Atlantic Exchange

Work and Job Interviews

• Matt.peckover

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The Great Work Debate: UK vs. US - Job Interviews, Firing & Benefits!

Join Jerry and Matt in this hilarious yet insightful discussion as they dive deep into the world of work in the UK and the US. From awkward job interviews and getting fired on the spot, to vacation time and pension plans, they cover all the nitty-gritty details. Ever wondered why Americans can sue so easily or why UK workers are obsessed with tea breaks? Get ready for a rollercoaster of banter, unexpected stories, and a sprinkling of dodgy advice. Whether you're looking for career tips or just a good laugh, this episode has got you covered!

00:00 Introduction and Greetings
00:34 Travel and Holiday Plans
01:25 Parenting and Vacation Realities
01:52 Humorous Banter and Regional Stereotypes
06:08 Celebrity Talk and Awkward Segues
09:05 Work and Job Interview Experiences
18:24 A Nightmare Interview Experience
18:57 Navigating Job Interviews
20:03 The Interview Process: Then and Now
22:07 First Day on the Job
23:27 Job Security and At-Will Employment
28:14 Vacation and Time Off
32:26 Understanding Pensions and 401(k)s
36:46 Quitting Your Job: Notice Periods
38:23 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Instagram @atlanticexchangepod

Matt:

Good afternoon. Good morning, Jerry. How are you?

Jerry:

Good. How are you, Matt?

Matt:

Yeah, what, what episode are we on now? Is it 7, 8, 9? Oh, no, it's four. Just four. It's four. We're still here. The police haven't been around to arrest us yet, so,

Jerry:

The fourth

Matt:

but then I don't think, yeah, but I don't think they're one of the two people that have listened to it, so that's probably why. Yeah,

Jerry:

It'll, it'll get to them eventually, I'm sure.

Matt:

it'll get filtered through. So how's your week been?

Jerry:

Uh, it's been a good week. A lot of travel for work, uh, but we are back home, so how about yourself?

Matt:

Uh, yeah, as you know, I went down to Cornwall the weekend. I was hoping we could do an episode from there

Jerry:

Yeah,

Matt:

I was next the Atlantic, but we've had to push back, uh, recording this week. So we'll be doing a double this week. So let's hope by the end of the week we're just not completely dry on what we have to talk about.'cause it's pretty dry to start with. So

Jerry:

it

Matt:

we're not starting, we're not starting. Great as it starts. So let's see. Um. But yeah, no, it's a decent, decent week. Uh, I'm off on holiday next week as well, so that's another reason why we've gotta double up this week. Yeah, so I'm off to Dubai on Monday,

Jerry:

Ooh,

Matt:

so, so we'll not be film sunbathing. Drinking alcohol, obviously that's frowned upon, um, putting the kids in kids club,

Jerry:

Very good. That's

Matt:

by the pool, drink and alcohol.

Jerry:

right.

Matt:

What else do you do on holiday when you've got kids?

Jerry:

Uh, suffer one, um,

Matt:

Yep.

Jerry:

have fun historically.

Matt:

Yeah,

Jerry:

Uh, and go to the pool.

Matt:

same, same stuff. Same stuff you do at home, but just with a pool, basically.

Jerry:

No,

Matt:

Yeah, yeah.

Jerry:

can still take your kids on vacation. It's just ruined now. That's it.

Matt:

Hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can go anywhere you want a vacation. It's just, it's just shittier than it would've been without one. It's,

Jerry:

And double the

Matt:

yeah.

Jerry:

What are you gonna do, you know?

Matt:

Yeah, it's it's strange though, isn't it? You are.'cause you are, it's double the price for two reasons.'cause A, you're taking two other people with you and also you're going in a time which is more expensive'cause you have to go to school holidays, so,

Jerry:

No, it's, it's terrible. The problem is that I love them. If I didn't love them, it would be a lot easier.

Matt:

oh, it's be much easier. Yeah. So basically anyone that's listening, um, that hasn't got kids, um, don't basically,

Jerry:

that's

Matt:

there you go. That's it. That's a parenting advice. Yeah,

Jerry:

anything away from this podcast,

Matt:

yeah. Yeah. If you've, if you've saved or if you've saved up, uh,$10,000 to have a reverse on a vasectomy'cause you're thinking about having some children, um, I would say take that$10,000 and go to the Maldives. Yeah. Because those memories will last forever, aren't they?

Jerry:

to Dubai and Sunbath naked with some alcohol, as Matt will be doing shortly.

Matt:

Yeah. I think. Two of those things are probably illegal. Um,

Jerry:

Which

Matt:

one of them's allowed in the hotel, but one of them's not.

Jerry:

I would,

Matt:

It's a,

Jerry:

is it because you're not allowed around the school zone? Where's the hotel?

Matt:

well, the hotel's in Dubai, but you, so yes. It's, it is, it's not. So just to confirm, it's not a dry nudist hotel. It's a regular hotel, but they allow drinking, so it's just, it's gonna be, yeah. Do you think, I've never been to a nudist hotel. Firstly, do they exist? I imagine they do. And then secondly, I assume they're adults only. They don't have a kids club. Do they

Jerry:

afraid where this conversation's going, but I'll, I'll still rock with it. Right. Um,

Matt:

entertain me?

