Working in one of the greatest capital in the world has advantages and disadvantages. London is also an international business location and also a so-called “command centre,” position which it shares with two other well known centres of the worldwide economy, Tokyo and New York.
London is the engine of the UK economy in its ensemble, assuring about 20% of the national economy. London is one of the first European capitals to have shifted to a service-based economy (soon after World War II) and as such there is no wonder nowadays more than 85% (more than 3 million people) of its employed population works in this sector.
The most important industry in London remains banking, which “captures” more than 300.000 persons, primarily within accounting jobs, and also involving a large number of employees working overseas for companies with the quarters in London. Banking and finance jobs in London are therefore among the most wanted by recruiters and they are paid accordingly. Pending on experience and level of the position occupied, the payment is between 15 £ and 55 £ per hour. In a related field, accountancy, salaries range from about 15.000 £ per year for a junior payroll clerk for instance to 55.000 £ per year for a professional experienced accountant.
The second best rated industry in London is media production and distribution, with BBC being an important employer in this field. Newspapers as well as the post-production openings also attract numerous highly specialized professionals. Tourism is in its turn an important sector, employing about 350.000 persons to answer the needs of the international tourists visiting the city.
Recent statistics also show that another half million people, residing especially in Greater London, work in two other powerful branches of industry: manufacturing and construction. In this latter field, right now there are about 6000 openings, as advertised on various recruiting sites. Fashion industry, the legal sector, travel agencies and transportation companies are all important components of London’s economy, filling many London jobs, as is also the IT industry, especially the development of electronic banking software and online shopping systems.
If one wants to find work in London, a simple Web search would lead him/her to incredibly numerous sites offering for free or against a small fee, access and registration into their databases of CVs on one hand and work openings on the other. One can also speak, naturally of the electronic recruitment industry, which has become an irreplaceable asset of our times. Some of these sites also advertise the overall number of vacancies in London at the time of the search. Right now, for instance, they specify 60.000 vacancies – which is more than the size of the population of small towns in other sides of the world.
Yet, if you are a foreigner planning to commute to London for jobs for whatever reason, beware that it is rather impossible to reserve a position before you get there, although there are plenty of vacancies, for the simple reasons there are enough candidates and it is easy enough for employers in London to find the person who fits their requirements.
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