AmProWoLo: practice it a few times, and it will start rolling off the tongue. “AmProWoLo” is an attempt at abbreviating the lengthy “American Professional Women in London.” There you go—make more sense?
I probably need not go into too much length to explain the self-explanatory, but I will divulge that the American Professional Women in London group is one that you can join for FREE on Meetup.com (pending membership approval).
I wish I could say that, in working in the relocation industry, I see an even spit between male and female trailing spouses. And I don’t know about you, but I hate the term “trailing spouse”—I moved for my husband’s job, so I resent the connotation that I merely came “trailing” after as though my carcass left a path in the dust as I was dragged here by my hair. Anyways, the fact is that, in most situations we see involving a trailing spouse, it is usually the wife.
If this applies to you, even though you may be excited about the adventure a London move will bring, it can inevitably lead to frustration if you’re a professional and not able to easily find that on-ramp back into your profession in the UK. It may be due to unavailability of relevant positions in the job market, or, if your profession requires certification like nursing and teaching, you will have reciprocity of your qualifications to deal with***. And regardless of whether you’re job-searching or gainfully employed here, networking reigns as your means to success, professionally and personally. As a professional woman living in London, I cannot stress enough how important it is to build those support networks around you when you have to start from scratch upon relocating here.
And so, AmProWoLo will give you both your professional and personal networking fixes, so check out their profile online and see what events are coming up to attend! The next one on the agenda is 19 May for only £10.
Ladies, if you’re seeking to get involved in other American women’s clubs in the London area and willing to pay a fee (if you’re a mother, they’re also excellent for connecting with others so your children can have an enriching social life in London as well!), there is also:
- London-wide: American Women’s Club Ltd. of London
- Popular American neighborhoods: Kensington & Chelsea Women’s Club and St. John’s Wood Women’s Club
- Religious community: American Church in London
And don’t forget that London Relocation Ltd.‘s London Living forum is another fabulous place to network—I’ve met a stellar group of amazing women through this group who greatly empathize with the complexities of being a confident and capable woman who has been uprooted from one environment and looking to seize this next one by storm!
***Nurses must have at least 1 year of full-time nursing experience in the U.S. before being able to set out on the bureaucratic paper-trail that will officially UK-certify you in a few months’ time. Home-country-certified teachers can initially teach here for 4 years—with the tremendous help of teaching agencies, like Classroom Canada—but at the end of those 4 years must have obtained UK qualification to continue.
