UK company advises on job prospects in England

Tie-up with Lee Botti Ray Smuts WHETHER OR not you are able to rise to Bill Gates heights in the freight forwarding or travel industries, forget about landing a job in the United Kingdom if correct procedure has not been followed. The bottom line is: no work permit, no employment. Dianne and Colin Cleaver should know all about that for they have been in the personnel recruitment business for 21 years as Forward Prospects Ltd with branches in London, Birmingham and Manchester. The couple - she's chairman, he financial director - are in South Africa for the first time, primarily to soak up the sun but also to further cement their 18-month relationship with personnel consultants Lee Botti & Associates whom they represent in the UK. The Botti-Forward Prospects alliance came about because it was evident to Lee Botti that more South Africans want to work in England than vice versa, explains Dianne. "But they must not think it's easy to be employed because it isn't. A client would want someone with territory expertise so what I would is look for a company with South African connections because then I have something to sell the applicant on: knowledge of the country."