“You’re not doomed”

Creative Career Conundrums is a weekly advice column from If You Could Jobs. Each week their selected panel of professionals from the creative industry answers your burning career questions to help you navigate the creative journey.

This week’s question:

I moved to London after university and over the past seven years I’ve worked my way up to a senior designer position at a branding agency, which I love.

However for a myriad of reasons (money, lifestyle, tube claustrophobia, soot in my nose etc) I’ve come to the conclusion I need to leave. And not just move to a commuter town, lest I be forced to deal with even more torturous trains.

So I’m staring into the abyss of a creative career outside London, where an incredible portion of roles still seem to be. I know there are amazing agencies around the UK but my next location will be based on several factors I won’t get into, so I might not be lucky enough to find a role in one.

This leaves either 100 per cent remote work or venturing into the capital once a fortnight or so if it would help. But I’m not sure how feasible this is, and I’m not sure how to find out without actually trying (which it feels too early to do because I won’t be moving for 6 months still).

Is there anything else I can do to help my chances? Or is my creative career doomed?

Can I survive leaving London?

Alex Bec, cofounder of It’s Nice That, Creative Lives in Progress and If You Could Jobs:

In short, of course you can! The majority of creative opportunities are clearly in our beloved capital, but there are also thriving creative hubs all over the UK, so your career is far from doomed. And although your career is important, it sounds like you’re leaving for much more important reasons, so well done for making the decision to leave the big smoke.

You’re probably a little early to be looking for a new role if you’re six months away from moving, but it never hurts to make connections early – so start looking for companies that support remote opportunities that you admire and start reaching out. Obviously, it’ll probably be important to narrow down the search if you are looking for a regional studio – so the earlier you can get more specific about your next location, the better.

Also, we have collated some resources I think would be really helpful on If You Could’s sister company Creative Lives in Progress for just this kind of request. There are loads of articles in there about specific studios in certain parts of the UK which could be especially helpful when you’ve landed on your next home. Although the platform is predominantly for emerging talent at the start of their careers, I think there’s some very helpful articles there.

Specifically you should check out;

• 6 Job Boards to find remote creative roles
• 18 platforms to find creative jobs outside of London
• Our growing Company Directory of regional studios

So, in short you’re not doomed. But the more you can start making contacts with places you’d love to work before you move, the better.

Best of luck, you’ve got this.

In answering your creative career conundrums we realise that some issues need expert support, so we’ve collated a list of additional resources that can support you across things that might arise at work.

If You Could is the jobs board from It’s Nice That, the place to find jobs in the creative industries.

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