Guide to Job Hunting
Most people have an idea of where and when to look for work, so this article is written as a check list of what you should be doing and where you should be looking if you're serious about finding employment.
The simplified format below is equally applicable whether your 16 or 65. (OK if you're 65 you ought to be thinking about escaping work not chasing it, but you know what I mean) The detail may be different, you may have to seek our specialist sources, agencies or journals for example, but the idea is the same. Choose one or any of the options to the left to find out 'where to look'.
Love them or hate them these places are packed with vacancies. Job Centres provide vacancies boards for all types of work. They change quite frequently and it's worth visiting them regularly. The staff can arrange for interviews for suitable vacancies and offer support and advice. Not forgetting the New Deal of course!
Careers Centres deal with people up to 21 years age, although some now offer advice to adults. What they do have are vacancies for younger people that job centres do not normally advertise. Most careers centres will also put you on a register as looking for work, and will let you know if suitable vacancies come up. They also submit young people to training vacancies, such as National Traineeships and Modern Apprenticeships, many of these vacancies may not be notified in the press.
You must go to a Careers Centre if you are between 16-18 and hoping to claim any type of benefit. They are normally listed in the Yellow Pages or other local directories.
Many jobs are advertised in local and National Newspapers, many in free papers, and others in job hunting papers. Any quick glance along large newsagent's shelves will reveal the local job hunting papers. Some of these are printed on a regional basis, with vacancies within commuting distance. Others are national.
The national press often carries vacancies for a particular occupational area; e.g. the Guardian has Educational Vacancies on Tuesdays, with other professions and occupational areas on other days of the week. This is equally applicable to other papers.
TIP: Most of the tabloids have web sites, and some carry vacancies online. Use a search engine to locate them, or try http://www.NEWSPAPERNAME.co or COM, it works most of the time.
Many employers will advertise in local and national papers, but not in the Job Centre, so it is a good idea to keep looking at these too.
Public libraries will keep most local and many national papers - which is worth bearing in mind as it can be costly to buy them all. Check the specific days when they carry job adverts, as many will only include vacancies on a specific day of the week.
Many professions have their own journals, periodicals or magazines. Employers will often go to these for the best chance of employing a professional. Some can be seen on the magazine shelves, others are by subscription only. So if you're a professional looking for work and not subscribing to your industry's publications it may be worth it now. If you are a recently graduated student, then subscribe to a professional journal, they often have reduced rates for student members and it will considerably increase your job hunting prospects.
Much local work, is handled by local Employment Agencies (not government organisations). They cover all types of work. Employment Agencies are listed under the Yellow Pages and in local directories like the Thompson Directory. If you are 18 or under you must visit the Careers Service before employment agencies can, by law, offer you any work.
Employment agencies can often work in two ways. They employ and pay you while you work on a contract they have with an employer, or they fill a vacancy for an employer who will then employ you directly. These vacancies can be permanent or temporary and there are agencies who specialise in specific occupational areas.
It's not unusual for 'temps' to find full time work through agencies. Employers may well treat a temporary contract as a 'probationary' period. Of course for some employers and employees alike, temporary contracts give them both flexibility.
Many employers still have vacancy boards on their premises. Large stores such as food retailers and DIY companies use internal notice boards as these are seen by thousands of customers, and there is often no need to go to the expense of advertising as suitable applicants can be attracted through these notices.
It is also common practise for these types of companies, whose staff continually changes, to provide application forms even when they have no vacancies. Ask at customer service desks. Some larger factories still use vacancy boards by their main gates.
If you're reading this, you will already know that the WWW is a great resource for jobs. Employment and recruitment agencies use it a great deal having their own websites and carrying vacancies - nationally and internationally. There are also local community sites, which will carry local vacancies.
Most sites are well marketed through search engines, so a search there is a must. Do a little reading on how to make the best use of each engine, how to combine words effectively, it will save time if you make specific searches for, say, graduate recruiters or specialist occupation agencies, rather than trawling through hundreds of thousands of general search results!
Once you've found your sites you will find vacancies, with on line directions on how to apply. With others an added feature will be a CV posting service, very useful speculative approach to those hidden vacancies.
Plan - Your Search, Get Organised
To make the best of your job search you need to concentrate on the above, plan your search, plan the time you spend in the visible and hidden job markets. There's a well used cliché that looking for work is a 'job in itself' and it IS. The more that you put into your job search in terms of research, time, effort and planning the more likely you are to succeed in finding those vacancies.
