Applying for UK Jobs while in Ireland?

MilkTheGroup

I'm an irish law graduate living in dublin. After 5 months of job searching in Ireland with no success (i even got rejected from mcdonalds and burger king :mad:) I've decided to start applying for a legal job in the UK. However, I'm wondering will UK employers ask you for interview if they know you havent moved over there yet?

im also worried if i do get called for interviews it could be EXTREMELY expensive to go to London for an interview on the offchance of a job. should i bite the bullet and move over there? i havent already cos i hear the british economy isnt great either...

steve9859

I went through this process recently, though in finance rather than law. Nothing much doing here, so wanted to get work in London. The economy is not great, though much more opportunities than here. You have got to work at it, and actively look for where the work is. Dont rely on responding to advertised vacancies

It became clear to me very early that applying for jobs in London from Dublin is an absolute waste of time. There will be multiple applicants for every job, so it is hard enough getting an interview, even with loads of experience, and especially so if you are not in London. You also need to be able to sit in front of people from the legal recruitment firms to persuade them to take you seriously, and so that they can put a face to the name when you hassle them about getting you some interviews. Otherwise your CV will just be little more a piece of paper in a pile of a hundred other pieces of paper

To get a good job in this environment you have to be prepared to play the networking game. Which means use your network to meet people for coffees and chats, and work at finding the openings. As a recent graduate you wont have too many immediate contacts, but between your college alumni and tutors you will have a start. Get some introductions. Then get them to introduce you to more people after you have met them for a coffee. Then contact these new introductions and ask if they would meet for a chat over a coffee. Follow up with emails. And so on. If you network hard and appear keen, most people will meet you - they know how hard it is right now

Proper networking like that is a full time job, and you have to be in london to do it. My target was a meeting a day until I got a job. Some were quick chats where nothing came of them. Some created more leads. And when the job came, it was out of left field - a job that had not been advertised, with a firm that I was introduced to through people I had never met before getting to London

RIght now it is about who you know. And you can increase your network massively with a bit of legwork and traipsing around london. I did not get a single interview from jobs I applied for in papers or internet sites - just too many applicants of which you can guarantee that one will be a perfect fit. But I uncovered plenty of opportunities through networking. Linkedin.com is a good source too - if you dont have a profile on there, get one up asap

So get yourself a roomshare in London and dont waste your time trying to do it from Dublin. maybe a short term one to start with. if you are not too fussy you should be able to get something for under £500 a month. Check out spareroom.co.uk - that is what I used when I was looking for work.

Good luck with it, and dont let your head drop. It is hard yards, but remember you only need one thing to come off, and you never know when it will be as long as you maximise your profile within your industry. You have to set yourself apart from the crowd

Brian CivilEng

Just to say that if you need to get to the UK at short notice the "sailrail" combined train and boat tickets are always very handy. I went over for an interview in Lancashire and paid €80 rtn from Dun Laoghaire on the day. It meant that I needed to spend an entire day travelling and pay an extra night's accommodation, but where there is a will, there is a way.

I didn't get much bites applying for jobs with an Irish address though. Do you have any close friends living over there who would let you get post sent to their address?