At a recent meeting with a client, we were looking back to the spring/ summer months when the employment situation was very different. Employers found themselves desperately offering vastly inflated salaries to those with certain skill sets to attract them in the face of a seeming shortage. I remember hearing of accountants in Kent offered £10-£15k pay raises not to leave by their worried employers.
Thankfully, that unsustainable position faded away before getting completely out of hand. Now, It looks like the market is showing a surplus of talent.
So, if you are hunting for a job, where do you start?
If you work in the jobs board or recruitment industry, you have an insight into the terminology used, but if you are new to this, I thought some guidance might be helpful.
Please choose your favourite search engine, and let’s try some things.
- “Job search websites” will give you an explanation and some of the most popular sites. (The dominant site is Indeed, but size isn’t everything.)
- “Job websites in the uk” is more specific, listing the UK’s top-ranking sites.
- “job sites in the uk” gives a similar response.
- “job boards in uk” – again, similar, but also gives links to job board ranking sites.
- “jobs boards in the uk” – by adding an “s” to make it jobs will change the listing of sites again. I am proud to say my site, www.thejobsboard.co.uk ranks on Page One of Google for this search. Quite an achievement!
- You might also want to try something like “IT Jobs Board”.
Location-Specific Searching
Faced with many more choices may not be helpful, and you may want to search by location. After all, it is easier to work close to where you live.
- “Kent jobs” – will give you jobs for the local council, university, etc. These are large organisations; hence, they tend to appear at the top of your searches. Plus, you will have some local and national jobs boards to look at.
- To be more location-specific, try “jobs in Guildford”. This is dominated by the government DWP site, which promotes locally available jobs.
Sector-Specific Searching
Often, it is the type of job or industry sector where you want to work that is most important, especially if you have experience or are qualified for a job.
- Financial services jobs may give an initial listing of job vacancies on Google. Then it leads you to job boards or recruitment agencies specialising in the financial services sector, which can be very helpful.
- Being more specific with “Paraplanner jobs” may give you much closer to what you are looking for. Search Engines tend to be smart enough to work where you are and will give you local jobs. This may be the quickest way to find your new dream job.
How many jobs are there?
Employers can advertise a job in many ways.
The employer may advertise directly, and they may use a jobs board.
Employers job may place the job vacancy with one or several recruitment agencies, and these may choose to advertise the job vacancy on one or several job boards/ platforms.
There are then “Aggregators” – these are job boards that scrape (copy) jobs from other boards and repost them.
So, before long, a single job vacancy can be featured many times in your internet searches. It is your choice how you apply for that job.
Initially, it may seem better to apply directly, but often, having the support of an experienced recruitment consultant could give you valuable support in your application and interview process.
And we haven’t begun to talk about the fastest-growing sector of Work-from-home jobs. That deserves an article of its own.
Happy job seeking!
January 2025. This article is original content created by Tony Line, a recruiter and job board owner.
These opinions are all my own, and you should not base any decision on this article’s content.
? Image via FreePik.
