple of trips in outside of the main cities.

Anyone know of an Indian Ex-Pat bike forum?

[cuffy]

I think I remember some advice from Cuffy (http://forums.sv650.org/showpost.php?p=1221775&postcount=1) on this subject...

Oh God...... I'd forgotten about that :lol:
I haven't :shock:

Just go for it Steve, some of the best nights i had was with a simple translation dictionary, sat in a bar where nobody spoke a word of english. It was just a case of pointing at words and phrases and having a laugh with the locals, ok it didn't work quite so well in the chemist but hey ho :D
It looks like i'll be in the same boat again later this year, but instaed of Turkey i'll be in Korea and China, can't wait.

[Littlepeahead]

Instead of taking loads of Imodium get a couple of courses of a broad spectrum anti-biotic. That cures the problem rather than just bunging you up. Your GP can arrange this and I've stayed in Thailand and Sri Lanka and when the DB struck us all I was well again in 8 hours while those on Imodium seemed to have trouble for days.

See if you can delay your flight home and do a bit of a tour while you are there. 'Explore' are very good as their trips have a good mix of singles, couples and small groups. You can book land only so your company pays the flight part.

http://www.explore.co.uk/

And if you get the chance - go to a cricket match. I know I am biased as it's my job to promote cricket - but in India they do love it more than anything else so it would be worth a day out there even if you don't much like the game just to soak up the atmosphere.

[TimTucker]

As a fellow professional code monkey myself, I can recommend going, especially if it’s to Mumbai. This time two years’ ago I was halfway through a six month stint working from our offices in Bangalore. It was my third time in India, though my first time working there, my previous visits being backpacking visits.

Hopefully your company knows what visa you need and is getting things organised on that front. For my visit I needed a business, multiple entry visa and also needed to register with the authorities within two weeks of arrival. I’m not sure if you’ll need to do the same thing for just six week visit or whether the state of Maharashtra requires it. If you do, pray that they have someone out there to organise this for you, as it requires filling out lots of forms and handing over about eight passport photos of yourself whilst schlepping around various local government offices.

Hotels aren’t as cheap as you would expect for business travellers. It costs the company I work for more money to put someone up in Bangalore than it does in central Manhattan! I’m sure your hotel will be comfortable. Do you know how close it is to the office and whether you’ll need to get taxis between the two? Small taxis are plentiful in Mumbai – well, they were when I was there, but that was ten years ago – and are cheap once you know the price. The people over in the Indian should be able to offer you lots of advice.

I’m sure the guys & girls in the Mumbai office will also be more than happy to show you something of the city, so your evenings and weekends might not be as quiet as you think. If they ask you ask you, accept.. It should give you an insight into the place you wouldn’t get as a tourist. If the IPL is still on whilst you're still there, it would definitely be an experience going along to a game. You might want to grab yourself a Lonely Planet guide, especially if you’re planning on staying on for a week or two to do some travelling.

I don’t know if you’ve been to India before, or even Asia, but if you haven’t it’s going to come a big culture shock. You might find the first couple of weeks particularly tough: the crowds, the dirt, the poverty, the weather. Definitely stick to bottled water for drinking, but I usually brush my teeth with tap water as that gets a small amount of local bacteria into your system. Curd (local yoghurt) is also good for settling an upset stomach and helping it adapt. You’re probably going to have a couple of days when you’re making a few rushed visits to the toilets, but try not to reach for the antibiotics unless you’re really ill. The problem with them is that they kill everything in your gut, including the bacteria that can help you, so when you start eating again you can actually end up worse. Just stick to plain food – rice, chappatis, curd, chai – or even starve for twenty-four hours and then ease yourself back onto the food again. The food is great, and you’ll have a huge variety of Indian cuisines to sample in Mumbai.

[squirrel_hunter]

Well I'd like to thank everyone for their replies, however, at the moment it looks like the trip is on hold. It basically comes down to my employment status.

I have no idea when my finish date will be. And this is the problem. Going over there would be a fantastic experience but coming back to no job would not be. And I can't go to an interview very well if I'm not in the country.

I've had a chat with the powers that be and they understand the situation, they would like me to go but understand why I'm hesitant. While I am happy and willing to help out I can't limit my opportunities here and the company says that they can't do anything more to make it worth my while due to the TUPE regulations, which I'm not sure about. If I find a new job here would my new employer be willing to wait while I go overseas, and when I come back will I be redundant or will I then need to resign? If I go over and come back to no job, how long will it take me to find a new job and will my redundancy last that long?

Its all up in the air, so many uncertainty's, it would seam if I get a job here I will have to resign and loose out on the redundantcy and this opportunity. If I stay, do the trip and then be made redundant, how long will it take me to find a new job. But if I stay and don't go how much will I be kicking myself...

[Philbo]

Sounds like you've made a sensible decision. Don't know how long it's been since you've been looking for work, so forgive me if I'm stating the obvious! I've always worked in heavy Engineering, in Scotland, which means i've been dealing with redundancies and company closures all my working life. In these situations it pays to decide what sort of jobs you are happy to apply for, and make up 2 or 3 standard CV's ready to go. One dumbed down version for the not so well paid but easier to find job, one trumpet tooting CV where you make brushing your teeth in the morning sound amazing, and one in the middle that's something close to the truth! Don't think twice about dropping degrees or training, or to play down any work achievements for the "dumbed down" CV. The last thing you want is to be deemed "over-qualified". Don't mention anything that you wouldn't be 100% comfortable talking about, and be honest with yourself here. When it comes to an interview it's easy to spot when someone is stretching the truth to point they actually make themselves feel awkward.

Good luck with the job hunting.