Moving to London?

jobseeker2018

I currently live in a regional city. The type of position I need to further my career is rare here if not non-existent. There are more opportunities for me in London. I have never worked in London but have been been there for courses etc. My main concern is around cost of living.

Any advice for moving to London for work? or has someone made the move and can share their experience?

agrinnall

It's going to be very expensive, so unless you can expect a massive salary increase you should be prepared for a significant drop in your standard of living compared to where you are now.

macman

Specifically, you need to look at rent/housing, and public transport costs if you need to commute.

another_casualty

Interesting . What kind of work do you do? Is it something you could work from home a couple of days a week for example?

The pluses of working in London , mmm ..Oyster card . Esssential for travelling / commuting .

What part of London would you be thinking of working ?
The square mile was a cesspit when I quit approx 18 months ago.
There is/was a cycle superhighway being built causing massive obstruction and inconvenience . Leaving my experience of the square mile , I enjoyed working in Holborn . Less beggars than the west end , which is a bus ride or 15 min walk from there. Covent Garden and the strand were cool places to work . London Bridge has got hugely busy since the shard and at the moment lots of road diversions . Horses for courses and all that.


Cheapest places to live iirc were east London / north London .
Having said that everywhere is costly nowadays .

Gavin83

Rent will be expensive, considerably more so depending on where you're coming from. Most other costs will be the same. Therefore make sure that increased salary covers the increase in rent.

I live in London and love it here but it isn't for everyone. It is undoubtably a great place to build your career though.

anamenottaken

When I moved from the Midlands (working for a charity, living with parents) to London (working for a statutory body, initially living in a YWCA) I doubled my salary.

What would you expect your London salary to be?

dlmcr

I am sorry to be blunt but I would go as far as to say that if you need to move to London to further your career then you need to change career.
If you work through the figures you will very rarely be financially better off working in London. If you go there for career enhancement for a period of time then fine but then ask yourself what you will be doing and where you will be going after that period of time. Back home where the types of jobs that you do / want are non existant? Somewhere else in the country? Why not just go to that somewhere else first?
Trust me you do not want to be getting to the age of 40+ working in London doing the rat race every day 2hrs ++ spending a huge chunk of your money in rent (and it will be rent because it will be almost impossible to buy anywhere unless you are on a huge salary or come into a deposit some other way) and commuting costs. It might be fine when you are in your 20s and single, when / if you meet someone to settle and have any quality of life whatsoever it just won't be possible based on the housing costs anywhere near London unless you are on a seriously good salary.

boliston

Quite a few people from my workplace have relocated to london and they mostly seem a lot happier having made the move - if you currently live in a decent sized city then the benefits might not be so much but i live in a bit of a "one horse" town where jobs are quite limited, mainly just minimum wage type work in retail and hospitality. You would need to be able to deal with having more basic accommodation, possibly much smaller and even a shared property, but some people are happy with this compromise for better job prospects.

Toucan_toucan

I moved to London six years ago - it just happened to be where I got offered a job rather than a particular plan. A few things I'd add to the above:


1. as mentioned, housing costs are probably going to be considerably higher than what you pay now, and rented properties move really quickly - it's not uncommon for you to have half a dozen viewings booked only to find they all get snapped up by the first person who sees it.


2. Landlords/agents can be funny about taking people on who are still in probationary periods at work - we had to pay a couple of months' rent in advance to cover this, and if you haven't got a job at all you'll really struggle (so, are you currently close enough to get to London easily/cheaply for interviews and house-hunting, or have you got someone you can stay with?).


3. Be prepared to share a house/flat!


4. Commuting can be pretty soul-destroying. Trains get full earlier and earlier in to their journeys, so the further in you live the more difficult it can be to get on a train (e.g. I live near New Cross, the last stop before London Bridge for Southeastern services, and often can't get on trains in rush hour).


5. You might get stuck! I earn a much higher salary in London than I would for the same job outside London, but my cost of living isn't so much higher than it would be elsewhere - to move out of London I'd take a pay cut but potentially would pay more in housing/transport costs, so moving away isn't as easy as it sounds.


6. General cost of living isn't that much more than a lot of places - my local pubs all charge less than £4/pint, the supermarkets are no more expensive and petrol is actually cheaper near me than it is in a lot of other places outside London.


I do like living here, but it was never an ambition - just the way things worked out.

Fireflyaway

Could you move closer but commute? Milton keynes is an hours distance by train but the housing is pretty affordable. Also Aylesbury or High Wycome are both on the line and not too expensive. Its tiring though that's for sure and the train isn't cheap.
Maybe try it out renting a room and see how it goes? I know 2 people recently moved out of London as they couldn't stand the noise and crowded streets but I have a family member who moved there and loves it! Depends on your lifestyle and what you enjoy.

zagubov

OP your rent may double and end up being more than half your salary. Transport is good, entertainment is good, but your new salary had better be more than good, otherwise your accommodation will be distinctly underwhelming.

Unless you're trying to get experience and move somewhere more affordable afterwards, in which case enjoy the time!