Looking for Vacancies

There is a large number of resources available which will assist you in your search for a new job. As your reading this, you'll probably already know that the Internet is a wonderful tool to help you find a new position. Bare in mind however that the Internet is not the 'be all and end all' when it comes to finding a new role, often more traditional methods can be equally, if not more successful.

Advice on Vacancy Sources

Now that you have updated your CV, its time to test the quality of your material. Many individuals find that there are interesting advertisements for them to follow-up on and submit their CV. But, everyone needs to be aware that published advertisements are only one way of approaching the market place.

Although there may be much in terms of the published newspaper advertisements (see our newspaper list) there are all the other vehicles for such vacancies to be considered - remember the journals, professional press and now never forget the Internet.

Here are some of the things you can do straight away...

Visit our forums to get some top tips on looking for vacancies or to share some that you have yourself!

Search Online Job Banks

A Job Bank is a web based database of job vacancies where recruiters or organisations can advertise their vacancies to the widest possible audience quickly and cost effectively. Many job banks feature a tool which enables you to can save your criteria and have matching jobs e-mailed to you as and when they appear, saving you task of going back and checking the job bank for suitable vacancies. Click here for a list of job banks featuring a range of vacancies across different functions and industries.

Locate Relevant National Newspaper Ads

All the UK's national newspapers have web sites with links to their classified recruitment advertising. The nationals tend to have specific audiences - e.g.. Guardian is strong on media, charities and social issues; The Times is the best place for legal and educational roles; the FT for financial and so on.  Click here to see which papers advertise on which days and to link to the recruitment areas for each paper.

What does that mean? Weird and wonderful acronyms and abbreviations

Do you know your CADS from your CAMS, your EPOS from your EFTPOS, your LAN from your WAN and your OTE from your OTC. Click here for a roundup of some of the acronyms and abbreviations you may find in recruitment advertisements.

Scan Local Newspaper Job Ads

Local newspapers may not immediately spring to mind as the best place to find a new career but some regional papers do carry heavyweight job ads as they have a very strong local business readership - e.g.. The Yorkshire Post and the Scottish press easily rival the nationals in their regions. Regional press is also useful if you are looking to relocate, would prefer local work and particularly for part-time and job shares. Local newspapers have a strong Internet presence and have even aggregated their individual sites into one large database so you can search them all at once! Click here to find out more.

Find the Right Recruiters

This can be a love/hate relationship - you will probably need to come into contact with a recruiter at some point during your job search and it's often a case of 'can't live with them, can't live without them! Click here for links to our Recruiter Index of specially constructed recruiter lists in the classifications we get asked about the most. Click Here for details of how to make the most of of the relationship with your recruitment company.

Consult a Trade Journal for your Function or Industry

Trade or business journals can be useful sources of job vacancies, particularly for more specialist function or industry sectors. Click here for a selection of the major journals with links to available web sites For a more comprehensive list and a guide to which journal is appropriate for your area of interest, consult the following directories: Willings Press Guide or BRAD which should be available at your local library.

Companies

Many large organisations recruit via their corporate web sites and even if specific vacancies are not included, it’s always worth checking a target company's site as you get a feel for the company and its culture. Click here for a list of sites which will help you locate a company's web site

Associations

Trade Associations and Membership Organisations can be useful sources of vacancy as many of them run recruitment services for their members, benefiting both individual and corporate members. Click here for a list of associations.

Networking Groups

Joining a networking group active within your particular field or industry can open the doors to a number of useful opportunities. As well as meeting like minded and potentially useful individuals, many organisations run recruitment services, often operating a web based message board or newsletter. Click here for a list of networking groups.

What else can you do?

Visit these web sites

Information Providers
No job vacancies here but a fairly comprehensive and useful list of UK recruitment web sites even though it slightly biased towards the IT community.www.ipl.co.uk/recruit.html

Sympatico Career SearchComprehensive career resource with links to job banks worldwide. learningedge.sympatico.ca/careersearch/index.html

What Colour Is Your ParachuteThe Job Hunting Online section of Dick Bolles best selling career guide is now available on the Internet An excellent guide to picking the best career sites and although it has a US bias still features lots of resources that are not location sensitive.

http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/Try Internet portals such as Yahoo, Infoseek and Lycos – they all have career or employment ‘channels’ where specific information has been grouped together for you.