Jerry:

so. I mean, I know in Florida they have'em for sure.

Matt:

It is in nudist hotels.

Jerry:

hotels, they have nudist

Matt:

But

Jerry:

as well.

Matt:

but, and this is a very silly question, but they are adults only, aren't they?

Jerry:

would hope so. I, I, I think so.

Matt:

Yeah, I, I, as I say out loud, it's, it's, I mean, if not, the police should just be waiting outside that hotel. It's like, it's just like a trap room, isn't it? As, as they get off the, off the bus. Just get straight into the police car.

Jerry:

Uh, I mean, that might be a good idea for, uh, to catch a predator. I don't know if that's, do you have to catch a predator on, uh, in the uk?

Matt:

No. So what we have is we have, uh, short clips on Instagram of people. Just do it themselves. So we to catch a predator as an actual, a sanctioned show by the police. I think the police were in on it and they did all the filming. What we have is just vigilantes, which, uh, pretend to be young people online, invite them over, and then sit and arrest them,

Jerry:

Right, right.

Matt:

which obviously sits in rent.

Jerry:

you couldn't really do it in the UK because all of Manchester would be arrested. But anyways,

Matt:

You really are trying to stop our Northern listeners, aren't you? I dunno what you've got with it.

Jerry:

it's a

Matt:

I mean, we don't,

Jerry:

the country. The North, I.

Matt:

we don't, we don't have a big listener base, but you're already taken out a couple of million there. They just automatically don't wanna listen.

Jerry:

Listen, if there's one thing, the Northerners love is good banter, so they might appreciate it. Who

Matt:

Yeah. So last week it was Liverpool's Don't Work

Jerry:

That's right. Yeah,

Matt:

liver Poland. And, and this week it's mancunian's are pedophiles.

Jerry:

exactly. A good

Matt:

What's next week?

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

Uh, Birmingham.

Jerry:

we'll, we'll figure it

Matt:

Yeah. People from nor like to have sex with their relatives. That's,

Jerry:

north?

Matt:

uh, it's a good question. So, to anyone, uh, from the M 20 South M 25? Yes.

Jerry:

Okay.

Matt:

Uh, technically it's the Midlands and it's called, and because it's the Midlands, it's obviously the middle of the land. It's, it's not, it's halfway, but, but to some of us, we go, yeah, you're sort of up, you're up north.'cause you have to travel up north to get there. So you're northern,

Jerry:

yeah. But that's like

Matt:

you're not, you're not.

Jerry:

and Hove saying, London's, you know, folks in London are northerners.

Matt:

Yeah. But that's just, that's just, that's fucked up, isn't it? Because that's not, you know,

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

it's, it's London Central. And then anything south for that Southern,

Jerry:

People from Birmingham seem normal to me. That's why immediately place them in the Northerner category.

Matt:

yeah. But who do you know from Birmingham?

Jerry:

Work related. Um, just out and about, met people from Birmingham. It's a big city, man. Still haven't

Matt:

Let's look.

Jerry:

We must go.

Matt:

So, so obviously famous Birmingham, people from Birmingham, the most famous Aussie Osborne. God rest his soul. I've never said he is come across as a normal person though. Um, I mean that was his niche and that's what he sold himself on.

Jerry:

talented.

Matt:

Yep. Uh,

Jerry:

Very

Matt:

who else we've got, we've got

Jerry:

well, but you know.

Matt:

Kenny Baker, uh, he played R 2D two in Star Wars.

Jerry:

No idea who that is.

Matt:

Christine Mc v's. From there. So she was in Fleetwood Mac, so I did not know that. Um,

Jerry:

Nothing.

Matt:

ti uh, Alison Hammond, you, you're not aware of her. That's for our British, British fans. Um, and that, that's it. If, if fifth on the list it's giving is Alison Hammond, then, then we know that. Yeah.

Jerry:

the conversation of you trying to introduce me to steps from Liverpool and I'm

Matt:

So,

Jerry:

I

Matt:

so step,

Jerry:

these people

Matt:

so steps Steps aren't from Liverpool. They are,

Jerry:

Are you sure?

Matt:

yeah. Yeah. So, so they are from all over the place. So one guy was from Wows.

Jerry:

Uh.

Matt:

another guy is from Chester. That's not far, that's not helping me out there. Uh, another girl is from, where is she from?

Jerry:

We need a, we need

Matt:

She's, she,

Jerry:

Equi equivalent of Jamie just to like pull up facts randomly for us.

Matt:

uh, so, so there's one guy, he's Welsh, but so recently in the news and obviously I don't really like to talk about, uh, we tried to steal away from the child abuse stories. So I dunno if you heard, uh, did you hear the weekend? A prolific pedophile got murdered in prison over here.

Jerry:

No. What's going on?

