Job Searching

To be a successful job hunter you need to choose a job that fits your target career area. A hard working job hunter does not sit and wait for jobs to come running to them but they are ready to track down the best opportunities.

 

 

PREPARING FOR JOB HUNTING

Looking for the right thing

 

Sometimes it’s hard to find the right opportunities if you are lost about what you want to do. If you are stressed out about your career direction you need to visit your local connexions.

 

Find out more information

 

Job hunting involves gathering information about your target sector. As an employer do they advertise and if so, where? Do they use recruitment agencies if so which ones? Which selection methods and competency models do they use? What skill and qualification criteria are required?

 

Best thing to remember, the more you know about a particular job and its sector, the easier it is for you to convince a recruiter that you are right for the job and that you have the right qualifications or experience.

 

 

REACTIVE JOB HUNTING

Job vacancies

 

There are a number of places where you can find general graduate vacancies:

 

• Milkround http://www.milkround.com
• Monster http://www.monster.co.uk
• Just London Jobs http://www.justlondonjobs.co.uk
• Work thing http://www.workingthing.com
• Employment for Student http://www.e4s.co.uk
• Jobsite http://www.jobsite.co.uk
• Graduate Advantage http://www.graduateadvantage.co.uk
• Doctor job http://www.doctorjob.com.my
• Fish4jobs http://www.fish4jobs.co.uk/jobs
• GET/Hobsons Inside Career http://www.get.hobsons.co.uk
• London loclajobs.co.uk http://www.londonlocaljobs.co.uk
• Charity Job http://www.charityjob.co.uk
• LBC Radio’s London Job Board http://www.lbc.co.uk/jobs
• NHS http://www.jobs.nhs.uk
• eFinancialCareers.com http://www.efinancialcareers.com
• Legalweekjobs.com http://www.legalweekjobs.com
• Jobs.ac.uk/ http://www.jobs.ac.uk

CV Library http://cv-library.co.uk

 

• Job Searching In Print
• The Guardian (UK)- JobsUnlimited
• FT.com –Regents College Students and staff receive discounts on FT delivered to the Students Services Office in Darwin Basement. Speak with the Students Services’ Co-ordinator for more details.
• The Daily Telegraph
• Wall street Journal CampaignLive- internet site for Campaign Magazine, trade magazine for the UK’S advertising industry New Scientist-  Science Jobs
• The Electronic TimesThe paperboy- good site for access to online newspapers everywhere
• Inside Careers- Careers Choice Magazine now on-line and available to download. The Career Choice range covers all the career options open to you within the areas of City & Finance and Business & Management. Starting your Career In- Country Guides for International Students

 

 

Trade Magazines

 

You can also find vacancies in:

• National, regional and local newspapers (e.g. The Guardian, The Independent)
• Special jobs newspapers (e.g. Jobs UK)
• Specialist ‘trade’ journals (e.g. Computing, The Bookseller)
• Local Job Centres

 

 

Recruitment agencies

 

Many people believe that recruitment agencies are an easy option for jobs hunting. There can be a useful job hunting method to increase your chances of obtaining meaningful work experience; you will have to put in a lot of effort.

• You will need to be very sure about the type of work you are looking for and select agencies that deal with appropriate sectors.
• You will need to make sure that your CV is written clearly at particular types of jobs to insure likelihood of being selected.
• You will need to contact the agency regularly to ensure that that they keep you in mind for positions

 

 

More information on recruitment agencies can be found at your local connexions

 

 

PROACTIVE JOB HUNTING

 

This means tracking down unadvertised vacancies or creating new opportunities for you. One of the keys to this building a network of contacts.

For more information on this see the handout on ‘Networking’.

 

 

Speculative applications

 

Having identified relevant employers, you could just send off your CV and cover letter in hope that they a position available. To increase your chances, your applications should be well written, well searched and targeted to that particular area. Resist the temptation to fire off hundreds of identical CVs and covering letters in the vague hope that something will happen. Often, a better approach is making an informal contact first of all.

Information interviewing is a good way of doing this.

 

Reviewing your strategies

 

Job hunting requires determination but if you are not getting any results after a substantial period of time, you may want to review your strategy. This could mean:

 

• Following you any contacts you may have
• Deciding that that this career is not for you
• Changing up your CV to make it more effective ( based on the advice from your contacts).
• Gaining more experience