are all the best jobs based in london?

Cubanista

hi,


okay not just the best jobs, but the better paid, and also the most vacancies. would you say it's easier or harder to find work in london?


where i live there isn't much interesting work available. it is all the same crappy minimum wage, slave work. i work in sales but it's really soul destroying most days and i want out of it.


i was going to look for vacancies in london, although i am unsure if most jobs in london are for graduates (i don't have a degree) and therefore be harder to find work as most grads and other job hunters would be thinking the same way as myself.


whenever i speak to people about the job situation (or lack there of) in the area they ask me "what about looking for work in london?" but i don't know.


i guess there are larger towns within my county area, but i think the situations are similar to be honest. i keep hearing people talk about job hunting in london and how london is the place to be.


i do have my reservations, however, because london to me is an urban jungle and i am used to living in the rural country and it's nice and peaceful here. in a way i guess i am intimidated by the big cities as so much is going on at a really fast pace, which is the polar opposite to where i am now.


i do think i am at a disadvantage due to my lack of education though, especially in terms of finding work with larger companies for better pay. my pay is pretty low and i haven't been the most ambitious person in the past but i want to change that and do something different, or similar but with a twist.


any advice?


thanks,


Cubanista.

lincroft1710

You need high wages in London just to be able to live there or pay for an extremely expensive and possibly exhausting daily commute.

Forgot to add, there are plenty of mundane, boring jobs in London.

Cubanista

lincroft1710 wrote: »

You need high wages in London just to be able to live there or pay for an extremely expensive and possibly exhausting daily commute.

Forgot to add, there are plenty of mundane, boring jobs in London.

hey,


yeah that's my worry. i really don't know where else to look for more exciting work. everywhere is saturated with job hunters and i am competing with up to 100 or more job hunters for each job.


arrgghhh life is tough at the moment.


thanks,


cubanista

InsideInsurance

Its never that straight forward.

So we used to have call centres in several large cities in the UK including one in outer London. All had the same salary bands but those in outer London got a £2,000 Outer London Living Allowance added. No way does this cover your extra costs of living in London -v- most the other cities and secondly as it wasnt your basic wage it wasnt factored in for pension, bonus/profit share, benefits etc.

That said, when you get into higher roles then the fact there are so many big businesses means that the salaries do get much more notable uplifts.

Occasionally big companies who've chosen to head office outside of London will pay near London rates though to be able to attract people out to them, especially if they are within a 2-3 hour journey to London where a candidate in the middle could have a reasonable commute to either.

agrinnall

I lived and worked in London for a few months in the early 1990's. I was earning £50K at the time, but that was nowhere near enough to have a lifestyle as good as I had before (in Brighton) or after (in Edinburgh). I wouldn't relocate there for less than £100K pa now, and as nobody is likely to offer me that I doubt if I'll ever work there again.

[Deleted User]

I'm on a direct line into London, under an hour and couldn't get work, even employers Epping way aren't remotely interested once they get the address, whosies, it's gotta be cos I'm female : (

Acceptable for a male colleague to get taxi all the time and be late, not alright for a woman to even consider it

theoretica

If you are happy to move for work why not look at job ads all over the UK and apply for any which look good to you?

getmore4less

Some jobs types are all over the place, so once in/experienced then that can open up more choices by moving.

Things like, retail, hospitality(pubs,nightclubs,hotels), health.

A company like JDwetherspoon seem to be recruiting all the time in lots of areas and they do have career progression for those that can get through the hard work/hours.

The problem with London is that costs tend to be a lot higher than a lot of other areas even other bigger towns/cities.

What experience are you trying to build on?

One advantage of the larger places is you can avoid needing private transport, one of the biggest money drains after finding somewhere to live.

If used to rural there are a lot of places that are towns with easy access to countryside.

I found Glasgow affordable and good public transport so no need for a car.

TELLIT01

London is the largest city in the UK therefore it wouldn't be surprising on that basis alone if there were more high paid jobs than elsewhere. It's also the financial centre and financial sector jobs are generally well paid. The reality is that it's not that simple.
Cost of property, travel, commuting time... the list is endless on the other factors you need to consider. Personally I wouldn't work in London from choice whatever the salary - I value my life outside work far too much to want to spend 2 or 3 hours a day getting to and from work. I was actually head-hunted some years ago and turned the job down purely on the basis that it was London based. The person who called me was shocked when I gave my reason as they thought it was the best place in the world to work. To me the best part of London was Paddington Station where I could get a train away from the place! Horses for courses, but it clearly ain't the place for me.

DKLS

In the sector I work in, London is the centre of the universe and has a vast difference in salaries, if I worked locally I would earn max 40k but in London its more like 100k + and tends to attract the more interesting and higher profile projects.

Thus it makes no sense for me to work locally, the best I could do is get a London job but work from home, but too many companies are anti W@H.

Is a pain its that way and the commute is a nuisance but hey ho I can't see it changing in my lifetime so may as well ride the gravy train.

Cubanista

theoretica wrote: »

If you are happy to move for work why not look at job ads all over the UK and apply for any which look good to you?

hey,


thanks for the reply. to be honest i am only really qualified for retail and sales work. those are the type of work i have always done.


i am currently working in a sales job but the pay is low and the work just isn't exciting any more. i used to enjoy it, but now it's a drag.


i want to try some different work, but it's tough because i don't know how to get into other areas of work due to my experience. i was looking at a qualification from a marketing training company called "CAM" but then if i am against job hunters with marketing degrees i am !!!!!!ed lol.


i have considered moving elsewhere in the uk, but isn't the problem with unemployment the same with pretty much everywhere?


thanks,


cubanista.