Where do you first look for work? Temp & Perm
Discussion
I've not posted in this section before so please bare with me.
I work in Recruitment and we have found our regular advertising methods have been dropping off over the last 18 months in printed press.
Although we recruit specifically for mechanical, electrical and construction roles, we also source all other areas of administration, management and other areas.
My question is basically, "Where do you first turn to when looking for work?"
Do you check newspapers & classifieds? The Sun, Evening Standard, Mirror, etc?
Do you use social networks to look for work? Twitter / Facebook, Searching or direct to agencies?
Do you use LinkedIn (although a social network I see it as a fancy job board / sales lead generator)
Do you use Job Boards such as Monster, Reed, CV Library?
Word of mouth? Friends, family, previous work colleagues?
I'm just putting together our strategy and budget for the winter months to bring on board new candidates as well as keeping our profile raised.
I work in Recruitment and we have found our regular advertising methods have been dropping off over the last 18 months in printed press.
Although we recruit specifically for mechanical, electrical and construction roles, we also source all other areas of administration, management and other areas.
My question is basically, "Where do you first turn to when looking for work?"
Do you check newspapers & classifieds? The Sun, Evening Standard, Mirror, etc?
Do you use social networks to look for work? Twitter / Facebook, Searching or direct to agencies?
Do you use LinkedIn (although a social network I see it as a fancy job board / sales lead generator)
Do you use Job Boards such as Monster, Reed, CV Library?
Word of mouth? Friends, family, previous work colleagues?
I'm just putting together our strategy and budget for the winter months to bring on board new candidates as well as keeping our profile raised.
My jobs since leaving university have come from:
I am currently a graduate with 3 years if various experience. My position now is on a graduate scheme with a large employer.
In the past I have thought that a communal 'graduate scheme' for small-medium sized businesses would be a great idea. Going through the application/interview/assessments then being matched up with one or several small-medium sized firm over 1-2 years, with ongoing support and development centrally from the scheme.
I.e. If you had a graduate with an interest in project management. They apply to the scheme and pass the interviews and assessments. They get matched with a firm who is looking for a graduate to do project work for 6 months, then another for 8 months, and another for 10 months. Throughout this time they are also studying towards a professional qualification in project management.
You have then provided several smaller companies with a valuable resource which they might not otherwise have had access to and provided a graduate with some good experience. In return you hopefully have a happy company who will use you again and a marketable graduate who hopefully will choose you to sort out a permanent role.
There are also opportunities to leverage schemes like the Glasgow City Council Commonwealth Graduate Fund or similar if they are available in your area.
- University contact
- Direct contact
- Job center plus (part time, temp job)
- Business contact
- Personal contact
- Direct application
I am currently a graduate with 3 years if various experience. My position now is on a graduate scheme with a large employer.
In the past I have thought that a communal 'graduate scheme' for small-medium sized businesses would be a great idea. Going through the application/interview/assessments then being matched up with one or several small-medium sized firm over 1-2 years, with ongoing support and development centrally from the scheme.
I.e. If you had a graduate with an interest in project management. They apply to the scheme and pass the interviews and assessments. They get matched with a firm who is looking for a graduate to do project work for 6 months, then another for 8 months, and another for 10 months. Throughout this time they are also studying towards a professional qualification in project management.
You have then provided several smaller companies with a valuable resource which they might not otherwise have had access to and provided a graduate with some good experience. In return you hopefully have a happy company who will use you again and a marketable graduate who hopefully will choose you to sort out a permanent role.
There are also opportunities to leverage schemes like the Glasgow City Council Commonwealth Graduate Fund or similar if they are available in your area.
Edited to change the i.e. from me to generic - that's what I think could be a gap in the market.
