The UK's Best Cities for Starting Your Career Outside of London

Where in the United Kingdom Are the Best Places to Find Work for Recent Graduates in 2018?

The number of people who have completed their degrees in the United Kingdom has been on an upward trend during the last decade. Each year, many aspiring young professionals relocate from the places they grew up and attended school to the bustling cities where they may begin their careers.

It might be challenging to maintain a good quality of life while simultaneously advancing in one's job. Cities such as Manchester guarantee a large number of job options, while other cities, such as Edinburgh, stand out for their efforts to promote a good work-life balance. On the other hand, these variables might come together in a more manageable way in certain smaller cities.

When deciphering this, it may be intimidating and complex to consider all the factors that come into play, but Market Inspector examined 44 cities in the UK across 13 major variables grouped in three areas that concentrate on the business environment, quality of life, and leisure and culture.

There is no question that London is the city in the UK that provides greater options for employment. The bustling economic, cultural, and social activities of the capital city would have aided London in achieving a high score in the majority of the measures if it had been included. It is impossible to compare London and the other cities using the same metrics since there is an insurmountable gap between them. The intricacy of the nation's capital makes it difficult to make fair comparisons between the two. Due to this, London has been left out of the study, despite the fact that it is the city that provides the greatest number of chances. This is due to the fact that London is the busy capital of the United Kingdom.

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Other than London, these are the top 20 cities in the UK where recent graduates may find work.

According to the methodology, the Market Inspector Score takes into consideration the three criteria in a different order from what is described above. This score is the component that constitutes the ranking's overall score and is thus the most important aspect. The following table is a ranking of the top 20 cities in the United Kingdom (UK) other than London that have a combination of the most desirable city characteristics for millennials. These are sorted based on the Market Inspector Score, but you may alternatively list them according to the ratings they received in the other categories.

1. Manchester

Graduates will find the highest number of career options in Manchester, along with numerous opportunity to experience a healthy work-life balance. Manchester is the place to be if you are a recent college graduate. Because there are 6.47 jobs for every 1,000 people living in the city, it shouldn't be too difficult for graduates to find work there. This has been essential in ensuring that we maintain our position at the top of the rankings.

In addition, Manchester is one of the top five cities in terms of the most companies produced. In 2017, Manchester saw the establishment of more than 10 new companies for every one thousand of its residents. Because of this, Manchester is now considered one of the top three cities in the world for technical innovation.

The indicator of the business environment provides profound insights into the ways in which the city is developing and coming to define itself. Entrepreneurship is a measure that indicates hustle and freshness, and it helps generate an atmosphere that is positive and prospering when combined with employment possibilities for recent graduates. But this alone is not enough to make a city appealing; it also has to have a high quality of life and a wide variety of social activities that its inhabitants may participate in during their spare time. With an average cost of £317 per month, single furnished rooms in Manchester may be found at rents that are considered to be quite reasonable.

In addition to this, Manchester is home to a vibrant nightlife scene and a thriving pub culture, with the highest concentration of residents per square mile. In addition to this, it is the city that has the most green areas, which gives graduates the opportunity to participate in a diverse array of activities after work and on the weekends.

2. Edinburgh

The city of Edinburgh comes in at number two on our list not just because it has a robust employment market with a growing number of IT businesses that pay high beginning wages, but also because it offers a wide variety of recreational and cultural pursuits.

Young people interested in starting businesses in the technology sector are finding Edinburgh to be an appealing location. In recent years, the atmosphere surrounding entrepreneurial endeavors in the technology sector has been remarkable. In 2017, there were around 3,055 new enterprises launched, which is equivalent to roughly 7 new companies opening for every 1,000 residents. Despite the fact that Edinburgh is not one of the top five cities in the United Kingdom with the highest concentration of entrepreneurs, the city has, interestingly enough, been able to lead the technological innovation among the cities that are included in the ranking, with Manchester being its only close competitor. Despite the fact that Edinburgh has the highest rent of any of the cities on the list at an average of £508 a month and that it does not score particularly well in terms of the number of graduate job opportunities, Edinburgh has one of the five highest weekly average salaries on the list at $598. As a result, Edinburgh's business environment is well-balanced, which contributed to the city's position as one of the highest-ranked cities. Its extremely high score in the criterion that measures the average income can be seen here.

