It is possible if you are rich.

Hello DnC, what you are experiencing is actually fairly common for most people. The completion of a major task such as a degree or a Ph.D. often leaves us drained (if not burned out) and is generally difficult to "magically" fall into something else (i.e. a job) without more effort. This often translates into a moment of crisis in which there are apparently no alternatives. I believe this is also due to the fact that people expect a lot from their degrees these days, so after you finish university (at any level) you look at your certificate and you ask "Hey, why are not you earning money for me already?". This situation is also exasperated by the very bad economy.
I am telling you this simply because I have been there already. After I completed my Ph.D., I did not find the ideal situation that I pictured in my head and I found myself in a whole new problematic situation.
Eventually I had to push myself to find a job, as I am an expat and I was running out of money, but if you have the luck of having your parents close or have no immediate financial woes, I would personally take a long break (1-2months) from everything (Ph.D., job search, etc...). This will give you the chance of recollecting your ideas, rest, and focus on what you want to do. Lastly, you also have to consider that sometimes finding a job can be difficult if we don't make clear to ourselves what we want to do and where we want to go, so be honest with yourself when setting your future goals.

Hello Phila,

Your questions are fairly general, but I understand it is difficult to understand the British system coming from Italy (that kind of reminds me of me 3 years ago :)). Anyway, each university will have its own requirement for the English language. It is likely that you will have to prepare for the TOEFL examination, and depending on the institution, you may be asked to pass it with a certain score.

About the funding, and this is the difficult bit, you will have to identify a university which has an open position which provides funding for an EU student (try consulting the website jobs.ac.uk for a start), after you identify a position you like, you will have to apply (and compete) for it. If you are a suitable candidate and there are no competitors with better curriculum, you will be selected.
This is fairly similar to hunting for a job, you have to identify where the funded positions are, and apply for them if they suit you.

Feel free to PM me (in Italian :D) if you like.

Hello Milly_Cat, I recently completed my Ph.D. (Electronics/Telecommunications) and I am looking to find a job in the London area, it could by great if you could get in touch with your sister. Feel free to PM me.
Cheers,

C.(up)

Thanks for the info Jepsonclough, maybe it's not as dreadful as I expected, but is still bad.

Hi guys,

I came on the forum with exactly the same question. It seems that public salaries over 21k will be frozen for 2 years, but the question is if a post-doc fits in this category. Some of my senior colleagues mentioned that their universities already specified that they will lose the 3% inflation adjustment, although nobody is sure about a proper pay freeze (which will probably happen anyway) :-(