Edited by stevenjhepburn on Friday 20th September 15:54
I'm more in the IT/Service management field but in answer to your questions above:
Do you check newspapers & classifieds? The Sun, Evening Standard, Mirror, etc? NEVER
Do you use social networks to look for work? Twitter / Facebook, Searching or direct to agencies? NEVER
Do you use LinkedIn (although a social network I see it as a fancy job board / sales lead generator) MORE RECENTLY, YES, AND LIKELY WILL DO SO
Do you use Job Boards such as Monster, Reed, CV Library? ALWAYS FIRST PORT OF CALL
Word of mouth? Friends, family, previous work colleagues? OCCASIONALLY, THIS HAS LANDED ME WORK BEFORE
HTH.
Do you check newspapers & classifieds? The Sun, Evening Standard, Mirror, etc? NEVER
Do you use social networks to look for work? Twitter / Facebook, Searching or direct to agencies? NEVER
Do you use LinkedIn (although a social network I see it as a fancy job board / sales lead generator) MORE RECENTLY, YES, AND LIKELY WILL DO SO
Do you use Job Boards such as Monster, Reed, CV Library? ALWAYS FIRST PORT OF CALL
Word of mouth? Friends, family, previous work colleagues? OCCASIONALLY, THIS HAS LANDED ME WORK BEFORE
HTH.
stevenjhepburn said:
My jobs since leaving university have come from:
I am currently a graduate with 3 years if various experience. My position now is on a graduate scheme with a large employer.
In the past I have thought that a communal 'graduate scheme' for small-medium sized businesses would be a great idea. Going through the application/interview/assessments then being matched up with one or several small-medium sized firm over 1-2 years, with ongoing support and development centrally from the scheme.
I.e. I am a graduate with an interest in project management. I apply to the scheme and pass the interviews and assessments. I get matched with a firm who is looking for a graduate to do project work for 6 months, then another for 8 months, and another for 10 months. Throughout this time I am also studying towards a professional qualification in project management.
You have then provided several smaller companies with a valuable resource which they might not otherwise have had access to and provided a graduate with some good experience. In return you hopefully have a happy company who will use you again and a marketable graduate who hopefully will choose you to sort out a permanent role.
There are also opportunities to leverage schemes like the Glasgow City Council Commonwealth Graduate Fund or similar if they are available in your area.
Excellent process and great experience building! From an Agency/Recruiter point of view you are correct that we would 95% of the time be looking for qualified staff. Most companies use agencies to work with them supplying extra staff to help in busy times or for contracts away from their own location / expertise.- University contact
- Direct contact
- Job center plus (part time, temp job)
- Business contact
- Personal contact
- Direct application
I am currently a graduate with 3 years if various experience. My position now is on a graduate scheme with a large employer.
In the past I have thought that a communal 'graduate scheme' for small-medium sized businesses would be a great idea. Going through the application/interview/assessments then being matched up with one or several small-medium sized firm over 1-2 years, with ongoing support and development centrally from the scheme.
I.e. I am a graduate with an interest in project management. I apply to the scheme and pass the interviews and assessments. I get matched with a firm who is looking for a graduate to do project work for 6 months, then another for 8 months, and another for 10 months. Throughout this time I am also studying towards a professional qualification in project management.
You have then provided several smaller companies with a valuable resource which they might not otherwise have had access to and provided a graduate with some good experience. In return you hopefully have a happy company who will use you again and a marketable graduate who hopefully will choose you to sort out a permanent role.
There are also opportunities to leverage schemes like the Glasgow City Council Commonwealth Graduate Fund or similar if they are available in your area.
Edited by stevenjhepburn on Friday 20th September 15:08
PoleDriver said:
A linky to your website could be useful as both me and my OH are looking at the moment!
http://www.dcer.co.ukPlease bare in mind we only really deal with the Construction industry.
