How do you find local opportunties?

There are several options available to research your local area for job opportunities.  The biggest tool you have is LinkedIn.  It’s the biggest database of contacts that you’ll ever get your hands on and it’s free to tap into.  LinkedIn is the modern-day Yellow Pages and yes, Let your fingers do the walking!

Conduct research and network on LinkedIn

Start and finish with LinkedIn. It’s a great research tool, and a tool specifically designed to network.  So, you can use this platform to find companies, find the people and start to network.

  • Add a keyword or job title; Recruiter, In-house Recruiter, Recruitment Manager, HR professional, HRBP, HR Director, etc. See what gets the best results.
  • Then go to ‘All filters’, and add your location and check out if you have any 1st or 2nd connections. 1st connections will be able to help and 2nd connections you can start networking with.

Networking is your key to finding the jobs that aren’t advertised, i.e. the hidden jobs.  Keep coming back to LinkedIn once you’ve conducted further research as described below.

Research local businesses

You could start mapping out the local businesses, and if you live in a big town or city, narrow down by sectors of relevance or interest.

The size of the organization might make a difference to whether they have HR support or outsource.

So, depending on your experience you might be looking for a standalone role or working for a large team. This will, in turn, determine the size of the organization you target.

Google; Find out about my local area. (as I don’t know where you are located) and there’ll be a number of websites giving you lots of information about your local area; Street Check, Gov.org, In My Area, Postoffice, In Your Area, etc.

Research the Job Boards 

There’s lots of rich information on the job boards; this will help you to identify the specific jobs in your sector or discipline, companies recruiting in your local area, and agencies with these types of jobs. 

Therefore, don’t just search for jobs, use the job boards to research local companies and local agencies.

Sign up for any specialist job boards in your discipline for example;

HR = Personnel Today, People Management, Simply HR Jobs, Changeboard, HR Grapevine, etc.

Marketing jobs = Marketing Weekly, Only Marketing Jobs, Simply Marketing Jobs, etc. 

Financial Sector = eFinancial Careers, City Jobs, Top Financial Jobs, etc.

It’s important to review the job boards regularly and sign up for the alerts.  I know it can get annoying receiving several alerts every day, but you can switch them off when you’ve found and secured employment.

Make a note of the companies regularly recruiting for future reference. You could then use this information to identify people working at these companies via your LinkedIn searching.

Register with local agencies

Last but certainly not least, register with some local agencies. They will have a very good knowledge of the local area. These people are good to network with and gather local intelligence.

Typically, recruitment consultants build relationships with local businesses.  They have key contacts within local businesses and work together to find candidates and fill vacancies.

As with all relationships, it takes some time and effort to build long-term relationships.  Be prepared to spend some time following up and keeping in regular contact with your consultant. 

Social Media

LinkedIn is the most professional social media platform to use whilst looking for a job.  However, it’s important to broaden your search and use other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

At the beginning of the first lockdown in 2020 the government launched a dedicated website called Job Help Campaign.  This is a one-stop-shop for all your job searches, CV tips, interview tips, and they also promote jobs on Twitter.