Ok, this is a big subject and the main subject most people seem to want to know about. I have to preface everything I’m about to say with a reminder that this is based solely on my experience.

I should also mention there are something like 8 million people in London and when you’re job hunting, it can sometimes feel as though they are all at your experience level (or more!) and are all applying for the same jobs. So if you find that it is taking longer to find a job than you expected, don’t be surprised: it’s normal. I also used to be really cocky and say I’ve never not gotten a job I’ve interviewed for. Well, ahem, this is no longer the case thanks to living in a city as large as London. There are simply a lot of people here thus a lot of competition.

I’ve had four different jobs in London (excluding a temp stint which technically would make it five jobs) within the time span of three years and it took me at least four to six weeks of active searching to find each one. There was one period where I was looking for a job for six months, though not actively the entire time. This means I’ve sent out countless CV’s (resumés), spoken to numerous recruiters and been on too many interviews.

But the good news is that as competitive as it is here I have managed to get hired four times, by four very different employers, none of which I had any previous connection to. These are actually really good statistics and should be encouraging for you. If your concerned about your education level or being a foreigner, you can’t let worries like that stop you! I don’t think I was ever asked about my university/college degree (fine arts) even though it’s on my CV and most employers knew before I walked in door that I was American (we either spoke on the phone, or my US work history revealed it). Most interviewers focussed more on my work experience than anything else. Make sure you go into interviews with plenty of examples of real work situations.

London is a very international city and I’ve worked with countless people from other countries (often part of the EU, however, meaning they automatically have the right to work here making it simpler for them). But the point is employers need good employees with valuable experience, regardless of where they are from. If they have a problem with your foreign status, it is their loss and you wouldn’t want to work for them anyway!

Here’s what I know about how to find a job in London and how I did it:

• Start by researching the 1-million job sites online. There are a LOT but this is honestly how I found all of my jobs. I found my first job through a posting on Reed.co.uk, my second job via a posting on ChinwagJobs, and third job through a desperate online keyword search (job #2 was awful) which landed me on this site, SimplyMarketingJobs. There is also Monster.co.uk, but I didn’t find anything through that site. If you Google “jobs in London” you will find a ton more job sites. I don’t think any are more reputable than others, though you will notice the same job advertised on multiple sites, sometimes by different recruitment agencies (more on them below).
• Know what you’re looking for. This is a universal job hunting tactic and is common sense. Depending on your career or work level (entry, mid-senior, management, etc) you should already have an idea of what companies or industries you want to pursue.  I, for example, knew I wanted to work in web production and/or e-commerce so I looked up relevant company websites and searched their jobs page, sent CV’s to companies who weren’t hiring but I would have wanted to work for, and daily searched the recruitment agencies specialising in these companies.
• Recruiters/Agencies. There are a plethora of job recruiters set up in London, working as the link between job candidates and employers. Most job seekers and employers can’t stand them (you’ll notice on some comany job boards the message No Agencies Please), but some of them are reputable. I’ve met with a few, lovely digital/new media recruiters who never found me a position (and only sent me on two interviews) to useless, salesperson-type recruiters who have tried to place me for jobs I was either not qualified for or had no interest in. With some recruiters, once your are in their database they will never stop calling you with ill-matched job prospects. I used to get excited when I heard back from a recruiter thinking it meant something positive, but more often than not, it doesn’t. I avoid “Preferred Choice” recruitment agency for that very reason. So when you consider how much faith to put into recruiters, note that my first two jobs were advertised directly by the employer and the third was through a recruiter who was actually hired by the company to find candidates (and he put me through a long questioning process over the phone to make sure I was a good candidate before submitting my CV for the position). Plus, I registered with several recruitment agencies in my field and none of them led me to actually being hired. Maybe it was “the economy” or maybe it was that the process doesn’t work for some.
• Utilise any and every connection you may possibly have. I emailed old professors, old employers, friends of my spouse–anyone–to find out if they knew any companies looking to hire or knew any people I should talk to. I suggest you do this but I should also mention it didn’t work for me at all. People are helpful, but I simply didn’t “know anyone who could find me a job”. You may have better connections which you would be wise to take advantage of.
• Don’t give up. Job hunting isn’t fun and it isn’t easy here. There aren’t any secrets besides hard work and perseverance! I found all of my jobs through good old fashioned online research, emailing CVs, waiting for phone calls and going in for interviews (often second and third interviews!). It’s not an easy route, but it’s what worked for me.

Read more about CVs and interviewing