Matt:

Alright, so was in a band in the early two thousands, quite big. Had some big hits. It turned out he did some horrific stuff, which we can't even talk about on a podcast, but mainly child abuse. Went to prison quite rightly. He got stabbed in the neck on Saturday and killed.

Jerry:

Great news.

Matt:

He shares, but he shares the same name with someone from steps, which makes me feel very sorry for this guy from steps because he is in steps firstly, but also, I mean.

Jerry:

You know what I'm saying?

Matt:

No, but it's, it's, it's basically, so Ian Watkins is the guy that, that got murdered, but Ian from Steps, he has to go by Ian h Watkins, just in case anyone's confusing him with a prolific pedophile. So they're not thinking.

Jerry:

man.

Matt:

Oh, I like those steps. That's some good songs with 5, 6, 7, 8. But it's the child abuse i, I, I struggle to get past. It's a completely different people. It's not like he left steps to go and join a rock band and then become a pedophile.

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

different people. But yeah, one of them is now, one of'em is now dead. Uh, one of them is, uh, in steps, which you might as well be dead sometimes. So.

Jerry:

Matt, I feel like this is gonna be a great segue, uh, to our current topic today.

Matt:

Child abuse of being dead.

Jerry:

We got here

Matt:

So our, our topic date is actually work. So I dunno how, how we're finding that as a segue into that. I think we need to practice segues and

Jerry:

do.

Matt:

Google what a segue is. Maybe just look up what a segue

Jerry:

gonna just,

Matt:

is. Is it,

Jerry:

you Google

Matt:

is it,

Jerry:

is

Matt:

can you, can you please? Yeah. Well, the complete opposite segue, so I don't listen to Mr. Beast, does he have a guy called Jamie that just Google stuff and tells him facts in his ears? Joe Rogan. Sorry. Not, not, not Mr. Beast.

Jerry:

Wait, who? Who are

Matt:

All right. Mr. Beast.

Jerry:

Mr. Beast? I don't even know if he has a podcast. might.

Matt:

dunno. I, he's some, he's online. Um,

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

other podcasts I talk to, they just, they just Google it while they're talking because, yeah. Which, you know, we don't have a, we don't have a Jamie, so that's what we do.

Jerry:

Not yet. We will

Matt:

Not yet. Not yet. One day we'll be there interviewing, uh, Ian h Watkins from Steps.

Jerry:

right.

Matt:

He'll be in the studio with us while we Google stuff. So what are we talking about? Work? Yeah. So do you work? I

Jerry:

I do work. I do work. Are, are you comfortable sharing what we do for work before we

Matt:

we, uh.

Jerry:

men?

Matt:

I think we can go into what we do, but we just don't go into company names because again, so I'm, I'm a project manager, very office based, very run of the mill. For a lot of our listeners out there, they probably do same sort of things. Clerical, clerical, office based stuff, nine to five, work from home, couple of days a week yourself.

Jerry:

Yes, I am a managing director at a foreign exchange firm. Um, managing sales operations.

Matt:

Very niche. You've, you've gone, you've got a niche. I kept mine broad so we could, you know, stay relatable to our listeners. You've gone very niche, so.

Jerry:

Should I just say I can, I can redo that real quick here.

Matt:

Yeah. I mean, no,'cause we don't cut on this. We, we, we rolling. But again, for granted, I do know one person that relates to that, but that's, that's different. That's'cause we've worked, we've worked similar jobs before.

Jerry:

have,

Matt:

Um, so yeah, I suppose what we wanna talk about is the difference between working in America, working in the uk. Um, let's go, we'll go through the job interview process. We'll go through work life. Do you drink at work? What standard working hours leave and that, and let's just, we'll just compare that.'cause I think, I think that's different. So I think we should start, we haven't got the jobs yet. We're talking about job interviews now. Talk me through a typical start to end US job application process. Like the time, what you have to do.

Jerry:

Yep. So you're, you're either applying online or recruiters reaching out to you on LinkedIn or something within that realm. And the interview process itself is really about the candidate boasting, right? So what have you accomplished? Um, what targets do you have, have you reached them? How do, how well do you work with others? Um, it, it's really. Even if it's not a sales job, you are selling yourself to some capacity. Right? Um, and just trying to make yourself stand out from all the candidates. What, what, what does the UK

Matt:

same. So it's the same here. I mean, obviously they always say when they ask you a question, the most typical one is the star response, the situation, task, action result. And they all, I hear things like, don't say we did this. Always say I did this. So. I mean, there's times that doesn't work. Like, you know, you don't wanna say as a company, I brought the company down or I, I was, I was, I was part of a large global scandal. I dunno. But yes, it's very much that. Um, I find that job interviews are a lot more relaxed than they used to be. Uh.

Jerry:

they're still very intense here.

Matt:

Yeah, I've had some and they, they just felt like casual chats and they've rung me up and said, yeah, okay, your next round. And it's just, okay.

Jerry:

Yeah,

Matt:

But

Jerry:

I've interviewed for UK firms in the US I feel like the, the recruiter is essentially looking for a rockstar. And in the UK they just want somebody that doesn't embarrass them at the Christmas party. That's, that's the, that's the prerequisite.

