With hundreds of job sites, newspaper ads and individual company websites, it can be difficult to know where to start when looking for a new job, particularly if you don’t necessarily know exactly what you’re looking for! Here are our top tips on finding the role for you:
Narrow down your search: If you can narrow it down to a job title – perfect! But if you’re not sure quite how you fit into a civvie role yet, start with the responsibilities/skills you’re looking to use and search for these on job sites (e.g. manager, health and safety, weapons, training). Do the same with the qualifications you hold and you will start to see a pattern in the types of roles you are suited to.
Utilise job search sites: Sites such as Indeed, reed.co.uk, cv-library.co.uk and totaljobs.com advertise vacancies from most UK and international recruitment agencies as well as larger employers. You can narrow your search by keywords, salary and location, be sure to always order them by date, this way you can pop back and see the most recent additions without having to sift.
Research local employers: If you know of a local company operating in your desired industry or who are likely to have the type of role you are looking for, find the careers pages on their website and register your interest. Top tip: take a look at the businesses in your area who have signed the Armed Forces Covenant: (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/search-for-businesses-who-have-signed-the-armed-forces-covenant)
Register for job alerts: Most job sites will have the option to set up job alerts, make sure you make it as specific as possible to avoid receiving hundreds of irrelevant jobs. Most will allow you to set up more than one so that you don’t miss out if you’re open to different industries/roles.
Register with recruitment agencies: Does a particular agency have several roles you’re interested in? Make sure you register with them and they will contact you directly with opportunities, sometimes before they are even advertised. Be sure to research specialist recruiters for your chosen industry. You can view a list of our current opportunities advertised with us here.
Upload your CV: If given the opportunity, upload your CV. Recruiters will use these databases to search for candidates using keywords, again this could be for roles not yet advertised.
Be picky: Make sure that you are applying for roles you can genuinely see yourself doing, if you keep popping up on employer/agency’s radars for roles you’re not suited to, they may well dismiss your future applications.
Use social media: LinkedIn is a great job searching tool, but make sure you have a strong, professional profile before you start applying as this will be the recruiter’s first impression of you. Make yourself known to hiring managers by viewing their profile, if they look back at yours, get in touch!
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