Is it pointless to move to london without a highly skilled job?

Polarbeary

richdeniro wrote: »

One thing you will really have to be prepared for is the majority of workplace environments in London, especially if you plan to stay in sales.

London offices are a warzone. Its a darwinian jungle and very nasty.

I've worked in the NHS and financial services and most offices are not like that at all in my experience. Personally, I think provincial offices, especially the ones on out of town office parks are far worse!

Cubanista

duchy wrote: »

Have you a goal that studying could realize ?

If you don't have a degree why not consider studying in London ?

Either in central London or more affordably Kingston or Roehampton and live in Halls.... for example.

If you found you hated London there's nothing to stop you transferring to a different uni after your first year.

London is an easy place to find part-time work to supplement your income.

Just a thought- a way to live in London AND increase your prospects

At 25 I'd choose a degree with an optional year or semester abroad and view it as an adventure

Hey,


I have thought about studying something, but I dunno what. I have nothing in mind that I would like to study full time. I have considered smaller qualifications, but that's about it.


Have you any recommendations of degree courses? I don't know if i could do a degree course though. I barely got through school. I doubt i could apply to go straight to university anyhow.


What kind of financial help do students receive living in London? Would i get a larger allowance to afford living costs, food etc? I don't know much about university fees and all that stuff.


Thanks,


Cubanista

tomtontom

Student Finance does have a London weighting but still would not cover all your costs.

Before doing anything, you need to decide what you're doing it for. There's little point in throwing money at moving/ studying whilst you're still no idea of what your end goal is.

Candyapple

Not trying to be rude but if from your own words you “barely got through school” then I highly doubt you would even have the qualifications needed to gain university entrance, let alone think about obtaining a degree. Things may have changed since I went, but back then you needed a grade C minimum in Maths and English GCSE and the prestigious unis in London (such as LSE, Queen Marys, Kings etc) you would need very high A-Level grades and even then there were no guarantees you would be accepted for the course you wanted to do. If you went the non-traditional route you would need to do an Access course at college (you would have to fund this yourself) and then apply for uni. No-one can suggest a course for you, this would have to be something you choose yourself as you will be the one attending it for 3+ years. If you were really serious about studying, you would have researched it and looked into the costs of such things and financing it etc. At the moment I get the impression you think it will be an easy way to subsidise your dream of living in London – it won’t.

You mentioned in your first post about not being skilled/qualified in anything and currently work in a call centre. I just did a quick job search for ‘call centre jobs London’ and the salaries ranged from £14k to £21k OTE in areas ranging from Croydon, Brentford to Southgate and Chiswick. Also, these jobs have only been on the job website for less than 24 hours and already have 100+ applications written next to them. None of these jobs are in central London and if you lived in say East London and worked in Croydon or Southgate, you’ll be looking at spending at least over an hour travelling to your job each way.

First thing is first, if you are serious about moving to London, secure a job first and then secure accommodation nearby. You won’t be able to rent a flat on your own so be prepared to be living with 4+ people in a house or flat share, living like a student again. You don’t need a car in London, tube and bus is fine. However, again you will need to take into consideration what zone you would be living in and how far this would be from your workplace. If you lived in zone 4 and worked in zone 1 (central) you’d be looking at paying £46 per week for a travelcard. If you live in zone 3, it would be £38 for a weekly travelcard. However, you may find that the rent for a zone 3 property is £100 more than a zone 4 property so it’s swings and roundabouts.

To be honest if you are an unskilled worker in London you are not doing yourself any favours because you will be living hand to mouth every month once your rent/food/bills and travel costs have come off your salary. What money will there be left over to do all the “cool things” such as attending theatres/plays, going to bars/clubs, nice meals out etc.? Yes there are lots of free attractions such as museums, however once you’ve been once - then what? What about long term – how will you be able to save for anything? Holidays? Presents? Because you certainly wouldn’t be able to buy property in London. Which begs the question, what happens when you realise that all your friends/family have grown up/married/bought their own homes and you are stuck at 30 years old+, living in a crap part of town with lots of noise and mattresses in front gardens and sirens heard day and night, getting up at 7am and returning home at 7pm for a “9-5” dead end job, half your wages go on rent and the remaining goes on travel, food and bills with £20 spare at the end of the month to treat yourself?

To be honest with you, there is a lot of competition in London for everything. House/flat shares go within hours once listed on websites. Jobs go even faster. The problem you will find is that a lot of London employers once they see your address on a CV will automatically discard your CV because you don’t live in London. Catch 22. Unless you are talking about jobs that require qualifications/highly paid positions, that’s a different story. And if you took a risk and rented somewhere in London to begin with, with no job lined up, what happens if you don’t find a job? If your rental contract is 6 months or 12 months, would your savings cover this and your bills, food etc.? What happens if the only work you can find is minimum wage jobs or zero hour contract jobs?

I know to an outsider London may seem like the mecca destination for everything, however if you are an unskilled worker, you will soon be swallowed up and spat out and your savings will be spent like water going through your hands, no matter how frugal you may think you are. I would think long and hard about every aspect before making any decisions.

Cubanista

tomtontom wrote: »

Student Finance does have a London weighting but still would not cover all your costs.

Before doing anything, you need to decide what you're doing it for. There's little point in throwing money at moving/ studying whilst you're still no idea of what your end goal is.

Hey,


I do agree wholeheartedly. I don't want to move for the sake of it, but London has more opportunity than anywhere else. If i wanted to move into a different area of work or even move up in a company then London would be the place to be.


I don't know exactly what my end goal is, but i know i want to be where the opportunity to improve myself and prospects are much more superior as having more choice gives me the option to explore so many various routes.


