In my last blog post, I shared resources about the UK Labour Market and Employment Information; Occupational Information and Professional Membership Organisations. All in the hope that you’d gain a better understanding of the British job market.

In this second part of “Back to Basics”, let’s look at other aspects of accessing the British Job Market: UK newspapers and magazines, job boards, and recruiters.

1. Newspapers and Magazines – local, regional and national ones – still play a distinct role in advertising vacancies in the UK (at least for the time being) – despite the recession and the growing importance of social media for finding job openings. If you are not familiar with the media landscape in Britain, www.mediauk.com is a fabulous tool. Here you’ll find the right publications, whether it’s in a specific location or a professional field.  Not sure which newspapers cover Manchester, Edinburgh or London? Or which magazines cater for senior managers and executives? Simply search the alphabetical directories for newspapers or magazines (by city, region or keywords such as “management”), click on the web links and go straight to the relevant online job postings of the respective newspapers/magazines.

2. Job Boards – I have spent hours trying to find the “ultimate” free online UK directory of Job Boards. To no avail! I start to think one single comprehensive source of job boards doesn’t exist, or at least there is none that’s comparable to the in-depth AIRS directory in the US. (And if you know where to find THE UK online job board listing, please share the link with us!).

Here are two user-friendly directories to begin your UK job board search: UK Recruiter Community http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/jobboards/executive.htm; and the accompanying website to Online Recruitment Magazine http://www.onrec.com/directory/recruitment/.

And do make sure you save online job search time by using aggregate boards. Aggregate boards scour a wide range of job boards based on the keywords you use as your job search criteria. If you have used aggregate boards in the US, here are the UK equivalent sites: www.indeed.co.uk; www.simplyhired.co.uk; www.jobrapido.co.uk

3. Recruitment Agencies – with more than 135,000 UK based recruiters and candidate researchers, the choice of recruiters can be overwhelming.

A good starting point is the UK member directory of the REC (The Recruitment and Employment Confederation), http://www.rec.uk.com/, where you can search for sector-specific recruiters across the UK, but also in specific locations. Handy are also the “local labour market intelligence reports” across all UK regions, plus regional contacts, resources and labour market trends http://www.rec.uk.com/regions-sectors/regions.

A website site that has caught my attention is www.hirescores.com – an online community for job seekers, employers and recruiters alike. The site gives candidates the opportunity to provide 360 feedback about their recruitment experience. It sounds like a triple WIN: Recruiters and employers get the chance to get candid feedback on the recruitment process (and make changes accordingly); job seekers can access the rankings of recruitment agencies and make an informed choice about whom to approach for their job search.  At least that’s the idea – it will be interesting to see how this site develops over time …

4. Headhunters – As a comprehensive resource, I recommend the title Headhunters and How to Use Them – A Guide for Organisations and Individuals, by Nancy Garrison Jenn, published by The Economist / Profile Books (ISBN - 13: 978-1-86197-734-2). Just bear in mind that with the publication date being 2005, some of the names and contact details will have changed by now. A quick online search or visit to LinkedIn should do the trick.

I trust that by providing some of the basic information about accessing the British job market, you have at least a few resources now to get the ball rolling. And I am well aware that there are other job market topics that I have not covered yet, such as my favourite – networking.

Is there a subject you are particularly interested in? Why don’t you drop me an email? I’ll then get the chance to answer your specific questions in future blog posts.

Greetings from the UK, and “Happy Job Hunting”!

Ruth Winden