Finding a job

• How to find out about job vacancies
• Newspapers - local and national
• Professional or specialist journals
• Jobcentres
• Finding a new job online
• Recruitment and employment agencies/consultants
• What happens when you contact a recruitment agency?
• How can I find recruitment agencies?
• Broadcasting
• Careers Service offices
• Advertisements outside business premises
• Creative job seeking
• Contact employers directly
• Networking and word of mouth
• Safety tips
• Further resources
• Who can I talk to about finding a job?

How to find out about job vacancies

Here are our top tips for finding out about job vacancies online and offline. Some you'll already know about, but there may be others you've not thought of. You can also get help with finding vacancies from a one of our Careers Coaches

Newspapers - local and national

Many newspapers have job vacancy adverts, usually near the back under the 'classified' section. Smaller, local employers may advertise in local papers. Adverts for professional, executive and senior vacancies tend to appear in national papers - usually broadsheets. These papers usually feature certain types of job on different days of the week. For example, The Guardian features media jobs on Mondays, education on Tuesdays, public and social sector on Wednesdays and IT on Thursdays.

Professional or specialist journals

As well as carrying job vacancy adverts, these journals contain features about latest developments in their sector. New Scientist is an example of a specialist journal. Large newsagents and libraries stock these.

Jobcentres

Jobcentres offer the following facilities:

• Jobpoints - touch-screens with up to 400,000 job vacancies, which allow you to search for jobs suitable for you
• Jobseeker Direct - a phone service whose advisors offer details of job vacancies, send out application forms and arrange interviews. Tel 0845 6969 234

Personal advisors can help you find the vacancies that are right for you, whether you're looking for your first job or are returning to work. They can also tell you about government training schemes open to you. They'll consider:

• your work experience
• your skills
• your qualifications
• whether there are any suitable training opportunities or courses for you
• any help you might need, such as child care or health care
• any special help you might need, if you have a disability for example

They will then help you decide on the best way forward.

Finding a new job online

Most large organisations have details of vacancies on their website. You can also find job vacancies on:

• Recruitment and employment agencies websites
• Newspapers' websites

You may also be able to download the application form and apply for your new job online.

Most job vacancy websites allow you to search for the types of vacancies you're interested in. You can usually specify the type of job, the level, the salary, the location etc. Some sites will even notify you when suitable vacancies are posted on their site. Some of the main job vacancy websites are:

• Total jobs
• Monster
• Jobcentre Plus
• Fish4Jobs
• Directgov

Recruitment and employment agencies/consultants

Recruitment and employment agencies are like brokers - they recruit and fill vacancies on behalf of employers. Employers use agencies because recruiting is time-consuming and requires expertise.

What happens when you contact a recruitment agency?

Firstly, they usually invite you for an interview. This is to find out what kind of work you're looking for and what skills you've got. Depending on the type of work you're looking for they may ask you to sit a test - to test your typing speed or your IT skills for example. They will take your personal details and contact you when a suitable vacancy comes up. They may interview you themselves for the job or set up an interview with the employer. Many vacancies handled by recruitment agencies are temporary, but some agencies specialise in permanent or executive jobs; or particular sectors of work - media, law or social work, for example. Most agencies also display current vacancies on their websites.

How can I find recruitment agencies?

Recruitment agencies are listed in Yellow Pages or you can use a search engine like google.

Broadcasting

Some regional broadcasters air TV shows listing job vacancies. These are usually late at night. Some employers advertise vacancies on local radio.

Careers Service offices

Careers offices hold vacancies with local employers. They may be immediate vacancies or training vacancies, such as apprenticeships. Some careers offices have facilities for adults; services aimed at under 19s are called Connexions offices.

Advertisements outside business premises

Some employers advertise job vacancies on signs outside their premises.

Creative job seeking

The traditional approach to job seeking has been opening the paper and looking for adverts. However, estimates are that about 70 per cent of jobs are filled without being advertised. This can be due to an internal candidate filling the post, someone being notified word of mouth by an existing employee, headhunting by the organisation or by the applicant enquiring on spec if there is a vacancy. So you need to be creative to ensure you're in the running for these unadvertised jobs.

Contact employers directly

Use Yellow Pages or other business directories to get names and contact details of suitable employers. You can drop in to see employers personally or send them a letter. Seeing them in person may take more time and courage, but it gives you a higher chance of speaking with someone.

If you decide to visit in person you will probably enter at the reception. Ask politely if you can speak to the manager or the person in charge of the department you're interested in working for. If you get to see them you should stress you're very keen to work for them and tell them what you can offer the company. If you can't see them at that moment you should ask for their name (so you can try again another time) and ask if you can leave a CV.

If you decide to enquire by post you should send off a CV with a covering letter explaining what you can offer the organisation. It's important to send it to the person who's in charge of hiring in the section you're interested in, not the Human Resources department. You could get the name of the person in charge by calling reception or looking on the organisation's website.

If you don't hear anything back, follow up with a phone call a week or two later, just to ask what the situation is. It's not rude or pushy to do this - they may have not contacted you because they were busy; and even if there is no vacancy, if they're impressed with your skills and enthusiasm they may keep your details on file for future vacancies.

Networking and word of mouth

Networking is all about making the most of contacts. These could be work contacts or friends and family. Let everyone know you're looking for a certain type of work. Each person might tell somebody else, and they may tell somebody else and so on. The more people who know you are looking for work the more chance you have of being told about an unadvertised vacancy.

You can also network at professional functions. Even if you're not working, you can still attend conferences and events. You can use these events as a means of making contacts in your line of work.

And don't underestimate friends and family. Even if you think an aunty or uncle couldn't possibly have a useful contact in your area of work, they might surprise you. People come into contact with more people than you think.

Safety tips

It's important to keep yourself safe when applying for jobs. The vast majority of interviews are perfectly normal and safe; but as with any situation involving strangers, you should use common sense.

Here are some safety tips for interviews:

Do

• check out the organisation if the advert was very brief
• tell someone where the interview is and what time you expect to be back
• make sure it's on the organisation's premises or in a public place - not a private residence
• arrange to be picked up by someone if the interview is at a strange time or in a remote location

Don't

• agree to continue the interview on a social date - such as drinks or a meal
• apply for jobs that seem too good to be true, such as ones offering huge rewards for little work
• talk too much about personal matters
• accept a lift home from anyone at the organisation

Further resources

Bookshops and libraries stock books (and CD ROMs) about job hunting techniques.

Who can I talk to about finding a job?

If you'd like to talk through your options, why not contact a on of our Careers Coaches? They can help you to figure out what employers are looking for and help you to sell your experience. You can speak to a Careers Coach on 08080 100 333. Our lines are open 8am to 10pm, seven days a week.

Not able to get to the phone right now? You can also email an adviser or request a call back at a time to suit you.