Matt:

it is that, and someone they can go, then they can go for a beer with.

Jerry:

Exactly. Exactly.

Matt:

if, if I'm, if I'm hiring, I'm thinking, can I spend eight hours a day with this person and actually talk to'em about something I wanna talk about? I don't care. They can do the job or not. I just wanna be able to talk to, yeah. Um, have you got any, and this has to be yourself, anyone, you know, any bad interview stories?

Jerry:

Oh.

Matt:

Oh

Jerry:

mean, I've, I've been, um, I've been pretty solid. I have interview stories with folks that I've interviewed. I.

Matt:

yeah, let's go with that. Yeah. Yeah.

Jerry:

that have, that have given me some pretty wild responses. So I think a very typical response, sorry, a very typical question would be, Hey, where do you see yourself in 2, 3, 5 years? Um, and I think the worst answer I've ever gotten was hopefully still employed, so that that doesn't really set the bar too high uh,

Matt:

hopefully it's the hopefully, isn't it? Yeah. I'm trying to think of any that I've in, I've had some that've just been, but they've just been bad candidates, so that's, you know, that's not on them. That's just, they're just terrible people. And, you know, punching high.

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

some, for myself, I think one, I, I don't think I wanted the job. I think I've been made redundant, so I was just, you know, you go that you just, you apply for a hundred jobs

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

trying to net an interview. And they were telling me about the job, and it just sounded so boring. It was nothing about, it sounded exciting. The people sounded very dry, and I was thinking, I don't, I don't want this job. But it came across my body language. I started just sort of sitting there, just like swinging in the chair left to right, and that came back in. The feedback that, and they said he didn't seem very interested. He was swinging in his chair. I was like, okay, well I've, I've done my job there.

Jerry:

seven years.

Matt:

Years now, ironically it was with a swinging chair company. So, um, one of my favorite ones bits of feedback and I've actually, I might print this feedback out'cause I have it in email. So I interviewed with a company. In a very similar, um, similar industry to what I've worked many years in. Same, same role, same sort of company. It was like a competitor basically. So basically it was like I was, they could copy and paste me into this job. I, I knew sort of everything about that and they, I interviewed with a load of people. It went really well. They. Then the fee, I didn't hear anything. A couple of weeks I chased for feedback. I was saying, right. It's been weeks now, I haven't got the job, but I just wanna know why.'cause it was basically, I was probably one of the best candidates for it. And the feedback come back when, uh, Matt is technically perfect for this job. He's his experience for making, from day one, be able to hit the ground running, but we're just not sure if he was a right fit for the team. So basically that came across for us. He's great, but we don't like him.

Jerry:

The guy can do the job. Shit. Personality though, my goodness.

Matt:

Yeah, it is absolutely tosser, but you know.

Jerry:

if it

Matt:

Yeah. And it was like, what?

Jerry:

I think you have a fantastic personality. I hope that helps.

Matt:

Yeah, but you think I'm shitting my job a another good story I heard was actually this one doesn't involve, yeah, this one doesn't involve me. A friend told me this one, so. And this goes on to our next, our next part of the topic because do you ever lie on your cv?

Jerry:

Yeah,

Matt:

Yes or no? I mean, you're worried.

Jerry:

I mean,

Matt:

I mean, I mean, you've taught me this. You should, you've got, you've gotta up the numbers, haven't you? You kind of rookie numbers out there. Could you? There's rookie numbers. Yeah.

Jerry:

you

Matt:

So

Jerry:

that you've jerked off? You gotta put out Those are rookie

Matt:

it's under per personal hobbies, isn't it? Um. See, I didn't used to do that and I wasn't getting job interviews. Um, I've had it before where I've let chat EPT, just do my cv, send it off in the interview, but it's, it's just put random shit in there that I've done. I didn't read it. I had the interview and they're going, oh. So apparently you, you've got experience with this system. I don't have I

Jerry:

Have I?

Matt:

since when.

Jerry:

That's

Matt:

Yeah, but one of my friends, um, he, he really overcooked his cv'cause it was for like a, like an, yeah, it was like a next level up. So we're talking like a, like a nearly a C-suite level job.

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

And he got an interview for it and it was, I think the, I think he said the interview last lasted about two minutes. So basically they got in the interview, looked at his CV and they went. With him in on teams, whatever. I don't think it was in person, it was on teams and they just went openly. How did this guy get in front of us and they just called it a day and let him go.

Jerry:

let's, let's.

Matt:

Yeah, I think, I think we, we've got half hour free now and our diaries guys, we can back this up. Let's go.

Jerry:

someone in HR definitely got fired that day,

Matt:

Yeah, definitely. I've been in a job interview and they didn't know it was a, they were a job, it was an interview. They didn't realize they were interviewing me, so. Again, I get an interview, they join, they think I'm just an employee, a new employee, and it's like an introduction.

Jerry:

right.

