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.

Phlox, that is exactly my point.

But teaching hospitals? Research departments in Universities, the civil sevice? Depending on discipline there are many jobs throughout the UK in all of these areas.

Three, or four at most, hospitals and universities in other cities, even fewer in towns. Over 20 in London. Majority of civil service based in London.

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Someone mentioned interior designers earlier, followed by the the assertation that said interior designer friend had to work in London because the only alternative was Worksop or Doncaster (or somesuch nonsense). I'd say London probably has a surfeit of interior designers and her friend may have had better opportunities in Edinburgh or Manchester, but what do I know?

Teaching hospitals in England. And that list is England only

Yes, yes, only four of those are outside London...

It's maybe more accurate to say that people's jobs and the associated status only exist in London?

You could sometimes do a fairly similar job in a small city and people won't view it as anywhere near as prestigious. Interior design is probably a good example of that. A lot more status in designing interiors for billionaires in London than for a guesthouse in a country town, even if the skill set is exactly the same.

Three, or four at most, hospitals and universities in other cities, even fewer in towns. Over 20 in London. Majority of civil service based in London.

There are more universities outside London than in it. Likewise there are more hospitals outside London than in it. These jobs exist elsewhere, there just aren’t going to be as many of them commutable from your front door.

Most civil servants aren’t in London either. IIRC it’s about 400k civil service jobs and 80k of them in London. The perception does not match the reality. It is true that more of the senior and minister-facing civil servants are in London, but even then those jobs exist elsewhere (I have one!)

It's not a binary of London or market town. Other places do exist. Very few interior designers are employed by billionaires, I imagine most are mooching along working for fairly affluent clients.

You just proved my point - almost a third are in London!

If I'm a Director of Hospital Widgets I have 15 potential employers in London, and two in Manchester!

Of whom there are many outside London.

These jobs exist elsewhere, there just aren’t going to be as many of them commutable from your front door.

Exactly. Three potential employers vs 23.

The risk factor is the biggest part for me. If you move for that one job that fits it is very bad luck if you get settled and have to uproot again if it ends.

I like it here and wouldn’t want to move anyway but it is a big factor.

A lot do. However that doesn't mean you can't earn a "London salary" elsewhere.

My job does only exist in London, because I am doing it right now...in London!

If you mean I could be employed outside London, then yes of course I could. A regional job using my skillset, without the international side (which is HQd in London) I would get about a quarter of my salary. Yes London is expensive, but I don't find it 4x so

My Dad's good friend was clinical director in a hospital in..., Nottingham Titchy, I have a fiend who is clinical director of Bupa North in Leeds.

Both prestigious positions, neither in London, neither person has ever lived in London, both have managed to progress excellently in their chosen careers.

Three potential employers vs 23.

Still not the same as “my job only exists in London” though is it?

Yes of course there are senior people in non London hospital etc! But if you're London based it's a huge risk to uproot your family and then find you hate the hospital you work for. And you look at the other two hospitals you could work for and realise your equivalents won't be moving any time soon.

At least in London you know that of the other 14 Directors of Widgets two are coming up for retirement, one is looking to move to Scotland and two are relocating to the States.

There's just a bigger choice, so more potential and less risk.

Anyway Titchy, your example of hospital director is not the best, those jobs are mostly filled by head-hunting so the candidate moves to the job, where-ever that may be, you don't have loads of hospital directors milling round London waiting for the opportunity to be called up.

My old industry was quite niche and there was only ever one organisation in each country, so yes, in the UK those jobs only exist in London. While there were some staff (accounts, HR, admin) who could easily move into other sectors, most roles there were industry specific.

What was the industry Sakura?

My DH works for one of the biggest tech companies in the world hiring people to relocate to London with specific skill sets. He couldn't move out of London unless these companies all moved their headquarters which they won't.

There's loads of highly paid and interesting tech jobs outside London Do, his company may be based in London but tech is my industry and there's tons of interesting stuff going on outside the capital. So I can say with absolute certainty he could, if he so chose, move out of London and find enriching work elsewhere.

Very few interior designers are employed by billionaires, I imagine most are mooching along working for fairly affluent clients.

I agree with this actually, but I was trying to think of an example of where two people might do almost identical jobs but one would be considered more prestigious

I do know people who have my job outside of London-- but they are all freelance and therefore spend loads of time travelling into London where the majority of people who work in my 'industry' are. Otherwise it does exist in international capital cities but in the UK, not elsewhere. It's very specialised and there are probably only a few hundred people max doing it globally. Fewer at my level.

DPs job literally only exists in London. But we like it here, so that's good.

nope you’re wrong. My job at my level and my salary can’t be done outside London

My job only exists in London as did my job before that. People say it because it's true sometimes