London- The place to live and work?

[GaryG182]

Ok so the other London thread, that we shall not mention beyond this first sentence, was a complete waste of my time (read all 28 pages!)

In short, is London the place to live to earn money and fast track your career?

I graduated last year and worked near to home (currently a tiny village in Mid Beds.) at a lovely place called Milton Keynes (MK). Now in MK I worked in Logistics (pretty much the only option other than retail around here)...anywho, I'm looking at roles in London and a very common theme amongst the recruitment companies (don't get me started on them) are 'graduate sales roles'. I've got through to the second round interview for a sales job that basically entails selling conferences and events to senior staff members in telecomms and pharmaceutical sectors.

I feel as though I've pretty much lied to them telling them how much I want a career in sales and the more I think about it the more it feels as though I'll be sat on the phone all day chasing warm leads. However, on the flip side I may really enjoy sales and get quite good at it...I'm led to believe that first year realistic earnings are £30k?! Who knows...

Any thoughts, comments opinions? cheers all

[stuttgartmetal]

You could have tried a better user name to hide yourself Gadd.

You just love the limelite doncha ?

[Tunku]

London - horrible place to live, I've done that, decent place to work, I've done that too. On balance, get the fk out, there are a lot nicer places to be in the world.

[EK993]

Worked in the US, Southern States and NYC. Worked for short period in Tokyo. Even worked 6 months in India. Always loved coming home to London after being abroad however. Live and work in the City. Couldn't imagine not living in London.

[dazco]

I live oop North, but I am under the impression 30k does not get you much in London.

[Pigeon]

Imagine a great steaming pile of elephant turds...

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...forty miles across.

The most materials-efficient way to make London a better place involves a few kilograms of plutonium.

[EDLT]

It doesn't seem like its worth it to me given the cost of living in London. If its comission based its probably not realistic either.

[GaryG182]

stuttgartmetal said:

You could have tried a better user name to hide yourself Gadd.

You just love the limelite doncha ?

Sorry mate you were off the mark there lol, I'm genuine old me...known on the cliosport forum fairly well. Nice 911 though.

Yeah I guess £30k isn't mega money but in first job terms thats damn good imo! A few of my friends are on proper grad schemes with the likes of IBM etc and they are on £28k basic and no commission. I do however take on board the fact that the ote may be unrealistic, especially considering current market conditions, then the basic would only be £18k (

Its a difficult world for fresh grads to start in! To those that have already 'made it' (talking to the 911 drivers here lol) what would you be looking to do in my position. To think I regretted not getting a trade behind me now also seems unfounded, feck knows what I'm meant to do lol. Just don't really wanna stay living at home, earning crappy money and getting a promotion to 'team leader'/insert bogus title here and receiving a grand extra pa for much more responsibility.

I dunno, just trying to find my feet...any words of wisdom? or genius money making schemes lol

[john_p]

I think you have to give it a try if it tempts you. Living in London would be great fun, if you flatshare with some people it will be a good experience. Give up the idea of having a car if you want to live in central london - if you move to the suburbs you can have a car but then you have a 30mins commute everyday.

GaryG182 said:

selling conferences and events to senior staff members in telecomms and pharmaceutical sectors.

My mate works for a company that plans corporate events and really enjoys it. He does sales-y type work, however.. he does not sit on the phone all day, his company has a good client list already. They do not need to be ringing 200 companies a day asking for the "marketing manager" to find out who "plans their corporate events". Is that what the role will have you doing? Because if it's a call-centre based job then I would be a bit concerned about the ability to make money from it.

GaryG182 said:

I'm led to believe that first year realistic earnings are £30k?! Who knows...

Who says this? If the agency/company, take with a big dose of salt. What's the basic? If that won't pay your rent+bills, forget it.

[GaryG182]

john_p said:

I think you have to give it a try if it tempts you. Living in London would be great fun, if you flatshare with some people it will be a good experience. Give up the idea of having a car if you want to live in central london - if you move to the suburbs you can have a car but then you have a 30mins commute everyday.

GaryG182 said:

selling conferences and events to senior staff members in telecomms and pharmaceutical sectors.

My mate works for a company that plans corporate events and really enjoys it. He does sales-y type work, however.. he does not sit on the phone all day, his company has a good client list already. They do not need to be ringing 200 companies a day asking for the "marketing manager" to find out who "plans their corporate events". Is that what the role will have you doing? Because if it's a call-centre based job then I would be a bit concerned about the ability to make money from it.

GaryG182 said:

I'm led to believe that first year realistic earnings are £30k?! Who knows...

Who says this? If the agency/company, take with a big dose of salt. What's the basic? If that won't pay your rent+bills, forget it.

Hi John,yeah the car will definitely have to go unfortunately

I've been assured that there won't be any cold calling and that leads will be warm, safe to say I will have to check it all out to make sure its something I want to do....guess the interview process is a two way thing, them finding out if they want me and me finding out if I would like working for them.

The basic will be £18k, but yeah the agency and the company have said realistically I could earn £30k first year....big pinch of salt, you're right!

[thinfourth2]

there is a reason that the wages are so high in london

Its a sthole

[uk_vette]

Tunku said:

London - horrible place to live, I've done that, decent place to work, I've done that too. On balance, get the fk out, there are a lot nicer places to be in the world.

.
.
+1

Not in this life time.

[pano amo]

London - people either love it or hate it. I've worked in London for almost thirteen years now, was living in the centre for eight of those. I have worked in slmost every other main city in the UK and for me, London is the best place. Certainly the wages are very good and certainly they can get very very good if you are good at what you do. It's the financial services sector that really pays well in London so thats the area you want to be (business or IT). Also for someone in their twenties or thirties, its a great place to be. Such a huge amount to do and places to socialise. For me, moving out was key. After a few years, living in the centre can be a bit much but I wasn't prepared to walk away from the money so I commute in now. So yes, IMO, go to London. Theres good money and good times to be had

[Markytop]

If you are unsure about upping sticks and moving to London as well as the whole new job thing, why not try commuting for a while??

Its not that bad from MK (other than cost!!) I have been doing this from MK to my office in Southwark everyday for the past 5 months after going through a similar dilemma to you of shall I, shan't I earlier in the year. Takes about 1h20min from leaving home in west MK to sitting at my desk in the office.

[GaryG182]

Thanks for the input guys, I went to the interview and after interviewing the company it became apparent the role wasn't what I wanted at all....involved making a minimum of 70 calls a day! Not my idea of fun or work lol

Will have to look into jobs within the FS sector! Cheers for the tip off. I'm thinking of the old saying- 'spend your twenties getting into london and thirties getting out' I would at least like to give it a shot!


MK's about 20 miles from me mate, I live very much in the country side lol