Matt:

and they went, so like, I can't remember what the job title was, but they went, oh, you are only sort of product manager. Uh, just introduce ourselves. It's like, no, this is a job interview. You are interviewing me for a different role. And they were like, oh, so they weren't prepared and they were then pissed off that they were on the back foot and they were just being really shitty to me and asking me these sort of questions, which, and they'd ask me these questions and go, oh, so what would you know about Linux coding? And I would say, well, as a role as a project manager, absolutely nothing. I wouldn't expect to do that. So then they're pissed off again. So I was like, you don't even know the job spec. So I gave my feedback to the recruiter after I went, I, they didn't know they were interviewing me. It was a really bad experience. I didn't get the job. So how I'm employed, I do not know

Jerry:

Yeah. Listen, that's, I've never, I've never been in such a horrendous situation. I

Matt:

Now I've been in loads. Loads,

Jerry:

them the entire time at a certain point.

Matt:

yeah. There was a point when I was thinking again, I think I was, didn't have a job. So there's times when. You have to be online. I just need a job. But when I've got a job and it's an interview and I don't like it, then yeah, I'm gonna have some fun with it. Then at this point, it's, you've got that safety net, haven't you?

Jerry:

Right.

Matt:

confidence.

Jerry:

I. I just, you know, I think I know how to play the game.'cause I, I've, I've managed all the questions already, right? I, I've been through

Matt:

Yeah.

Jerry:

Here it's, it's really just about boasting yourself and we have an open door policy, right. That, that's a big sort of recruitment specialty that we say to candidates versus in the UK it's, closed. Please knock. Right. It, it's just, you got, you just gotta know the

Matt:

Yeah, it, it is open door, but the door's closed and you need to knock. Yeah, and, and wait. You have to book an appointment and then I'll wait outside the open door and then I'll come and open the open door for you.

Jerry:

And wait till I have my second tea and then we can chat.

Matt:

Yeah. Okay. So there's the interview. So then what's the process from start to finish? So when you apply for a job, um, what's a, what's your then length to get an, an offer? Let's not talk about notice period.'cause they, they're different. But your offer is that sort of weeks, months.

Jerry:

Yeah, it's, it's a good question. I, I think that before we get to the offer, I feel like maybe 15 years ago, it used to be maybe three rounds max. Now interviews are five, six rounds. Um, and then you have to wait for an offer maybe two, three weeks later after they've sort of sorted all of the candidates out and filtered out who they think, is sort of their top tier to level two, level three.

Matt:

Okay. Um, see, I get that. I always feel it's. They're just, they put the offer out to others and then they might say no. And that's why,'cause when you've had that final interview, if you haven't heard for a couple of weeks, they're like, oh, we're still getting feedback. I always think, well, you've offered to someone else but you're waiting to see.'cause you probably would've offered that within a week or two.

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

So if, if they go, oh, we're still waiting for feedback, two weeks later, you are waiting to see if that person confirms before you let everyone know.

Jerry:

Yeah. To be fair, it also gives you leverage if you, um, if you are number two or three that they've asked, you can ask for more money. They're, they're sort of in a bind. They need someone to fill that role.

Matt:

Yeah, I suppose you don't know if they're another, you, another two, but yeah, that's a good point, isn't it? Yeah. Um, yeah, I suppose it's about, I would say it's about four to six weeks maybe from applying to actually maybe getting an offer.

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

Yeah. And then, then you'd notice a period, uh, normally about three. Obviously it depends on the job. Maybe some senior ones, but normally you might have your screening call might be with their internal talent team. Then you might have one with the hiring manager and then a second one with someone else in the team or senior manager. And that's normally enough. I've never had more than three

Jerry:

As you know, I've worked for a UK firm. We worked together, uh, and it was about the same three, four years ago.

Matt:

quite tough for McDonald's drive through, I thought personally, but you know,

Jerry:

Yeah, yeah. It was, it was intense.

Matt:

it's. Naming all the hamburger as children. I don't know.

Jerry:

Matt, you have the job, you're

Matt:

Mm-hmm.

Jerry:

in first day. What are

Matt:

Yeah. For me or them,

Jerry:

for both?

Matt:

for me that week, I'm probably gonna be on my best behavior. Probably gonna look like I'm working hard. Not gonna leave early.

Jerry:

Yeah, yeah,

Matt:

That will soon. That will soon change. Especially post probation. Right? It. But um, uh. I think it's just acting, looking busy. I'm probably gonna be dressed a lot smarter than I would be for the rest of my career there. I'm very basically a very reserved, a very different person to what they get for the rest of their time with me. So it's, you know,

Jerry:

every day or are

Matt:

I.

Jerry:

French style? What's, what's going on here?

Matt:

I mean, I mean as a, oh, okay. The French cha now are getting tracked into this. Okay, fair enough. Um, as a decent human being, I shower every day anyway. So even if I was unemployed and I'll sit in at home, I would still get up and shower. So, I mean, I dunno what you do when you work from home. You bother having a shower

Jerry:

Oh, well, certainly not. I'm just joking, obviously. Yeah. I just, I need to, I need to, I need, that's my wake up essentially.

Matt:

that where you jerk off. So you need to.

Jerry:

Yeah, yeah,

Matt:

Yeah, that shame off of you. Okay, well that's good to know.