There is nothing else in the world that can compare to Edinburgh in terms of its cultural offerings and recreational opportunities. The nation's capital has the title of leader in this area due to the greater number of museums and chances for sightseeing. Within a distance of five kilometers, there are nearly two museums in addition to four other sites and landmarks to see.

3. Cambridge

Cambridge has a long history as a student city, and many well-known intellectuals from a variety of areas have attended the university here. The city, as well as all it has to offer, have been influenced by the university and the tradition of student life, which has helped to make it into the third greatest city in the world for graduates today.

There are 3.2 employment vacancies for graduate-level work for every 1,000 people in the population. This ratio is favorable for recent graduates. Cambridge is the second city on the list, just after Manchester, and it has a significant advantage over the third city in terms of the number of career opportunities available to graduates. Because of the city's large student population, it has also become one of the most important centers for entrepreneurial activity in the United Kingdom. With 21.5 new enterprises opening their doors in Cambridge for every 1,000 residents in 2017, Cambridge had a greater rate of entrepreneurship than either Manchester or Edinburgh. Only Belfast, which has the best score with 38.5 new startups for every 1,000 people, is higher than the city's ratio of new businesses to residents. As a result of these statistics, Cambridge has been known as a city teeming with prospects for recent graduates searching for a beginning point in their careers and for those who wish to start their careers as entrepreneurs.

In addition to this, the high wages are another element that contributes to Cambridge's desirability as a location. With an average of £609 per week, Cambridge has the third highest pay in the United Kingdom, behind only Milton Keynes and Reading. Because of this, and the fact that the average rent in the city is just £346 per month, Cambridge is one of the most financially desirable locations in the United Kingdom for recent graduates to settle in.

Furthermore, Cambridge is the second most tolerant city in the top ten, with 962 hate crime crimes and occurrences filed in 2017, which was only topped by the city of Derby with 599 incidents. This places Cambridge in second place for most tolerant city in the top ten. Cambridge has a high score and ranks third for the most sightseeing possibilities and landmarks to visit, with 3.7 historical and cultural sites for every 5 km2 of the city. This contributes to the city's good ranking in terms of culture and leisure.

In terms of business environment, quality of life, and cultural and recreational opportunities, Cambridge has been ranked as the third most attractive city for graduates thanks to the even distribution of points across all of the parameters.

Relevant Findings

Other places scored lower in specific traits that are worthy of being recognized, in contrast to the top cities, which reported a balance between a thriving business environment, a great quality of life, and possibilities to participate in cultural and leisure activities.

There are places that are ranked in the top 10 that are the greatest in terms of quality of life, culture, and leisure, but they do not achieve the first positions because of an imbalance in the indices of the business environment.

This is the situation with Derby, which is only placed sixth in the rankings; however, it is one of the best cities with the best quality of life due to having the lowest average rent of £232 per month; in addition, it is the most tolerant city with only 599 cases of hate crime registered in 2017, and it is even the least polluted city on the list.

In a similar vein, Belfast has been revealed as the greatest city in the world for graduates interested in entrepreneurship. In 2017, the city was home to an astonishingly high rate of 38.5 new businesses opening their doors for every 1,000 residents. During the early stages of an entrepreneur's career, one of the most typical worries is the amount of money required to maintain their standard of life. In addition, Belfast's rent is the second lowest in the country, coming in at an average of £258 per month, which has contributed to the city's rise in popularity among business owners.

Methodology

The purpose of this study is to determine which city in the United Kingdom is the most desirable for recent college graduates. In this regard, the study began by determining the interests of this demographic group based on independent investigations and reports. This was done in order to provide context for the subsequent discussion. Following this, thirteen indicators were devised in order to quantify the aspects that make a city a great match for persons who have graduated from high school or college. After all of the data had been collected, it needed to be normalized since multiple kinds of measurements and dimensions had been used.

Those individuals who have completed their formal education and earned degrees are referred to as "graduates" in the English language. Millennials make up the large majority of graduates in the UK since the vast majority of high school pupils in that country are less than 30 years old.