CAPP0 said:
I'm more in the IT/Service management field but in answer to your questions above:
Do you check newspapers & classifieds? The Sun, Evening Standard, Mirror, etc? NEVER
Do you use social networks to look for work? Twitter / Facebook, Searching or direct to agencies? NEVER
Do you use LinkedIn (although a social network I see it as a fancy job board / sales lead generator) MORE RECENTLY, YES, AND LIKELY WILL DO SO
Do you use Job Boards such as Monster, Reed, CV Library? ALWAYS FIRST PORT OF CALL
Word of mouth? Friends, family, previous work colleagues? OCCASIONALLY, THIS HAS LANDED ME WORK BEFORE
HTH.
[/quote
Thank you for your reply. I think your views are shared amongst many others that I have spoken to about this too.
Do you check newspapers & classifieds? The Sun, Evening Standard, Mirror, etc? NEVER
Do you use social networks to look for work? Twitter / Facebook, Searching or direct to agencies? NEVER
Do you use LinkedIn (although a social network I see it as a fancy job board / sales lead generator) MORE RECENTLY, YES, AND LIKELY WILL DO SO
Do you use Job Boards such as Monster, Reed, CV Library? ALWAYS FIRST PORT OF CALL
Word of mouth? Friends, family, previous work colleagues? OCCASIONALLY, THIS HAS LANDED ME WORK BEFORE
HTH.
[/quote
Thank you for your reply. I think your views are shared amongst many others that I have spoken to about this too.
The 3 times I've had to look for work.
2001 - it was a case of printing out some CV's and hitting the streets and knocking on the doors of the agencies, different world then, both for me personally and the economic climate - rules of thumb then was the agency would make some quick cash off you back pimping you out for filing and admin jobs for a week at a time, if you didn't make a complete arse of yourself they'd put you forward for a perm job - not really relevant, but since I hit 35 I like telling stories about the "good old days".
2010 - I put my details all over Monster and the like, and trawled over Reed constantly, it's a massive numbers game now, you can apply for dozens of jobs a day using a few word templates which is great, but so can everyone else, so it's really hard to shine through, without going overboard and looking like a nutter. Eventually I got asked to call into an Agency for a 'chat' they put be forward for a few things, got offered a couple of roles within a few days. Oddly the Agency that found me the job had ignored the CV I sent to them via their site and had claimed they had nothing 'in your field' when I called them - the overriding feeling I got was that 50% of the roles advertised on Reed didn't really exist, they were spammy listings looking to sell training courses and the like, the Agencies also binned any direct applicants because of the sheer volume I assume, but once you actually got your details in front of one of them and got the the 'chat' stage things moved very quickly.
2013 - Completely different game, got made redundant via e-mail over the weekend (nice of them) spent a few days licking my wounds and then followed the same pattern as before which less luck than the last time, the market seemed much worse than 2010, in the end I swallowed a bit of pride and called around my contacts, got a job within 2 days. I still occasionally get e-mails asking me if I'm still looking, even after 9 months in a role and removing myself for all the websites!
2001 - it was a case of printing out some CV's and hitting the streets and knocking on the doors of the agencies, different world then, both for me personally and the economic climate - rules of thumb then was the agency would make some quick cash off you back pimping you out for filing and admin jobs for a week at a time, if you didn't make a complete arse of yourself they'd put you forward for a perm job - not really relevant, but since I hit 35 I like telling stories about the "good old days".
2010 - I put my details all over Monster and the like, and trawled over Reed constantly, it's a massive numbers game now, you can apply for dozens of jobs a day using a few word templates which is great, but so can everyone else, so it's really hard to shine through, without going overboard and looking like a nutter. Eventually I got asked to call into an Agency for a 'chat' they put be forward for a few things, got offered a couple of roles within a few days. Oddly the Agency that found me the job had ignored the CV I sent to them via their site and had claimed they had nothing 'in your field' when I called them - the overriding feeling I got was that 50% of the roles advertised on Reed didn't really exist, they were spammy listings looking to sell training courses and the like, the Agencies also binned any direct applicants because of the sheer volume I assume, but once you actually got your details in front of one of them and got the the 'chat' stage things moved very quickly.