Jerry:

yeah. Yeah.

Matt:

Um, so yes, we got, we've got the jobs now, I suppose things like, okay, so things don't go well. You pass probation, but things go badly quickly. You can get fired in America like that, can't you? It's like, thanks for coming, but you're gone.

Jerry:

even if you have a new job, you still go towards interviews, right? You, you, you always keep some options in the back burner.

Matt:

You always just have a couple of burners that you can, so maybe every couple of months you might just look for a job and I give you applied for. Yeah. So what's your, if, if your, if your work decided today, we don't want Jerry anymore, would you be out the door today?

Jerry:

Of course, yeah.

Matt:

There's no HR process, no part law protection or anything like that.

Jerry:

HR would probably the news, but that's it. That's the

Matt:

I mean, I'm talking, I'm talking, you haven't done anything wrong. It's not, it's not firing from gross misconduct. They just decided we don't like Jerry, or we don't want his department anymore. Either or. Either way, you could be gone that day.

Jerry:

it's a great question. Essentially, most employers here, or most employment here is at will.

Matt:

Okay. Explain.

Jerry:

Yeah. So essentially

Matt:

I.

Jerry:

you sign your agreement to, to work for a firm in the us, you're essentially an at will employer or employee. So they can fire you for any reason at any time, or no reason at all,

Matt:

You see that, that's harsh, isn't it? It's, yeah. I, I mean, I feel for people that would relocate, so if I, if I got a job in the States and relocated out there, I could literally move out there and then one day and go, do you know what? You're gone.

Jerry:

Absolutely. It's a huge risk. It's a huge risk. You, you have to get some, some, some items in writing, perhaps a signing bonus, right? Something to sort of sort you out before you get there.

Matt:

Yeah, so you just need that. So you always need a little nest egg so you've got tied over. See here if, if, again, if there's no sort of gross misconduct, if work wanted get rid of me, there'd have to be sort of a, uh, there'd have to be a month sort of, uh. Process of redundancy, or even if it was work, my work wasn't good enough, it'd have to go through some sort of performance review and things like that. So you're looking at least of four, minimum four weeks, maybe six weeks till till you'd be gone. So at least you've got that time to start looking for a job.

Jerry:

Historically, we still do a performance improvement plan or a performance review here.

Matt:

So.

Jerry:

but we don't have to. That's, that's the scary part.

Matt:

Yeah, that's just them being nice to look nice.'cause the, the stocks. Yeah.

Jerry:

It's, it's to remove legal liability in the US you can sue for anything unlike the uk. So that is, I guess, sort of the, leverage that the employer has or the employee, sorry.

Matt:

So, uh, see this is where I go. So how can you sue if you are at will and you can get fired instantly, what sort of scenarios could you sue'em back for?

Jerry:

If you felt like, uh, you were being discriminated against?

Matt:

Oh, okay. Right.

Jerry:

Yeah. A whole host of reasons. Um,

Matt:

So there still things like, um, unfair dismissal.

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

Right. Okay. Yeah. You, you do like to sue. That's, that's, it's kind of like your go-to.

Jerry:

yeah, yeah. The Americans, that's our, that's our favorite baseball and suing. We're

Matt:

Yeah. But, but like, some of the silliest cases you think wouldn't win, end up winning. You think, well, that's just set a really shitty precedent now that that's,

Jerry:

Yeah,

Matt:

that's the go-to.

Jerry:

normally just settle, right? So who, who wants to go through a lengthy trial or arbitration process and, and these large companies, instead of paying 2030 K and legal fees, here's 10 K. Leave us alone.

Matt:

Yeah. Where did I hear a story about someone dropping a watermelon and they sued? Because I don't think this was in a film. I think someone told me this story. It was about, uh, so what it was someone come out of a. Grocery store with a watermelon. They dropped it on the road and I think then they, they either went to get it and got hit by a car. So they sued the, the grocery store for the watermelon being two rounds that they couldn't hold it. And they dropped it and they won.

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

And, and I remember asking, thinking, well, how the, how the, how, how the fuck does that even work?

Jerry:

the level of roundness.

Matt:

It was because the shop had insurance and they went, people just hate insurance companies. They just think, well, fuck it. The,

Jerry:

yeah, yeah.

Matt:

the insurance company's gonna pay out for that.

Jerry:

And I'm sure

Matt:

And we just hate insurance companies. So that's why they always side with those, sort of, those complaints, I think. But that just doesn't make sense'cause it sets a, a really shitty precedent now that if a, if a guy didn't have that insurance, he was just running a melon stand from the side of the road. The another complaint could go well. Yeah, they sued for it. So what's the saying? These are around watermelons and then that little guy with the watermelon truck, he's gonna get sued.

Jerry:

I'll be open with you. All I heard is later today I'm gonna go watermelon shopping. So.

Matt:

Yeah. Okay. Then you gonna ho hollow it out.

Jerry:

It's that easy.

Matt:

Yeah. You are writing a shopping list, aren't you? Ah, watermelon. Yeah. Yeah.

