To this day, 11 years after leaving education, the most senior position I’ve had was my first job. I was deputy assistant editor of two magazines, a role that provided the shortest commute (a four-minute walk) from the biggest house with the cheapest rent. How did I mess it up?
I swapped Staffordshire’s Burton upon Trent, famous for its Marmite factory, for London – famous, back then, for having everything else. Including an average house price of £482k. Ten skint years on, the capital’s price insanity is triggering a turnaround. Ambitious millennials – along with great jobs, culture and your favourite hipster coffee shop – are being outpriced and ‘semigrating’, flocking from the capital to more affordable regions of the UK. From June 2014 to June 2015, more people (77,500 in total) left London than anywhere else.
The career catnip that lured us in is fleeing, too. In finance, 77 local authorities, including Tunbridge Wells and Chelmsford, show faster growth in banking jobs than London. In the arts, BBC’s Media City in Salford offers 3,000 jobs, while creative opportunities have risen 25% in Newcastle and Glasgow since 2010. In digital, there are some 300,000 jobs across the North. Now, the hottest career opportunity in town is, well, out of town.
“People think that to get ahead in your career you need to be in London, but that’s not true,” confirms John Jefferies of the National Careers Service South West. “While businesses in other cities are often smaller, there are benefits. There are similar rewards, pay and training, but you may work more closely with colleagues at all levels of seniority. You can make a bigger impact, see the results of your work more quickly and take on more responsibility earlier.”
After a three-month internship with a fashion brand, Megan McAulay, 25, semigrated to Leeds to pursue her digital content career. “From a young age, I knew I wanted a career in the creative industry in London, but it’s incredibly competitive,” she says. “I felt I would climb the ladder far more quickly in Leeds.” Surprisingly, Megan outearns her London peers. “A role I applied for in the capital paid £4,000 less than a Leeds-based company. In London, I lived in a bedroom like Harry Potter’s cupboard under the stairs, but I pay the same in Leeds for a luxury city-centre flat.” Charlotte Moughton, 24, joined the Birmingham branch of business advisory Deloitte in 2013. She’s now an assistant manager. “There’s been a change of attitude,” she says. “It’s no longer assumed that everyone needs to move to London.”
The difference between my experience of regional working in 2006 and Megan and Charlotte’s today is that the social side has caught up. “An unexpected perk of Birmingham is the theatre – the Hippodrome and New Alexandra are within walking distance,” says Charlotte. “I keep discovering new Michelin-starred restaurants and pop-up food festivals, too.” So, weekends are sorted as well.
It’s not just the fact that companies are relocating that’s making us switch cities. Increasingly, we’re creating our own companies – and we can do that wherever we want. Megan Dunsby, features editor at startups.co.uk, a resource for anyone launching a business, picks Bristol and Cambridge as top semigration spots for the self-employed in 2017. “There’s access to funding and local small-business grants, affordable office space and talent, local support networks and cheaper living,” she says. “In September 2016, the average property in Bristol cost £272k.” That’s £210k cheaper than London’s average.
“Upgrades to transport networks and infrastructure have also made it easier for entrepreneurs to base themselves elsewhere,” she adds. It might not sound sexy, but an improvement in train times is a key reason why Pandora Paloma, a 31-year-old yoga teacher, is semigrating to Ramsgate – a small town on the Kent coast with a population of 40,000 – to launch a studio for her company, Rooted.
“By 2018, it will only take 53 minutes to get from London St Pancras to Ramsgate by train, so I foresee a lot of people moving out to Kent. You only have to look at Ramsgate’s neighbour, Margate, which is full of artists and has the Turner Contemporary gallery, cool shops and bars popping up every month,” she says. “And we get a bigger house, plus cheaper rates for a commercial property. It’s a no-brainer.”
Until now, we’ve tended to think of our skill set in terms of what we can do – numbers, words, medicine, law – not where we do it. But because of young people’s exceptional grasp of the digital world, John believes we have huge power. “This is the first generation to enter the workplace with a better grasp of a key business tool – technology – than more senior workers,” he says. “Your knowledge promotes flexibility within the jobs market and gives you greater influence over how and where you work.”