2013 - Completely different game, got made redundant via e-mail over the weekend (nice of them) spent a few days licking my wounds and then followed the same pattern as before which less luck than the last time, the market seemed much worse than 2010, in the end I swallowed a bit of pride and called around my contacts, got a job within 2 days. I still occasionally get e-mails asking me if I'm still looking, even after 9 months in a role and removing myself for all the websites!
remkingston said:
As you gave the link I had a quick look and whilst it's not the worst website in the world, it is also not the best. I would hazard a guess that you don't have a dedicated marketing person? To meet the goals that you state in post one, you might want to consider exploring that route.stevenjhepburn said:
As you gave the link I had a quick look and whilst it's not the worst website in the world, it is also not the best. I would hazard a guess that you don't have a dedicated marketing person? To meet the goals that you state in post one, you might want to consider exploring that route.
You are right and it is on my to do list.Our busy period is May - September but this year we have been 4x busier than the last 5 years so no time has been put into the site. I'm in the process of customising a wordpress theme to be more SEO too.
I'm working on updating all our internal software. This would connect via a multiposter to our website and social media accounts we've newly started. Our recruitment database would also handle logins via the site so Candidates can update their timesheets, info, qualifications etc.
It's game of chicken and the egg at the moment with the main goal to make everything as easy as possible whilst being secure.
remkingston said:
You are right and it is on my to do list.
Our busy period is May - September but this year we have been 4x busier than the last 5 years so no time has been put into the site. I'm in the process of customising a wordpress theme to be more SEO too.
I'm working on updating all our internal software. This would connect via a multiposter to our website and social media accounts we've newly started. Our recruitment database would also handle logins via the site so Candidates can update their timesheets, info, qualifications etc.
It's game of chicken and the egg at the moment with the main goal to make everything as easy as possible whilst being secure.
All sounds like good stuff! I would add some proper copy writing to your list too - at the moment it reads like it was written by someone who thinks they are good at copy writing but actually isn't. No offence intended if you wrote the copy!Our busy period is May - September but this year we have been 4x busier than the last 5 years so no time has been put into the site. I'm in the process of customising a wordpress theme to be more SEO too.
I'm working on updating all our internal software. This would connect via a multiposter to our website and social media accounts we've newly started. Our recruitment database would also handle logins via the site so Candidates can update their timesheets, info, qualifications etc.
It's game of chicken and the egg at the moment with the main goal to make everything as easy as possible whilst being secure.
I'll say no more and let the thread get back on track!
CAPP0 said:
I'm more in the IT/Service management field but in answer to your questions above:
Do you check newspapers & classifieds? The Sun, Evening Standard, Mirror, etc? NEVER
Do you use social networks to look for work? Twitter / Facebook, Searching or direct to agencies? NEVER
Do you use LinkedIn (although a social network I see it as a fancy job board / sales lead generator) MORE RECENTLY, YES, AND LIKELY WILL DO SO
Do you use Job Boards such as Monster, Reed, CV Library? ALWAYS FIRST PORT OF CALL
Word of mouth? Friends, family, previous work colleagues? OCCASIONALLY, THIS HAS LANDED ME WORK BEFORE
HTH.
I'm also in IT, and mirror this. When I'm chasing jobs its through Jobserve, when people are looking for people like me, its via Linkedin. Do you check newspapers & classifieds? The Sun, Evening Standard, Mirror, etc? NEVER
Do you use social networks to look for work? Twitter / Facebook, Searching or direct to agencies? NEVER
Do you use LinkedIn (although a social network I see it as a fancy job board / sales lead generator) MORE RECENTLY, YES, AND LIKELY WILL DO SO
Do you use Job Boards such as Monster, Reed, CV Library? ALWAYS FIRST PORT OF CALL
Word of mouth? Friends, family, previous work colleagues? OCCASIONALLY, THIS HAS LANDED ME WORK BEFORE
HTH.
I wouldn't think of looking in print media.
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