Where to look for jobs

If you're job hunting, the first thing to know is where to look - and who to ask! Some of the different ways of finding your dream job are described on this page:

Ask around

Speculative approaches

The internet

Newspapers

Professional and trade journals

Jobcentre Plus

Employment agencies

Look local – shop windows etc

Around half of all job vacancies aren’t advertised. That means that just talking to friends, family and neighbours can be a great way of finding a new job. Even if their boss doesn’t have anything available at the moment, ask for the name of the person in the company who is responsible for hiring and firing – it’s worth contacting them so that they know about you if anything else comes up.

And there’s a new boom for ‘referral schemes’ among big companies, which is where they encourage current employees to find new employees. This means that you are just as likely to find out about jobs with big and small companies by asking around. Nationwide, Amazon, Sainsbury's, Vodafone, Bupa and Asda all recruit using schemes like this – to find out read the Guardian's article on referral schemes.

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Do you like the look of a particular company? Then why not contact them and tell them what you’ve got to offer? It’s normally best to do this by post, by sending a short letter and a CV. You can then follow up your letter with a phone call about a week later.

However, if you’re looking for retail work, there’s nothing wrong with walking down your local high street with copies of your CVs and finding out if they have anything available. You could also identify potential employers through the Yellow Pages or the internet.

If there is a particular organisation that you like the look of, and it doesn’t have anything available at the moment, it’s always worth asking them a few questions:

• Do they expect to have any vacancies coming up soon?
• How often do the kind of vacancies you are looking for come up?
• Where so they normally advertise jobs?

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Our job search page has links to some of the most popular, up-to-date and comprehensive job search websites. However, there are hundreds of sites available – if you can’t find one that suits you or you aren’t confident in searching yourself, you can contact our InfoLine by e-mail or phone (0115 924 7272) and we will help you with your search. Professional bodies often carry vacancies or links to vacancies, or you can also use employment agency websites. If you are resonably confident using the internet - and you know where to look - then you could try newsgroups. There are some dedicated to general vacancies, but quite a few of these also contain plenty of scams and irrelevant posts. News groups can be useful if you are looking for work in a particular sector, or you want a specialised role.

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Local newspapers are always a good place to look for jobs. As well as buying them, you can look at these in your local library – this can be an advantage if there is a paper that’s difficult to get hold of. For example, if you live in the Beeston area, your local shop might not stock the Derby Telegraph (which often carries Long Eaton jobs) but you can get it in Beeston library. The days when newspapers carry jobs pages are available here.

You may also find national newspapers useful. Of course you won’t find as many local jobs, but there are still plenty to be had. For instance, when we wrote this, the Guardian was advertising 94 jobs in Nottinghamshire. These ranged from a trainee support worker for mental health clients (£10,500) to a local government policy manager (£50,000).

National newspapers tend to be of most use if you are looking for a ‘professional’ job or you are prepared to commute or even move home. Visit our newspaper page for details of the days national newspapers advertise jobs, and which specialisms they have.

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Most types of occupation have a trade or professional organisation. These normally have their own magazine or journal which carries job vacancies. To find out about these kind of publications you can ask your local library or contact the nextstep InfoLine, who will find out for you.

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You don’t have to be unemployed to use the Jobcentre! Jobcentre Plus has one of the most comprehensive vacancy services in the UK. You can use its job search in three ways.

1)     Visit your local Jobcentre. There are touch screen terminals in Jobcentres where you can search for vacancies. They are easy to use, and if you want any help you can ask the Jobcentre staff.

2)     Jobseeker Direct. If you telephone this service, advisers can search for jobs for you and, in some cases, get the application form sent to you or organise an interview. Tel: 0845 6060 234. (Textphone: 0845 6055 255)

3)     Use the website search: www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk and click on ‘Looking for a job’. This website gets more hits than any other job site in the UK!

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Employment agencies (also known as recruitment agencies) carry temporary and permanent jobs. Some specialise in types of job, while some are more general. To get a job through an agency you need to register. This normally means them taking a note of your personal details and the type of jobs you are looking for. You will normally need to give them a copy of your CV.

The agency will then contact you when potential vacancies are available. If you want to get work through an agency you often need to build a relationship with them to make sure you get the selection of jobs you want.

• Our factsheet called ‘Top tips for making the most of your recruitment agency’ has more details on agencies.
• Details of local employment agencies are available here.

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Shops, especially newsagents and supermarkets, often have postcards looking for cleaners, nannies, gardening, sales assistants etc. As well as looking at these, you can also advertise yourself here. If you do put up a notice to advertise yourself, it’s a good idea to list (briefly!) what kind of work you are looking for and your experience and/or qualifications, as well as a contact telephone number or email (not your address!)

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