Blog Assignment #4

I would love to find an opportunity to live and work in the United Kingdom at some point in the future. I chose this location because I’ve lived there before and would love to return. When I was a junior at the University of Washington, I decided to take part in a study abroad program that led me to Aberdeen, Scotland for a semester. That being said, I chose to look for graphic design jobs in London. I’ve spent a couple of days in the city but there is so much more to see and experience there.

Out of the job listings I found, I was most interested in two positions. The first was a Digital Designer job working for Disney to provide in-house graphic design expertise as part of the Brand & Image creative team for both shopDisney and digital marketing. As someone who loved Disney’s products, working with their brand would be exciting. Though the posting does not list the salary publicly, It seems likely that the wage would be livable, given the lower cost of living in the United Kingdom.

The average cost of living in London is lower than living in Seattle, and if my family were able to move with me, we would have two working adults in our household to bring in income. According to numbeo.com, this is a comparison of the cost of living in London vs. Seattle:

Summary of cost of living in London, United Kingdom:

A family of four estimated monthly costs are 4,526.3$ (3,732.1£) without rent (using our estimator).
A single person estimated monthly costs are 1,314.5$ (1,083.8£) without rent.
London is 18.7% less expensive than Seattle (without rent, see our cost of living index).
Rent in London is, on average, 6.6% lower than in Seattle.

Given this information, I then narrowed my search to jobs that publicly posted the salary range. I found a senior position as the Brand and Art Director for The International Fund for Animal Welfare. This would be a long-term goal as it is not an entry level position. I love the idea of working for a service organization at some point in my career. I imagine that I will work within different industries throughout my lifetime – it’s hard to imagine doing one thing forever. Working for an organization that serves animals and supports conservation efforts would be an extremely meaningful job. Easily, the income would cover my family’s expenses living in London, especially combined with more than one source of income.

Some factors I took into consideration when making these choices were the housing market and healthcare. On average, the cost of buying a home or renting is lower in London than in Seattle. Since the UK has a universal healthcare system run and provided by the NHS, I know that I would be spending substantially less money on health related expenses. Combine these factors with decent free public schooling, first time home-buyers incentives, low-cost public daycare, and a great public transportation system, it would be easy to live off of a less substantial income and be able to care for mine and my family’s needs.