Finding My Dream Job In London

Without a doubt London is a crazy place, I originally never planned on moving here but life throws me a few breadcrumbs and I followed.  How it started In November 2015, I packed my bag and moved to London. I was looking for a job in London since I graduated in June but with no luck (I barely had 4 interviews in the 5 months I was looking). I guess they saw where I was living and was like "nahhhh thanks". Also, my boyfriend and I were doing this long distance relationship after graduation thing which was tough. So when my boyfriend and his family offered to take me in whilst I look for a job and my own place...I took it. As I thought that I would be there a couple of weeks, top! (Spoiler alert: it's wasn't).
The beginning of something unique Before moving to London I contacted a beauty retailer via LinkedIn after an interview with a social media recruitment company. They gave me the details of the person to contact after I described my dream job to them. At first, I was very sceptical about whether or not this method will work and I did put off contacting the retailer for about a week before thinking "this will literally be my dream job and I have nothing to lose". 
So I sent an InMail on LinkedIn asking for a job...any job. Surprisingly I received a reply asking to send my CV. Later on, I received a call from their HR department asking if I would be willing to work in the International Marketing team which I said yes. I always had it at the back of my mind that I wanted to do something international, especially from my degree choice but I hadn't applied to any marketing job because they all required a degree in marketing which I don't have. So, I guess I really did apply at the right time.
A couple of weeks passed and I still haven't heard back from them and I was starting to lose hope but just when I was about to pick up my phone to call them. They called me back to arrange an interview. I received a job offer within 2 weeks of moving to London. Now I'm in my fourth month with there. Honestly, I love the company, the people and I love the work I am doing there. I couldn't quite believe how lucky I got with my first job. This might seems super cheesy but it really made me feel like all those rejection emails and calls were just so I can get this job.
Life is never a smooth sailing However, I wasn't getting lucky everywhere. My biggest challenge since moving to London was that I found it extremely difficult to find accommodation. Even though, I used sites like SpareRoom and EasyRoomate (beware, a lot of scams on this site). When it comes to getting the edge with SpareRoom, you really need to pay for Premium Membership because all the good rooms will go in like 2 days and if they don't, it's probably because the current roommate is batshit crazy! 
I can't tell you how many ridiculous things I experienced whilst looking for a place... I saw a place where the landlord and his wife and children are living in the living room (the ad specifically said live out landlord). A room size of a cupboard for £900 in zone 2. Then the other one was where the landlord would only allow me to have guests for 2 nights...per month, maybe 3 nights if it's my mum. Actually, I was so desperate to move out that I was considering these places but luckily my boyfriend convinced me not to because I have no idea where my brain was at that point. I honestly have never experienced anything so stressful. I feel like I could write a book on my awful experience trying to find a room in London. 
At the end of the day... Before I moved to London and found my flat, I tried to convince my friend from Sixth Form to move to London with me and share a flat but she was too busy being all careful and adult like (aka responsible and thinking ahead). Unlike me, where I just drop everything and go. I don't know if I would recommend people to do what I did but for me, I think I got very lucky. In the sense that I have people around me to support me and I don't think that I could have done it without them and their help. So if you are reading this...I want to say thank you for helping me get to where I am today. Sometimes I might be like "shit my rent is so high, my housemate is so untidy, I have no money to buy expensive makeup" but then I have to step back and think that actually, my work is great, I have enough money to buy food and pay for rent, and my flat is actually pretty nice and cheap for London's standard. So I better stop complaining and realised that I've got it quite good. 
Let me know if you have any moving out and finding your first job experiences below.
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