To consider a job in London when I don’t live there?

[whatabouttheplanswemade]

I have good and bad days with my current job and the training was atrocious. I spent hours on this one project and I asked my manager for freed back - all I got was “ok”. Like I’m not expecting gushing praise but ok is not feedback.

It was a lightbulb moment and I want to leave. I’ve been looking at assistant jobs below my status as “junior” and they are £30K+ In London (I’m currently only on £25K). I have no plans to move there and the commute from my city to Kings Cross is 2 hours. I’d only be looking at hybrid roles.

Aibu? Is this stupid?

How much would the commute cost?

Not at all. Lots of people commute a couple of hours into London. It’s tiring but can be done - especially if only a couple of times a week. You’d need to check the costs though to see the impact of the travel costs on the pay increase.

Budget for the occasional train strike/breakdown/weather which might mean an unexpected night in a hotel in London. Rare but can happen - or can add several hours to the journey - again rare but it happens.

You will also get fast at the mass sprint from the second the board announces the platform number to the train to secure a seat.

Not at all. I live in rural Surrey / work in the City in a hybrid role, I’m in the office twice a week. It’s fine. I quite enjoy the train journey. My commute is 1hr 45 mins each way. It’s fine! In fact it’s more than fine. I get the best of both worlds. A great career in an exciting city and an idyllic home life in peaceful and beautiful surroundings. Go for it!

I have no plans to move there and the commute from my city to Kings Cross is 2 hours

That's 2 hours IF all the trains run OK. Four hours a day.Trust me, you feel like you can do it but I spent four years doing a 90 minute each way commute that sometimes stretched to 2 hours and it was punishing ; it was one of the reasons I left that job.

Would this job act as a stepping stone to something else? Or would you be thinking to stay there long term?

Would you be any better off once you factor in the expense of the commute? I live in a town with a 40 minute train to London. Commuting costs are over £5,000 for an annual ticket for the train. I'm not sure if they have an equivalent for just a few days a week, I know a daily return ticket is around £44 for peak time travel so quickly adds up if you go several times a month.

As long as you don't have to go in to the office more than 1-2 times a week, it is worth it. If more then the commute will become a pain and is expensive

For £5k you'd be mad- that's approx £300 a month net extra which would be easily eaten up with the cost of travel (assume x 2 a week @ £40 return = £346).

The reason London wages are higher is because of the cost of living in London and surrounding areas.

FWIW I've just given up a job in the city for one 5 minutes from home. It was a £12k pay drop and yet I'm about £200 a month better off once you factor in cheaper travel and fewer childcare hours.

Why are you looking at jobs lower than the level you are currently working at?

You need to find out the price of the commuting, the reliability of your route (all can have their moments, but some are notorious) and what your fallback will be if your regular train is running.

Also, the toll of the travelling time and whether you are likely to get a seat (take a day's leave and try a trial run?) Plus the journey across London - is your arrival station an easy walk from the office or do you need to factor in tube/bus? If so, is it a direct route or will you need changes (some long journeys are easy/fast, some short ones can be utter pigs if you need to change more than once) Plus cost of that bit.

Will you need additional childcare on the days you commute - how much would that cost?

If the figures still add up, and you've really though hard about the demands of such a long commute, then yes it could be a viable plan.

I wouldn't fancy it, tbh, but I know that some people do choose very long commutes

Unless you get free travel it seems like a non starter.

I wouldn’t do it just for the extra £5K salary, because that will be very quickly eaten up by commuting costs and the general
spend that comes with being knackered and on public transport - extra lunches & coffees bought out, etc.

I would do it if the opportunities for your career are better in London.

But if you’re not tied to your area I’d just move to London, tbh.

The two hour commute, is that each way?

It would need to be only 1-2 times a week

Two hours each way daily will destroy you

I think for the extra time and traveling costs £5k isn't worth it

I would never hire someone in a junior assistant role in London if they didn’t live reasonably close to London, even on a hybrid basis. This is because I would assume there will be lots of issues getting to/from work, they would start complaining about the cost/time etc and ask for more time wfh. There are so many applicants for role like these (like 100+), and ai think you will struggle finding anyone choosing you over somebody local.

Depends a bit on the industry but for us, juniors are supposed to learn and grow from the wider team, and we’ve found this impossible if they’re at home full time. If we had a candidate who expressly didn’t want that (we have a couple of people remote who have other commitments that mean they like a job they can forget about at the end of the day and are not interested in progressing - and we love them!) we’d consider it, but juniors who come in the traditional way are expected in the office 3/4 days a week so they can learn about the wider business, rather than just their role.

If it’s something you’re seriously considering, check the local commuter groups on Facebook etc and you’ll get a feel for any issues/challenges there might be. Where I live we in theory have a Fantastic commuter service. Then they changed the train provider/route and it went haywire. This was 4 years ago and it’s never fully recovered. I ended up leaving my london job and finding something more local because the stress just wasn’t worth it. Some days I just physically couldn’t get in and I was so unreliable as an employee it brought me so much stress. Also factor in the cost- for hybrid working it’s actually quite tricky because the cost of going in 2/3 times a week can still really add up and you don’t get the savings of a season ticket (although some lines do a carnet system which helps). For context it used to be over 5k for my train season ticket and £900 for parking (with no guaranteed space) so it’s not trivial!