Jerry:

Just going back and

Matt:

Okay, so we we're getting on there. Um. Uh, so how much vacation time do you get?

Jerry:

Two weeks historically, uh, when you start, which is pretty low in comparison to the UK I'm sure. Uh, and then it sort of raises a day or two every year. Or as you get seniority, you get promotions.

Matt:

And then what about this one? I'm gonna get, uh, Jamie, can you just Google something? Uh, yeah, I'm just gonna look this way by Jamie Googles it. Um, what's your, what other time off am I getting apart from those two weeks?

Jerry:

Holidays, national Holidays. So Christmas, new Year's, um, veteran's Day, labor's Day, labor Day. So historically just national holidays, federal holidays, and obviously your, days or your vacation days.

Matt:

Okay, so I am looking up, so we have standard is about four, four weeks off.

Jerry:

I

Matt:

Holiday, sometimes five, but let's say standard four, uh, the lowest case, no one's really, not many people do less than that. Um, and then you get the public holidays off as well. So there are, there are eight of them in England. So you are looking at between, we're getting nearly sort of six weeks, six to six and a half weeks off a year.

Jerry:

So

Matt:

How many us.

Jerry:

fucking around, which is beautiful.

Matt:

Yeah. And then we work from home some days as well. So, uh, and then how many US public holidays are there

Jerry:

Nine

Matt:

be?

Jerry:

maybe. If you could have Jamie

Matt:

So there,

Jerry:

be great.

Matt:

yeah, so there's, so it says here, so hang on. What's that, Jamie? So there's, uh, 11 official federal holidays. Now, do you get all of them off?

Jerry:

yes. Uh, summer floating like Columbus Day, which, which just passed.

Matt:

Okay. That was that yester. Was that yesterday? Okay. So when you say floating, what does that mean?

Jerry:

Uh, you can take the holiday or you can work. On that day, and then you can just use it as a day off for another day.

Matt:

Oh, right, okay. See, I thought that. Some of the holidays they didn't. So say there was, this is where I've either misheard it or other other companies. There's some that they definitely give you and you take that off and outta the floating ones. I dunno how many there are. They let you have some and you choose. Are you gonna have say, labor Day or Columbus Day?

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

Is that a thing or have I made that up?

Jerry:

No, no. Depends on the state. Depends on the firm. It it, you know.

Matt:

So do you get all, do you get all 11 off? So you get on top of your two weeks, you get,

Jerry:

do.

Matt:

you're gonna get another 11 days. So that's another two weeks. Okay. Uh, and what else do you say you get as well? So you get your 11 public holidays, um, you've got your, in your two weeks and then anything. But then you have sick days as well, don't you? Now?

Jerry:

it's, no. Most firms, it's a part of the two weeks. Those are just, just PTO days paid time off?

Matt:

So if you were sick tomorrow. That would come out of your PTO.

Jerry:

That is correct.

Matt:

You can't just call in sick.

Jerry:

No. Most

Matt:

Oh, see, that's different.

Jerry:

firms, again, they're, they're, they're changing. think it is becoming more progressive, right? Where a lot of firms are adding sick days or they're adding more holidays, uh, to become more competitive,

Matt:

We don't have a, a legal set day in the uk. We have it that, um, so if I, if I called in work tomorrow, said I was sick. The days off, it's not coming out on any leave. Um, I think I can have up to five days off in a row, and after that I need to bring in a doctor's note. Um,

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

some companies have a set amount of sick leave they might give you, and then they, they'll go, right, we're not gonna pay you. But that's more of things like long-term sick. So like if I was off for six months. There we go. We're not gonna pay you after six months, then you just have to get, go to the government until the government offers you on sick. But if you were off for six months in your job, you're just not getting paid at all.

Jerry:

That is correct.

Matt:

Do you have any sort of cover for that in, do you get any private insurance cover or,

Jerry:

it depends on the state. So in the state of New Jersey where I live, there's quite, quite a bit of coverage. So you can get family leave or medical leave for a couple of weeks. Um, it's not the same everywhere.

Matt:

okay.

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

And then let's say now we're coming. Oh, and then so pensions. So a lot of people listening in the UK Dunno, but you what we call our pension. You call a 401k.

Jerry:

that is

Matt:

Why?

Jerry:

I don't know why the numbers in the letters got mixed up there. Algebra wasn't my best subject in school. Uh, but um, I'm joking. I was actually great at algebra. Uh, the 401k is the retirement program that was created, right. Um, and essentially not subsidized by the government, but it was certainly. Promoted for firms to have it. Um, pensions still happen, still have their pension, so that doesn't,

Matt:

So they're different. Pen 401k and pension are different.

Jerry:

It's historically pensions are for unionized, uh, workers.

Matt:

Uh, okay.

Jerry:

Yeah. But it, it's,

Matt:

So yeah.

Jerry:

more so for oh one ks private sector.

