Jobhuntin' in London

johnny_ultimate

Hey all,

So I'm in London for a few days from Thursday 8th to Monday 12th (the weekend doesn't really count). I'm also considering seeking employment in the UK, London specifically, and want to try and make some progress in that regard while I'm over.

Basically, my question is whether there's anything I can practically do in London armed with CVs? Everything's digital these days, granted, but wondering if there's any agencies or anything worth looking into? I'm in the media sector, and have come across mentions of Handle Recruiting, but the reviews online are mixed and agencies are notoriously a mixed bag (at best).

Or am I best off just 'borrowing' a London address and sticking with online applications? Or anyone have any practical tips so I can make the most out of my 72 hours or so in the city? Vague questions, but any advice would be much appreciated

83ste

'The media sector' is a bit vague - are you a journalist, broadcaster, advertising creative, media sales/marketing, technical?

johnny_ultimate

serrity wrote: »

'The media sector' is a bit vague - are you a journalist, broadcaster, advertising creative, media sales/marketing, technical?

Broadcast - I predominately have professional and academic experience TV & Film production, and that field would be my first choice jobwise. But I would also be interested in journalist or online / social media positions.

Again, more so if there's anything practical I could do in the city that I couldn't with MS Word and an Internet connection

83ste

How about this? http://www.mediauk.com/tv/jobs/14801/creative-editor?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_jobs&utm_campaign=XML

The only other thing I could suggest would be to go for a walk around the 'media village' in Soho Square and surrounding streets. Lots of TV/film production/post-production houses based around there.

LadyMayBelle

I agree with Serrity about pavement pounding; just remember how many people want to be in broadcasting and how many CVs get sent everyday so make yours count. Do you use Twitter? I have a friend in 'media' and she's said a huge amount of jobs she knows about also get advertsed on that.

Personally I cant see how much more you can do that you cant from Ireland in that line of job hunting?
Good luck to you

djpbarry

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Basically, my question is whether there's anything I can practically do in London armed with CVs? Everything's digital these days, granted, but wondering if there's any agencies or anything worth looking into?

I would agree in general with what's been said above. You'll do yourself no harm dropping into offices and talking to people - all they can do is turn you away. But, London is BIG - realistically, there's only so much pavement pounding you can do in a couple of days.

johnny_ultimate

djpbarry wrote: »

I would agree in general with what's been said above. You'll do yourself no harm dropping into offices and talking to people - all they can do is turn you away. But, London is BIG - realistically, there's only so much pavement pounding you can do in a couple of days.

Yep that's my concern too - very limited in terms of time, and as mentioned above broadcast media can be a very competitive field. I do think an applicant living outside London is pretty much an insta-problem for employers given the huge population of the city itself.

That said, I've seen a few current jobs advertised I'd be interested in, so maybe just physically drop CVs into those places and maybe a few other prior chosen locations.

Cheers for the advice all!

djpbarry

May also be an idea to phone/email ahead of time and let people know you're hitting London with the intention of finding a job - you might be able to set up an appointment or two, even if just for an informal chat.

ChRoMe

Buy a UK sim card while you are here and try to see if you can get a London address you could stick on your cv. It will make searching for jobs when you are back in Ireland a lot better.

onewhogroks

Hey, how did you get on?

I ask, because I am in a similar position (looking for media work too) and will be heading over at the end of the month to try the same.

Hope you got somewhere anyway!

johnny_ultimate

onewhogroks wrote: »

Hey, how did you get on?

I ask, because I am in a similar position (looking for media work too) and will be heading over at the end of the month to try the same.

Hope you got somewhere anyway!

I only ended up dropping a few CVs around in the end. Talking to (employed ) friends over there the advice was the same as above - use an English address where possible. London's big - perhaps too much so for just randomly dropping CVs around, and looking online some production companies seem actively hostile to the practice (others, of course, would be more accepting). So keep an eye on jobs online (grapevine, mediauk etc...) and maybe use a forwarding address / UK sim if at all possible. Track down any jobs that may be going in companies you're interested in before leaving, and try and contact them in relation to it before you leave.

Best of luck with the hunt anyway

onewhogroks

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I only ended up dropping a few CVs around in the end. Talking to (employed ) friends over there the advice was the same as above - use an English address where possible. London's big - perhaps too much so for just randomly dropping CVs around, and looking online some production companies seem actively hostile to the practice (others, of course, would be more accepting). So keep an eye on jobs online (grapevine, mediauk etc...) and maybe use a forwarding address / UK sim if at all possible. Track down any jobs that may be going in companies you're interested in before leaving, and try and contact them in relation to it before you leave.

Best of luck with the hunt anyway

Thanks for the heads up. I'll do as much as I can before I head over, will definitely buy a cheap phone while I'm there too.

djpbarry

onewhogroks wrote: »

...will definitely buy a cheap phone while I'm there too.

No need to - just get yourself a SIM.