For most graduates who don’t live in big cities, it gets difficult to find their ‘dream job’ in their hometown. As quite a few employers offering graduate schemes tend to be based in bigger towns, there are fewer jobs available in your local area. But if you don’t want to leave the town you have grown up in and relocate, here are top 7 tips to help you find a job in your local area.
Utilise job search sites that focus on local jobs in your area
The first step is to do the right research. Find out all the companies in and around your area. Many jobs are not advertised externally and making a list of all the companies around you can help you tap into that hidden job market. Use local job boards and job search sites to ensure you don’t miss out on any opportunities in your local vicinity.
Use your transferable skills
Think of all the skills you may have acquired over university and through extra-curricular activities and figure out how you can put to use those skills in the industry/company that you have decided to pursue in your hometown.
Make the job come to you
Use job boards to upload your CV on their database. Not only does this make you more visible to recruiters who are actively looking for candidates, it also helps narrow down on the location search giving you a better chance of bagging that job 5 minutes from home. Sign up to as many recruitment agencies as you can and keep in touch with them every week or so to find out about their latest vacancies.
Network
Think of all the people you have met throughout your education like Careers Service Advisors, Employers at Careers Fairs, fellow students, who have the job they want and don’t be afraid to ask them how they got it. Most recruiters welcome the opportunity to share insight as it shows them your keenness to go for what you want. Use this as an opportunity to gain valuable insight into your chosen industry and you never know you might be able to set up some work experience at the company or even find a job vacancy.
Read the newspaper
In this digital age where most of your job hunting will happen online, it is still always a good idea to read the newspaper and keep an eye on the recruitment section. As well as giving you an idea of the available jobs, it will also help you understand the industries that thrive in your area.
Think different
Many fresh-faced graduates dream of landing the job with a well-known company and gain fast-track access to the graduate position of their dreams, but the harsh reality is that graduate schemes are like winning the lottery. Like those elusive lottery wins, graduate schemes are brilliant if you can get them, but there simply aren’t enough positions to go round. So what do you do? Turn your focus to smaller companies. Small and medium Enterprise (SME) jobs will give you the same experience as the ‘big ones’ and will likely give you greater responsibility quicker than in larger companies. So do your research on the SMEs in your area and start applying!
Speculative applications
A more direct route into employment, writing speculative applications to organisations in your local area will mean you are exposed to unadvertised jobs. Whilst there is a chance that your letter might go unanswered or you receive a rejection, this way you are more in charge of your job search. At this point, all you want to focus on is to gain someone’s interest so they invite you in for a meeting. Then, you will be in a great position to talk them through your skills and why you would be best for that job.
Following these tips, coupled with employers like Enterprise whose strength lies in local businesses all over the country, you will be in a great place to start your job search in your area. Have a look at the wide range of summer internships and graduate jobs from Enterprise here.