Thanks,


Cubanista

Cubanista

Candyapple wrote: »

Not trying to be rude but if from your own words you “barely got through school” then I highly doubt you would even have the qualifications needed to gain university entrance, let alone think about obtaining a degree. Things may have changed since I went, but back then you needed a grade C minimum in Maths and English GCSE and the prestigious unis in London (such as LSE, Queen Marys, Kings etc) you would need very high A-Level grades and even then there were no guarantees you would be accepted for the course you wanted to do. If you went the non-traditional route you would need to do an Access course at college (you would have to fund this yourself) and then apply for uni. No-one can suggest a course for you, this would have to be something you choose yourself as you will be the one attending it for 3+ years. If you were really serious about studying, you would have researched it and looked into the costs of such things and financing it etc. At the moment I get the impression you think it will be an easy way to subsidise your dream of living in London – it won’t.

You mentioned in your first post about not being skilled/qualified in anything and currently work in a call centre. I just did a quick job search for ‘call centre jobs London’ and the salaries ranged from £14k to £21k OTE in areas ranging from Croydon, Brentford to Southgate and Chiswick. Also, these jobs have only been on the job website for less than 24 hours and already have 100+ applications written next to them. None of these jobs are in central London and if you lived in say East London and worked in Croydon or Southgate, you’ll be looking at spending at least over an hour travelling to your job each way.

First thing is first, if you are serious about moving to London, secure a job first and then secure accommodation nearby. You won’t be able to rent a flat on your own so be prepared to be living with 4+ people in a house or flat share, living like a student again. You don’t need a car in London, tube and bus is fine. However, again you will need to take into consideration what zone you would be living in and how far this would be from your workplace. If you lived in zone 4 and worked in zone 1 (central) you’d be looking at paying £46 per week for a travelcard. If you live in zone 3, it would be £38 for a weekly travelcard. However, you may find that the rent for a zone 3 property is £100 more than a zone 4 property so it’s swings and roundabouts.

To be honest if you are an unskilled worker in London you are not doing yourself any favours because you will be living hand to mouth every month once your rent/food/bills and travel costs have come off your salary. What money will there be left over to do all the “cool things” such as attending theatres/plays, going to bars/clubs, nice meals out etc.? Yes there are lots of free attractions such as museums, however once you’ve been once - then what? What about long term – how will you be able to save for anything? Holidays? Presents? Because you certainly wouldn’t be able to buy property in London. Which begs the question, what happens when you realise that all your friends/family have grown up/married/bought their own homes and you are stuck at 30 years old+, living in a crap part of town with lots of noise and mattresses in front gardens and sirens heard day and night, getting up at 7am and returning home at 7pm for a “9-5” dead end job, half your wages go on rent and the remaining goes on travel, food and bills with £20 spare at the end of the month to treat yourself?

To be honest with you, there is a lot of competition in London for everything. House/flat shares go within hours once listed on websites. Jobs go even faster. The problem you will find is that a lot of London employers once they see your address on a CV will automatically discard your CV because you don’t live in London. Catch 22. Unless you are talking about jobs that require qualifications/highly paid positions, that’s a different story. And if you took a risk and rented somewhere in London to begin with, with no job lined up, what happens if you don’t find a job? If your rental contract is 6 months or 12 months, would your savings cover this and your bills, food etc.? What happens if the only work you can find is minimum wage jobs or zero hour contract jobs?

I know to an outsider London may seem like the mecca destination for everything, however if you are an unskilled worker, you will soon be swallowed up and spat out and your savings will be spent like water going through your hands, no matter how frugal you may think you are. I would think long and hard about every aspect before making any decisions.

Hey,


I agree with what you are saying. I have looked around online and prices of rent for properties are a lot, including sharing. I was scouring zoopla and found a property based in SW7 and it was £900 p/m for a studio flat with bills. That isn't too bad, but taking into consideration other costs, it would leave me without much money for entertainment. So i would need around 2k at least.


The reason i was looking at SW7 was just curiosity around how much rent would be in a more central location, which would mean a little less travelling (possibly). I have been working in sales a little while now and it's something i have become accustomed too so not sure what else i would be able to pursue. I don't know what jobs are in demand in London, and i would assume sales isn't the kind of work that would be in demand, right?


Thanks,


Cubanista

tomtontom

Cubanista wrote: »

Hey,


I do agree wholeheartedly. I don't want to move for the sake of it, but London has more opportunity than anywhere else. If i wanted to move into a different area of work or even move up in a company then London would be the place to be.


I don't know exactly what my end goal is, but i know i want to be where the opportunity to improve myself and prospects are much more superior as having more choice gives me the option to explore so many various routes.


Thanks,


Cubanista

London has more opportunity but it also has more people. Unless you want to be an investment banker there's nothing you can't do in any other city, and in other cities you can actually afford to live.

Starlet

absolutereturn wrote: »

In the electronic age, all job applications are done online anyway, however, you'll need to travel to interviews and that can cost quite a bit.

When travelling a long distance for a job interview, the company who's interviewing you usually reimburses your travel costs, anyway. That's what I found.

tomtontom

Starlet wrote: »

When travelling a long distance for a job interview, the company who's interviewing you usually reimburses your travel costs, anyway. That's what I found.

This is unlikely at the level the OP will be applying for.

boliston

im sure sw7 is a very pricey bit of london - i was wondering which postcode has the best centralness vs cost ratio - im sure the e postcodes are cheaper in relation to distance from central london assuming the geographical centre is the boundary between ec1 and wc1 postcodes