Interview Update

Well, I had my "interview" on Thursday and it went well I think. Although, I don't think I'd ever like to have a real interview over the phone! You really realize how much nonverbal communication goes into something like that and you get NONE with a phone call. Anyway, I had the call with Robin (the recruiter/senior manager that I've been working with) and Holly (a manager who has been there 3 years). They asked me about the sort of work that I do, my reasons for coming to London and my intentions for how long I will stay and things along that line. They also talked about the sort of work they do, the opportunities they have coming down the road and some of the differences and similarities between their US offices and the UK office. As always, I came up with more questions to ask after we hung up, but I know they are available to answer any questions I have. Robin said that from here she will call my references and then present me to the partners in London for approval. I should hear back from her in 2-3 weeks with more details about how we will proceed. In the meantime, I think I will email a couple people with some more of my questions and continue my search for a good area of London to live in.

Interview

I have my formal phone interview tomorrow (Thursday) morning with some people in London. It is just a formality, as I have the job, but it's a good way to make sure we are both on the same page as far as the work I will be doing and expectations as far as advancement and other career opportunities. I am excited to be able to talk to a couple other people besides the ones I have already communicated with. Plus, this marks the first official step from the London side! The process has begun!

In other news...I have no other news about London. I have been really busy at work, so I have only had a little bit of time to read my latest book, GenXpat. It's a really interesting look at life as an expat and a gen X-er. Technically, I am one year behind the gen-X crowd since it ends in 1981, but I find it fitting anyway. What's one year, right? Other books I have read are Expert Expatriate, Living in London, Buying or Renting a Home in London, and a few other general books about transitioning to a life in London. I have some others marked to buy and I am slowly accumulating and learning as I go along. It's been fun and interesting!

Hopefully I'll have some more information after tomorrow's call. I need to get going and write down some questions and make my thoughts coherent...

Life in London! (well, almost)

I thought I would join the masses and start a blog about my new life in London! No promises on how much I will post, but I will try to keep you updated over the next few months as I prepare and make plans and go through all of these crazy logistics. And then the real fun will begin as I start my life in London!

In February, I started exploring the possibility of transferring to my firm's office in London. I am a tax accountant and I do a lot of work with large corporations, not only preparing and reviewing tax returns, but also other consulting and accounting jobs. Our Deloitte London office has a US tax group, which is a perfect fit for me. They do a lot of the same things I already do, but also lay on more mergers & acquisitions work as well as provisions and international tax. Anyway, after speaking with people in the London office and gearing up the courage to speak with my boss in Denver, the process was underway! It took lots of solid arguments and persistent reasoning with my boss on my part, but finally last Thursday (5 months later!!!), he gave me the approval to choose a day to leave Denver and he would approve it. Needless to say, I did not get much work done the rest of the day. My dream had finally become reality!

Since then I have been in touch with my contact in London and she is setting up a formal interview (unfortunately, just over the phone) with 2 people in her office. Then she will check my references in Denver and begin the paperwork process. Thankfully, Deloitte has a solid process and they will take care of all of those details.

I have chosen early January 2008 as my target move date. I hope to be starting my new job by the end of January. That will mark my 3 year anniversary at Deloitte and I think it will be a great way to celebrate!

My next step is to find a place to live in London! I may or may not take a trip over this fall to check things out, but that is still up in the air.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers and I go into this new and exciting phase of my life!