My job only exists in London

[ILikeyourHairyHands]

I see this all the time on threads. Unless you're the Prime Minister, Queen, keeper of the ravens at the tower, a genuine pearly queen or jellied eel and pie and mash slinger, I reckon that's utter bollox.

There may be more opportunities within your chosen career in London but outside very specific roles, your job does not only exist in London.

[ILikeyourHairyHands]

Oh, I guess hedge-fund manager too.

[ElizaStrawberry]

Point being?

[CTRL]

sigh

[HuloBeraal]

Well in DH’s case no, but at his level the other options are: New York, Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam. So in the UK, it only exists in London...

[HuloBeraal]

Actually I lied, also Singapore.

[isabellerossignol]

I'm in two minds. My job only exists in N Ireland. But I could find a similar job elsewhere. It would be using the same skills, but it wouldn't be in the same field...

[ILikeyourHairyHands]

Point being, there are very few jobs that 'only exist in London', the one person that attempted to qualify this said their DH's job only existed at his level in six geographical locations in the whole world.

Really? I don't think anyone's that essential physically to any company now, if you're that senior and rarified, you could work anywhere geographically given modern communications.

[Fucket]

Yeah I would say in any international business, the UK presence is likely to be in London. Imagine your client is coming to your country to do business, they are going not going to drive around the country. If all your competitors are in London and you’re in Manchester... yeah good luck with that.

[ILikeyourHairyHands]

Ah yes, and other point being, numerous posts on MN stating it's impossible to move from London because my job only exists here.

Which is, for the large part, nonsense.

[HuloBeraal]

No you can’t! He can’t physically oversee the work being done on Skype. And actually he’s not even that senior. And frankly post Brexit there are way fewer opportunities. Way way fewer. He’s been head hunted by a few firms but it’s all in the US or Europe. Certainly not in Manchester and Edinburgh.

[ILikeyourHairyHands]

I don't really understand the point of business travel full-stop for the large part. The vast majority could be done remotely.

I just keep coming back to the huge international churn that occurs at a certain level of business and it's utterly ludicrous.

[HuloBeraal]

My job meanwhile can be based anywhere too but the most prestigious places to do my job are in London or the SE.
More importantly, we have no wish to live outside London anyway. We love it. The idea of living in the countryside or a small market town or whatever is mind bogglingly horrifying. I’ll take the expensive housing and pollution and what have you, and stay in London, thank you.

[tabulahrasa]

Does the queen have to be in London? I mean... surely only London specific parts of the role have to be done in London? I feel like she could definitely be queen elsewhere in the country and just travel to London for the things that absolutely have to be in London if she wanted to...

[FridalovesDiego]

My job, which did not only exist in London, was pretty poorly paid elsewhere in the UK. I would not consider leaving London for some second rate city on a second rate salary.

[HuloBeraal]

Erm. I don’t understand what you DON’T understand about it. Conferences, site visits, actual hands on WORK. My husband btw does not work in the corporate or business world- he’s in medicine/science. No way could he work ‘remotely.’ He goes from office to lab, to hospitals to offices. You know, ‘travelling.’ As do his bosses.
I feel like you have a very limited view of the world of work.

[mclover]

Nope, there are lots of jobs that only exist in London. Mainly because large international organisations bring with them specific jobs that smaller, national based countries will never need.

So for example, I work in finance and risk - every company needs a finance person so on paper I could work as an accountant anywhere. But my job now is so much more complicated and multifaceted than being a straight forward accountant it would be like being a diner lady when I used to be the head teacher. No small national company would have a role as rich and varied.
(And loadsa love to dinner ladies, just as example)

[ILikeyourHairyHands]

Ok Hulo, you're not convincing me that the only vital sites of scientific enquiry specific to your husband's job can only be carried out in the specified global locations unless there are unique pieces of equipment at those locations. Or they are centres of excellence medically for certain niche areas.

But conferences? Uneccessary jollies these days really.

[BritInUS1]

I think your OP and subsequent posts show that you really don't understand some businesses. For many travel is essential and there are many jobs that can only be done in certain locations

[TiceCream]

My cousin wanted to be an interior designer. She did the qualifications but there was bugger all work in Middlesbrough where she lives. People didn’t have the money to pay someone else to pick out their wallpaper. Any job that relies on rich clients will only succeed in a place where there are rich people.

[loseyourself]

it's parochialism. Having worked in a specific career in NYC for a few years, I found when I went home, some jobs were hard to interview for (too experienced, Job would be boring), nyc which I loved ts to was populated by people who thought nowhere else existed *bar a few rich people to Europe

[dellacucina]

I'd have to completely switch fields within my line of work if I were to move out of London. My specific employer is the only organisation doing this kind of work in the UK. So unfortunately, if I left London I would have to take a very different sort of job.

[Greatnorthwoods]

Op, DH travels a lot for business primary to carry out work and site visits to nuclear power stations across the US, none of this can be done remotely.

[CrumpetyTea]

with respect you're wrong- lots of jobs only exist in specific geographical locations - the issue is that jobs are/can be very specialised so moving out of that speciality is essentially changing jobs.
so like mcclover I work in finance and accounting so on paper am very transferable so could do anything. But I have spent years working in a very specialised role (only exists in very large multinationals) and in a very specialised industry (investment banking) - all the roles for which I'm qualified for are basically in London and NY ( and to a lesser degree Singapore/HK )- if I wanted to move out of London I would not be able to get a job using my experience. I know because I tried.
I think the question of remote working is slightly different - most roles I know wouldn't allow 100% remote working and the role would still be based in London. I do agree that a lot of business travel isn't needed and a lot of meetings can be done without physically travelling but face to face meetings are generally a lot more effective and building relationships and help non-physical conversations/remote discussions be more effective.

[FrenchFancie]

Well until the civil service move out of London then my OJ’s job only exists here and in a few British overseas territories, so.... yes we are stuck in London.

[UhareFouxisci]

I have a relative who always insisted that his job requires him to live in London as it simply doesn't exist elsewhere. So when his DW wanted to move out of London for the sake of the kids' education it was deemed impossible. Then his employers decided to move the whole business to Edinburgh as a cost saving. He refused to consider moving, despite a generous relocation package, and took voluntary redundancy instead.

You are not wrong op.