Matt:

Okay, so I've, I've just, Jamie's come back with some facts here. Thank you, Jamie. Uh, a cup of tea when you're, when you're free. And a scotch. A scotch for Jerry there, gentlemen. Um,

Jerry:

eight in the

Matt:

it is just, it is just, it's just a very boring code. On a section of the, in internal internal revenue. So how, you know, have you have like W nines and all these things? 401k is just what it's called. So what that is what we will call our state pension. So we have two pensions out here. We have our state pension, which we will get from the government when we hit retirement age, which is, I think it's, I think it's the same age now. Uh. Jamie, check on that. Uh, it used to be women could retire younger. Uh oh. It's 66 for, um, oh, that's a fucker. So it's 66 for men and women. It used to be like 60 for women and 65 for men. It's now 66 for both. Right. Next year it increases to 67. The year after that is, I know. Then in 2044 it's gonna be 68, the little fuckers, so that's retirement. That's when I can get my pension from 20. 68. So anyway, so that is your private pension.

Jerry:

on you making it?

Matt:

Every time the year goes up, it, it is diminishing slightly, isn't it? Obviously your odds are decreasing. Um, and then you have your private pension, which is what you typically pay into or your work will pay into. So that's different. So they're very different things. To get your state pension, you just have to, you have to work, or if you're not working, you have to be. Claiming some form of benefits, will, will then sort of be paying into that or,

Jerry:

We have, we have

Matt:

um, doing that?

Jerry:

security, essentially.

Matt:

Yeah, so basically as long as you're keeping up your NASH insurance, you get that your private one is, there's no legal. You don't have to have one, but they brought this in. Now, when you start a job, they have to opt you into one and then you have to opt out. But I mean, you could technically put in like 1% of a a month of your salary in there. There's no maximum amount. Um, some jobs top it up to what you put in some or put a chunk of say 5%. It's all different. It's whatever the jobs part of the package. Um, and you can, you can start claiming that from 55, but obviously this, yeah, so technically in, in. You know, 12 years or so, I could start claiming my pension. But um, you don't wanna start, I don't wanna start claiming that early.'cause it's gonna be a lower pot. You might as well keep drilling into it becomes a high pot and then you're gonna get more money.

Jerry:

Right? It sounds like in the US. Retirement is around diversified investments and in the UK it's hopefully I win the national lottery.

Matt:

Yeah, I mean, I would say there's a large majority of people. In the UK whose pensions are not a, a level where they're gonna keep them comfortable.

Jerry:

right.

Matt:

The state pension on its own, uh, I dunno how much you'd get, but it's, it's cost of living. It would, you'd be scraping by. It's, you know, you, you might be, you, you will be able to have your heating on. Things like that. Even with private pensions, we're really bad at thinking about the future. So it's, it's tough. So it was only like. In the past 10 years or so, I've thought, well, I've really gotta start hammering a lot more money into my pension. Especially'cause like you get matching from a company, so if you pay'em 5%, they may pay 5%. So, so it is, it is better to take advantage of that free money really. Um, but yeah, and I suppose the last thing I'll work is right, so you've done that. We're not retiring, we're still in our young ages, but we wanna quit our job now, so. What's it? What's it look like? What sort of notice you gotta give? How does that work? If you wanna quit your job today, when could you be free? When could you be free to be a go-go dancer?

Jerry:

yeah, yeah. So I've, I've considered this and I appreciate you bringing that up. Specifically about my Gole dancing aspirations, uh, two weeks. So historically, or traditionally, you give two weeks. Although this new generation of, uh, gen Z, they just leave.

Matt:

Yeah, I've heard about this. I just don't turn up.

Jerry:

get the fuck out of there. They're just like, Hey,

Matt:

So what's worst case? They're not, they're just not gonna get a reference.

Jerry:

They don't give a shit about a reference. incredible. I don't, I kind of, I kind of respect it.

Matt:

Um, okay. But then they're not thinking about.

Jerry:

the uk,

Matt:

It, it, it depends. Its standard is a month or four weeks, but normally with more senior positions that can go up, so three months, six months, like when you get to a quite high position, it's, it could be up to six months.

Jerry:

Historically here though, if, if you're going to a competitor, just let you go, even if you ask for two weeks and then they'll pay you out for two weeks.

Matt:

Oh, okay. So you go on what we call garden leave.

Jerry:

Yeah.

Matt:

Yeah. Yeah. But,

Jerry:

they're

Matt:

but you can't start, you can't start for two weeks. But yeah, it's just, so I suppose they don't want you around'cause you know you're going to a competitor, you might start siphoning out information. Yeah.

Jerry:

I mean,

Matt:

See that's the thing we have, if we have long, say long notice period of three months, six months. If you're gonna a competitor, they put you on garden leave. So you're just getting paid to sit home for six months. It's, it's the dream. It's the dream.

Jerry:

All right.

Matt:

Um. I think we've, I think we've covered work. I think now anyone that's listening here pretty much knows what it, what it, what it takes to work in either country. I'm sure there's some legal stuff about green cards and that, but I'm, I'm sure that's the easy stuff. As long as you know your pension, you notice period, and you can get fired instantly for masturbating in the office. I think as long as they know those sort of things, I think we're pretty good. Okay, well, I think we're called it there. Um, see you next week.