Why is it so hard???

I am moving to England in August 2005 but I can't, for the life of me, begin to decide which city to live in. I know where I don't want to go and that's London and any city further north than say, Leicester. Maybe part of the reason is that I don't know what the MAJOR cities are (Toronto vs Richmond Hill for example). I want to live in a major city that has good job prospects (I'd look for a job once I am there) and is relatively cheap (compared to London anyway). Does anyone have any recommendations?? I'd REALLY appreciate some guidance in narrowing my choices down!! Thank you!!

If you don't like the idea of London, and don't want to go further north than Leicester, then your options for big cities are limited probably to Birmingham, and maybe Bristol.

Job prospects really depend on your line of work. For example, if you're something like a doctor or teacher, you can probably find work almost anywhere.

For some other kinds of work - for example, investment banking, other more specialised financial work and all the related jobs that feed off them, the UK is still very much a one-city state, and that city is London.

There are plenty of other smaller cities and large towns in southern England and the midlands, e.g. Southampton, Reading, Coventry, Milton Keynes. To be honest, I wouldn't recommend any of them as a place to look for work on spec - you might be lucky, but you're more likely to be lucky somewhere bigger. And sorry to tell you, you're most likely to be lucky in London, despite the extra expense of living there!

Thanks for responding themeone. Well I will be looking for an administrative job really. I have a university degree but am not a professional. Most of my experience lies in admin positions. I thought of registering with an employment agency and going from there. THANK YOU for narrowing it down, it clears my head a bit. Are regular office job prospects really bad then in any of these cities?? Thanks again.

It's not really that prospects in other cities and towns are always so very bad, it's just that London is way out ahead in so many respects.

Remember, London is about eight times the population of the next largest city in the UK, so it naturally has a much more dynamic economy with more plentiful opportunities. And as I mentioned, some types of business really only exist to any meaningful degree in London which helps to differentiate the economies of London and other cities even more sharply.

I have lived in London for many years now, and most of the jobs I have had really only exist in London. Had I been living elsewhere in the UK I know I would not have done nearly so well simply because the opportunities are not there.

I think registering with employment agencies (note the plural!) is a good plan and wherever you decide to head for I hope you find work quickly. You'll probably find for most admin jobs employers here won't care about a university degree, so I wouldn't emphasise it.

I love Chester, and Manchester..