Finding job vacancies
Companies have different ways of filling their vacancies, so to give yourself the best chance of finding exciting job opportunities you need to use a variety of strategies. These are just some of the main sources for job listings. Don’t limit yourself to our suggestions: be creative and proactive in your job search. Network and approach companies you would like to work for directly.
Sources for job listings include:
The Careers Service - sources of job vacancies
The Careers Service has resources to help you find part-time and graduate level employment, as well as work experience and volunteering opportunities. Our resources include:
Newspapers
Jobs advertised in the press usually have a closing date within a few weeks and the opportunity is usually available immediately. The university libraries have newspapers available for reference, or you can access the most newspapers online.
National newspapers
Most national newspapers have advertisements for graduate vacancies. You can look at the newspapers’ websites and sign up to get alerts about new vacancies.
- The Guardian
- The Daily Telegraph
- The Times (you need a subscription)
- The Financial Times
- The Independent
Opportunities in different sectors are advertised on specific days of the week in each newspaper. Click on the sector below to see what days to check the newspapers.
Regional newspapers
If you know which part of the country you want to work in, consult the local press in that area. A full list of UK newspapers is available at:
International newspapers
Links to international newspapers are available from:
Journals and trade press
Many job vacancies appear in specialist journals or magazines. While experience may be required for these jobs they are still worth looking at to give you an idea of the companies recruiting in your field.
Check the university libraries for journals. The Willings Press Guide is held at Aldrich and Queenwood libraries and has details of a range of publications by sector.
You will also find listings for sector-specific periodicals, journals or trade publications under Occupations
Websites
Job listing websites
You can sign up to most job listing websites to receive email alerts of vacancies that match your criteria. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the number of emails you are sent, so be selective about which sites you sign up to. Make sure the site offers vacancies in your area or sector, and that it is advertising jobs for which you are qualified. For most of these sites you can also sign up to RSS feeds.
Job listing sites that specialise in graduate-level vacancies include:
- Best Companies Guide
- Career Seeker
- CV Library
- Directgov
- Gradplus
- The Graduate
- Graduate Jobs
- Hotrecruit
- Inside Careers
- Just4Graduates.net
- MBA Exchange
- MBA Jobs.net
- MBA-Direct
- Milkround
- Monster
- One Job Group
- PhD Jobs
- Prospects Vacancies
- Reed.co.uk
- Target Jobs
- Times Top 100 Graduate Employers
Websites that specialise in jobs in the not-for-profit sector include:
Regional vacancy sites
The University of St Andrews Careers Wiki has a directory with sources of jobs in all regions across the UK.
- Unlocking Cornish Potential (Cornwall)
- gradireland.com (Ireland)
- North East Graduate Directory (North East)
- Scotland’s Graduate Careers Website (Scotland)
- Graduate Jobs South (South of England)
- Gradsouthwest (South West)
- GO Wales (Wales)
- Graduate Advantage (West Midlands)
- Graduates Yorkshire (Yorkshire)
Employers' websites
Check regularly for vacancies on company websites if you are interested in working for them.
If the employer isn’t currently advertising suitable vacancies, you could try making a speculative application.
Some smaller companies don’t use newspapers or vacancy sites to advertise because of the costs. You can seek out these employers and approach them directly.
For advice on how to do this read Finding employers and Making a speculative application.
Recruitment agencies
Larger employers often use recruitment agencies to fill their vacancies. How to find recruitment agencies is covered in Using recruitment agencies.
Other websites to check
Professional bodies – those that regulate certain professions – membership organisations and sector-specific websites are all good places to look for vacancies.
You will find links to some of organisations in our guide to specific occupations or on the Trade Association Forum.
Social media networks
Recruitment via social media is on the increase. To take advantage of it you need to become active on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can then take advantage of the job-hunting and recruitment applications and services that are integrated into these networks.
Some that you might find useful are:
- TwitJobSearch a vacancy search engine powered by Twitter.
- Linkedin Jobs lets you search and apply for jobs advertised on LinkedIn.
- BranchOut a networking and vacancies service that integrates with your Facebook profile.
For more about using social media in your job search see our pages online networking and your online presence.
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