If you want to get a better understanding of the British job market but don’t know where to begin, here are my recommendations on how to get off to a great start:

1. General Labour Market and Employment Information:

With 135 000 members, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, CIPD, is the largest and most influential association for human resource professionals in the UK. Even as a non-member, you will find vast amounts of well-researched information on their website www.cipd.co.uk.

Look out for factsheets, reports and pod casts on topics ranging from employee relations to salary surveys, from employment law to career management, from unemployment figures to recruitment and talent management practices.

2. Occupational Information:

In the US, many of you will be using O-Net for occupational information. In the UK, we career professionals tend to refer to “the UK’s official graduate careers website” www.prospects.ac.uk. Don’t let the focus on graduate careers deter you – the site provides up to date and detailed information on career fields, employment sectors and occupational profiles relevant to professionals at many different stages of their careers.

The wide range of “occupational profiles” and “sector overviews” will be a good starting point if (a) You need to familiarise yourself with the technical terms used for your profession in the UK; (b) You want to learn more about specific types of jobs and the way they are performed in the UK (the occupational profiles cover job descriptions, employment prospects, working conditions, training and entry requirements, career development and career progression, professional membership associations and sources of job openings).

3. Professional Membership Organisations:

Professional associations offer a wealth of careers information, professional development opportunities and rich networks you can tap into. Yet in my view, they are far too often ignored by professionals as an information and job search tool.

How can you find out whether there is a relevant professional association for you in the UK? (a) Visit your own association’s website to check for links within its global network – in many cases associations collaborate on international projects or have affiliate systems in place. For instance, via the American Chemical Society (ACS) you will be able to identify the UK based Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC); (b) Check out the listings of the UK Trade Association Forum www.taforum.org; (c) Use a search engine – you are bound to uncover useful connections with UK professionals, however small or large your professional niche may be.

In part II, I will share information about UK based job boards, recruitment agencies and professional online networks.

Until then!