Investors in People found that 35% of us would rather have a more flexible approach to our jobs (such as working from home) than a 3% pay rise. Jen Rae, senior researcher at innovation foundation Nesta, believes the flexibility of remote working will fuel semigration: “New technologies such as VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol, which enables you to make free online phone calls] and faster broadband have helped people do jobs remotely, resulting in a move away from more traditional environments,” she says.
It’s also likely to spur people on to become entrepreneurs based on location. “Take Airbnb,” she says. “Anyone can rent out their spare room, generating an income that might come to replace conventional work.” Of course, to have a spare room, you may need to semigrate…
The overriding appeal of semigration runs deeper than the speed of your internet connection, however. It’s the personal approach to working – one that’s less about ticking boxes on a CV and more about the person behind it. “Young people see their peers burning out, trapped in jobs they hate, and realise they don’t want that,” explains Sarah Vermunt, former business professor and author of Careergasm: Find Your Way To Feel-Good Work. “They don’t want to commute for two hours to a job that makes them miserable. They’re willing to invest more in their mental health – and props to them.”
It’s this wellness-first approach that made teacher Sarah Barnes, 32, semigrate from city life to East Yorkshire 18 months ago. “My old job often left me in tears from stress,” she admits. “The class sizes were huge, the pace was fast and my commute was an hour, meaning I had to set my alarm for 5am. I needed to change either my role or my location. I moved to East Yorkshire so I could enjoy my career again.” Sarah faced a 14% pay cut – the standard difference between inner-city London roles and regional roles, according to Jon Romer-Lee of teachers’ network tes.com – but she’s happier. “I am actively looking for assistant headteacher roles now that I have more time and experience.”
After stints in Glasgow and London, when spiralling rent began to affect her “work, comfort and health”, 31-year-old artist Alida Sayer semigrated to Norwich. “I received funding for a year-long project and several exhibitions, which was only available because I lived in the East of England,” she says. But the biggest change has been emotional: “Norwich is incredibly supportive. I’ve made so many new friends in a similar position to me; living in a smaller city, you can really participate. For me, it’s about quality of life: feeling part of a community and not burning myself out trying to keep up.”
London once loomed large as the rite of passage to get ahead. Now, increasingly, the focus is on the right passage. While the capital still has opportunities galore, it has more competition, too. The rise of start-ups, hubs and investments are creating thousands of regional jobs, meaning it’s less about where you came from, and more about where you’re going. And where might that be? Well, for once, your answer isn’t already mapped out.
Semigration speak decoded
Three phrases you need to know to up your career smarts...
A government initiative to group northern cities into an economic force to rival London, with the aim of a 3.8% growth in employment by 2020.
It’s all about… Manchester – ‘the Shoreditch of the North’ – is the key player, with a big focus on health, science and financial technology.
A plan to create 300,000 jobs and £34 billion of growth in the next 15 years in areas such as Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham. Sectors include manufacturing, business, engineering and medical tech.
It’s all about… Birmingham is the most popular destination for people moving from London. Inner-city regeneration is also boosting housing and entertainment options.
Insider-speak for Brighton, which has the most start-ups per capita in the UK. And all with a sea view.
It’s all about… Getting your project off the ground. Brighton Media Centre and Digital Catapult Centre Brighton offer co-working spaces. Along the coast in Newhaven, Denton Island has business incubator units for start-ups.
That's the average UK property price - but how far it will go depends on your location...
Edinburgh: 2-bed flat with allocated parking space and communal grounds in exclusive suburb (£210k for 900 sq ft).
Belfast: 3-bed semi-detached house with a large garden and a shed (£90k for 828 sq ft).
Liverpool: 3-bed detached house with a large garden and a garage (£210k for 1,135 sq ft).
Nottingham: 3-bed detached house with a conservatory and driveway (£214k for 989 sq ft).
London: Studio apartment in a period conversion, close to Hackney train station (£200k for 157 sq ft).
Kent: 2-bed semi-detached house with a garage, a garden and good motorway links (£210k for 685 sq ft).
Cornwall: 3-bed detached cottage close to the town centre with private garden and parking (£210k for 1,103 sq ft).