The 64 cities that Centre for Cities identifies as main urban regions provided the pool from which we selected the total number of cities that we investigated. The fundamental objective of this study is to get a comprehensive understanding of the city's economic activity, and the categorization of the city into core urban regions offers a broad image of that activity. In addition to that, the cities that were included in the final study were those that had met the minimal requirements for each indicator. In this respect, each indication is founded on pertinent research and studies that adhere to stringent standards while collecting and analyzing their data in order to construct their rankings. Those requirements may be found in the following sentence: As a result, the cities that are included in this study are those that have been examined in the relevant literature and are one of the 64 key urban regions that have been recognized by the Centre for Cities.

After identifying which aspects of a city are most significant to millennials, we categorized these aspects into three primary categories and grouped them together. This is mostly based on the thorough study conducted by Nestpick, which takes into account a variety of variables that are of relevance to this demographic group.

Business Ecosystem

We assigned this factor a weight of sixty percent since the purpose of the research is to identify the greatest locations for graduates. In doing so, the study intrinsically evaluates the career potential of a city and assures that the leading places will accelerate professional achievement through time.

Earnings at work calculated on a weekly basis: while deciding whether or not to relocate, recent college graduates regard possible wage prospects among the most important considerations (Source: Centre for Cities).

Graduate openings for every one thousand residents: Millennials have a tendency to migrate to places that provide a greater number of work chances. (Data obtained from Glassdoor)

Tech innovation index Given that the members of our target audience are all digital natives, a vibrant environment of technological innovation may have a special allure for those individuals. In addition, advancements in this sector may, in the not too distant future, result in an increase in the number of work possibilities. (Data obtained from ODI Leeds)

New businesses established for every 1,000 residents: This age group is distinguished by the fact that members of it are drawn to places that provide more financial support for new businesses. (Information for this came from startups.co.uk, DueDil, and the Inform Direct Report.)

the Standard of Living

The method used to get the overall ranking gives this category a weight of thirty percent. Indicators of one's quality of life are the second most important elements for graduates to consider. Therefore, evidence concerning the quality of life graduates may obtain in a city can be found in elements such as the cost of rent, pollution, hate crimes, as well as nature and parks.

Crimes motivated by hatred: We can determine how tolerant a city is by looking at the data on hate crimes that are accessible. These include offenses, events, and crimes that were committed due to hate motives and are classified into the following five categories: racism, handicap, religion and faith, sexual orientation, and transgender. Since Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are each responsible for providing their own statistics, it is necessary to take into account the fact that there will be variations in the recording and presentation of the data depending on the nation. (Source: Gov.uk, PSNI, Gov.scot, COPFS)

Pollution: This provides an indication of the degree of air pollution in the city and, as a result, provides a glimpse into the levels of healthiness and environmental friendliness that the city has. The population segment that is being targeted places a high value on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and rising pollution levels are becoming an issue in a number of cities throughout Europe. (Data obtained from AQICN)

Affordability of housing is one of the most discussed concerns among millennials, and a location with cheaper rent may possibly be more appealing to a recent college graduate. In this particular instance, we have taken into consideration unfurnished single rooms.

This is the total amount of parks and other natural areas that may be found in each city. These make it possible for individuals to participate in a diverse array of activities that are beneficial to both their health and the quality of their lives. A city that has plenty of green areas provides a healthy contrast, which is beneficial when trying to establish the optimal work-life balance. (Image courtesy of TripAdvisor)

Leisure and Culture

Graduates often use their spare time with activities related to leisure and culture. Nevertheless, our investigation has given a significant priority to the indicators of the business environment as well as the quality of life. As a result, there was a 10% weighting assigned to this category in the total computation. Even if a city's high rankings in the categories of leisure and culture do not immediately assist graduates start their careers, these are secondary considerations that are taken into account when moving to a new location.

Cost per pint: This offers an idea of how much it would cost to spend one's spare time with one of the most prevalent types of leisure activities in the UK by indicating the average cost per pint in each city. The demographic that is being targeted is sensitive to cost, which is why we are evaluating this signal based on how affordable it is.

Pubs per square mile: Millennials are one of the drivers driving the nightlife industry, and having a broad range of pubs gives them more possibilities to spend their spare time.

Museums and art galleries; tourist attractions and well-known locations; performances and shows: The amount of museums, galleries, tourist locations, and live events that are packed into every 5 km2 of land area. The presence of a thriving cultural environment in a city makes it more appealing to members of this group. (Image courtesy of TripAdvisor)