Where are jobs advertised ?

University Careers Services specialise in supporting students and recent graduates make the transition from university to work. They do not act as placement agencies and won't find you a job - but they do advertise lots of vacancies and can support you in making choices and making applications. Many services advertise their vacancies in on-line databases. The following link will lead you to your university careers service vacancy site.

Newspapers are important sources of vacancies. Different newspapers advertise jobs on different days and for different types of work. For example the Financial Times advertise many jobs in the financial sector, while the Times Educational Supplement advertises jobs in education. Knowing where and when to look is important. Follow the link to find out which newspapers it's relevant for you to consult: www.careers.ed.ac.uk/STUDENTS/Job-hunting/Press_Vacancy_Days.html

Professional Associations, Journals and Specialist Publications often publish adverts for jobs in their particular field. For example, Campaign is a key magazine in for the communications and advertising industry so is a good place to look for jobs in this field. Particular publications will carry adverts for your chosen field. Look at the Typical Employers/Sources of Vacancies information in the Explore Types of Work section of the Prospects website - this provides information on sources of vacancies in around 450 occupations

Recruitment Agencies can be useful in your job search. In many large cities there is always plenty of casual work available, much of which is advertised through agencies. They can provide a gateway to unadvertised jobs and some specialised posts. Some large companies outsource graduate recruitment to agencies and some use agencies to pre-select their candidates. Agencies can also be a useful source of work experience through temporary and vacation work.

When registering with an agency remember:

• You should not pay to be matched with employers.
• You should avoid being talked into taking unsuitable jobs.
• Be wary if a recruitment consultant provides no information about the company or the job.
• Do not be pressurised into changing your CV into one you are unhappy with. It is your CV!

You usually make contact by telephone, email or online and then may be invited to visit their office to register. Take the most recent copy of your CV with you but be prepared also to fill out the same information in agency forms. Register with more than one agency – 3 or 4 is probably a manageable number. Recruitment consultants tend to be very upbeat about finding you a job, but sometimes seem to forget about you as soon as you leave their office so be proactive and telephone a named contact regularly to ensure your name is at the forefront of their mind when jobs come in.

REC represents 7000 recruitment organisations and 5000 individual members. Through their “Details of members Section” you can find an agency, searching by employment sector and/or location.

Jobcentre Plus is the government agency supporting people into work and helping employers to fill their vacancies. It contains a searchable database of full and part-time jobs; you can search for particular types of work and for jobs in specific locations.

Some careers services produce guides to recruitment agencies in their area. You can access Strathclyde and Edinburgh universities publications through the following links:

www.careers.ed.ac.uk/STUDENTS/Job-hunting/RecruitmentAgencies/Edinburgh.htm

www.careers.strath.ac.uk/survey/index.htm

Recruitment Websites

There are many recruitment websites, such as S1jobs and Monster, advertising vacancies which may be relevant to students and graduates. Most of these jobs are advertised elsewhere – through newspapers and recruitment agencies – but the sites can provide a useful way of getting ideas of the range of opportunities and organisations around, or to identify recruitment agencies which advertise the sorts of jobs you want.

Some sites provide the opportunity to post your CV to their site. Don't expect this to result in a flood of approaches from employers. It's a bit like sticking your CV in a shop window and hoping the right employer walks past and sees it. If you want to be successful in your job hunting, you need to be more proactive in getting your approach to employers.