Should I accept the company's offer which apparently leads nowhere?

Marcon

Flatfacedcat said:

Though I do not consider it relevant, here are some more details about me:
* ethnically and culturally, I am European, born and raised
* politically, I am European Union and Schengen citizen (not British nor UK, if this makes any difference at all to whoever thinks that this forum is populated only by British or UK people)
* professionally, have worked and am working within European Union space and interested in continuing in the same industry (so is not a matter of skills or experience, I already have both)
* as relocating experience in my life so far I have already relocated to other two countries within EU through relocation packages offered by previous corporations at which I worked and the salary I was offered was enough to live decently in a small 50 sq meters apartment all by myself in those countries, so I know how things work concerning relocating in the corporate world

None of these are representing any sort of problem in this process for me; my only problem in this case consists in this: while in the countries to which I previously relocated the salaries I was offered were enough to pay all the bills and rent for a 50 sq meters apartment and live decently (which is also my current situation in the country in which I am currently living, so my goal is to maintain the same level of life quality but live in another part of the continent) in Portugal I see that the salaries are not proportional to the cost of living. For my role (customer service with foreign languages in the travel industry) in many of the EU countries I would receive a salary above average which would allow me to relocate without any problem and live decently in those countries. But Portugal is not like this because in Portugal - as comes out from the research - the salaries are not proportional to the cost of the apartment rents.

So, given all these details, the bottom line in my case is: an EU citizen moving from an EU country to another EU country doing the same job in a different company.

...but not being paid enough to make it worthwhile. Your first post asked

 Flatfacedcat said:

What should I do in your opinion? Given the situation, what is the wisest decision to make in order to be able to relocate in Porto?

Nothing you've posted since suggests you have a viable plan to enable you to do so and ensure the standard of living you would like in Portugal i.e.: in Portugal I see that the salaries are not proportional to the cost of living.

It's not so much the 'wisest decision' as unlikely to be attainable unless you are willing to compromise considerably, certainly in the short term. I'm all for positive thinking and making things happen, but sometimes people are just plain unrealistic in term of their expectations.

The bottom line is that you can't afford to, based wholly on what you yourself have posted.

Flatfacedcat

@Mands :
A change of scenery is what I would enjoy and Porto in terms of size, climate, architecture, history and culture meets my standards.

@Savvy_Sue : Accommodation costs is an issue only in some of the countries within the European Union, not in all.

@Elliott.T123 : I just feel I need a change of scenery, of experiencing a new place for some time.
About the standard of life: well, this is the problem - I would like to maintain the same quality of life, I am not interested in living luxuriously, a 50 sq meters flat is a small space, not tiny but small, once I would arrive in Porto after a month or two I just want to be able to pay all the bills, being able to eat in some nice restaurant from time to time, do a weekend trip from time to time, and still have in my pocket at the end of the month some money for saving; this is my current standard of living, my current lifestyle - my hope is to have the same standard of living there.

@FlyMeSomewhere79 : Yes, sharing the flat with people put together randomly (is what I was told by one of the recruiters when I asked based on what criteria they assign the employees to the flats) is what scares me too - it could be people I would get along well with or people with who I would totally not get along with and this scenario would transform the environment in the shared flat into a toxic atmosphere. While I would be able to deal with such an unpleasant toxic atmosphere for a month or two, I would not be able - nor willing - to live in such a place for longer than two months. This point that you sensed very well, is one of the aspects about all this that fuels a lot of doubts in my head about all this decision.

@Marcon : What I have been asking myself quite a lot before posting this thread - which is I think the reason that after all drove me to post it and ask here for opinions - is if is worth for me to take the risk and go there or just drop the whole idea as the current situation in Portugal makes all this unachievable and my idea is just crazy.

Savvy_Sue

Can you take at least 2 weeks' holiday there and take a good hard look at accommodation? Is there a relevant expat forum you could post on?

Have you spent time there out of season?

Savvy_Sue

I'm also thinking that if Porto doesn't work because salaries are too low wrt accommodation, and you want a change of scenery, where WOULD work? It sounds as if you've got a lot of Europe available to you (although obviously I don't know whether languages impose any limitations on this): is it Porto or nowhere?

Bristol's twinned with Porto, has a lovely climate, scenery and culture, not to mention a rather splendid inverse bridge to that in Porto (or vice versa). Accommodation is a bit scary however....

Elliott.T123

Flatfacedcat said:

@Mands :
A change of scenery is what I would enjoy and Porto in terms of size, climate, architecture, history and culture meets my standards.

@Savvy_Sue : Accommodation costs is an issue only in some of the countries within the European Union, not in all.

@Elliott.T123 : I just feel I need a change of scenery, of experiencing a new place for some time.
About the standard of life: well, this is the problem - I would like to maintain the same quality of life, I am not interested in living luxuriously, a 50 sq meters flat is a small space, not tiny but small, once I would arrive in Porto after a month or two I just want to be able to pay all the bills, being able to eat in some nice restaurant from time to time, do a weekend trip from time to time, and still have in my pocket at the end of the month some money for saving; this is my current standard of living, my current lifestyle - my hope is to have the same standard of living there.

@FlyMeSomewhere79 : Yes, sharing the flat with people put together randomly (is what I was told by one of the recruiters when I asked based on what criteria they assign the employees to the flats) is what scares me too - it could be people I would get along well with or people with who I would totally not get along with and this scenario would transform the environment in the shared flat into a toxic atmosphere. While I would be able to deal with such an unpleasant toxic atmosphere for a month or two, I would not be able - nor willing - to live in such a place for longer than two months. This point that you sensed very well, is one of the aspects about all this that fuels a lot of doubts in my head about all this decision.

@Marcon : What I have been asking myself quite a lot before posting this thread - which is I think the reason that after all drove me to post it and ask here for opinions - is if is worth for me to take the risk and go there or just drop the whole idea as the current situation in Portugal makes all this unachievable and my idea is just crazy.

I haven't done any research into cost of living in Porto, I don't know your job and salary expectations. However assuming everything in your post is correct then the answer to bold above is:

No its not worth the risk, yes drop the idea. As things stand you cant afford to move to Porto and ultimately that's all there is to it. You need to find a way of earning more if you want to make the move.

Flatfacedcat

@Savvy_Sue: I did a research about discussion forums that are currently active and if the current situation of Internet is compared to 20 years ago it seems that nowadays discussion forums are on an extinction trend - unfortunately there are really few discussion forums left. I wish that this one here at MoneySavingExpert will continue to exist for as long as possible.
 
@Elliott.T123: Many thanks; I think you are totally right.