5 Key Steps to Get a Job in London

How to find a job or start your career in London

By Katerina

Whether you have just come out of a hot-shot international university and are eager to start your career or you are looking to get a job in London and move here, the process to find a job is the same and can be summarised in these simple but necessary 5 steps to get a job:

1# | Temping or starting a career in London

First step is to decide what is the type and nature of job you are looking for.

Part-time jobs:

If you are targeting part-time jobs or summer jobs in London then a temping job agency would be the way forward. We have written a useful article about 5 easy to get jobs in London that can be mostly done on a part-time basis.

Full-time jobs/starting a career:

On the other site if you are looking for a permanent position and careers in London then get in touch with an employment agency in London and other recruitment companies.

One thing is certain, recruitment agencies are the first place to start looking so as to find a job around. We already have done all the job search research for you and summarised all the major job agencies and job sites around.

To make your life easier, we have reviewed the best UK job sites categorised by job sector and also picked the top 13 UK job boards in 2021.

2# | What do I want to be when I get older?

It is the question we are still asking ourselves so don’t worry if you are one of us. There are plenty of ways to discover what is the perfect job for you. Start by speaking to your university Careers Advisor; if you are not currently in school then there are various self assessment tests out there, however, most of them cost. We’ve found some nice free self-assessment tests to find out if your personality fits your job if you have the entrepreneur profile, what kind of manager are you, your sales and marketing abilities as well as assess your Emotional Quotient.

For the more decisive ones, knowing the job field you are targeting with your job search will make your life sooo much easier. Different job boards and London vacancies sources cater to different industries.

IT Careers:

If you are going for a job in this field, then there is a whole list of IT job boards you can visit our IT job boards section.

Marketing and executive jobs:

For all other fields ranging from marketing jobs and executive jobs to graduate jobs and admin jobs in London, there are specialised sites. Find the best UK Marketing Job sites and Management Job sites.

General job sites:

Then you have also the generic job sites which are offering a great variety of options across sectors. Our best ones are: Monster, CV-Library, Indeed, and Milkround.

Freelance jobs:

Even for the free-spirited one of us who are looking to work as a freelance, there are sources through our Freelance category. One of the most popular and widely used freelance job boards is Freelancer.com. Find more freelance writing jobs online and other online tutoring jobs.

You just have to make sure that you are checking out the right one for you. Find more freelance writing jobs online.

3# | Find me a job now

Ok we are getting it; you are impatient and have already registered with every possible recruitment agency in London you could but still, you have not been lucky. Try our job hunting tips and check the options below:

Start your own business:

Go down the route of self-employed jobs in London.. (yes this is a concept) and start your own business. Once you start working on your own idea and are in theory employed, you will get more experience and exposure to potential recruiters and will increase your chances of getting a job. Find our one-page guide to starting your own business in the UK here.

Join a start-up:

There is a whole new field of potential openings for you in the field of UK start-ups which seems to be gaining great momentum in London these days. You can get the chance to do something cool while gaining experience you can apply to other roles later on. Specialised resource will be the job board Workinstartups.com

Networking – networking –networking:

Something that never fails is good old networking. Use your existing network or friends and family who are already working in a company you want to work for. Get in touch with them via Linkedin or any other professional (preferably) social media and ask them to have a chat with you. From our experience most people are keen to help.

• Best case scenario: they recommend you for the dream job you were always aiming for at Google .
• Worst-case scenario: you get a very good piece of advice on how to most effectively pursue your career objectives.

Take your job search on the road:

If you’re on a hunt for a job, it’s good to be always connected and up-to-date with the latest job vacancies. Therefore having a job search app installed on your phone is a must. Check 5 great job apps so you can take your job search on the road with your Android or iPhone.

4# | CV and Cover letter

Before you go out there and start bombarding everyone with your CV, make sure it is the right one! Of course, a CV is a CV and essentially summarises what you have done so far. Still, for every role you are applying for, you should make sure that your CV and Cover letter are:

• Tailor-made for the specific position you are applying for
• Highlight your key professional strengths and relevance to the role
• Clearly written and short; not more than 2 pages
• Spelling and grammatical mistakes free. If you are not a native English speaker, ask an English friend of yours to check it for you
• In a pdf format; it looks more professional that way
• Well presented with a design

You can find more detailed our CV guide and Cover letter guide with more tips here as well as our CV advisory service so should you need professional advice do email us: hello@brokeinlondon.com using Career Service in the title.

5# | Be out there

Staying home, checking back to back job search sites, and calling recruitment agencies will only help you that much. A not very well known advice from our BrokeinLondon – I have changed 100 jobs and got employed every single time within weeks – wizards is that you have to be out there. Go where?

• Academic and professional events featuring professionals working in the industry you want to enter – various universities do that and they are usually for free. Check our 5 essential tips for attending a job fair in London.
• Conferences: ok they cost a lot usually but you can always apply to be a volunteer during a conference and thereby get a free pass as well as the chance to interact with the participants in a one to one level.
• Social gatherings, which are concentrating people from the industry, field, or company you want to work for. If you join relevant Linkedin groups in London you can see what gatherings are taking place and when. Examples include:

For those interested in environmental sustainability jobs (which seems to be a trend these days):

Greendrinks.org

This exposure will not only help you to start meeting relevant people but will also provide you with good exposure to the language used,the latest news, and current affairs on the field you are looking into entering professionally. How to learn more about these events? We will be having a featured relevant article in our next newsletter so watch out for it.

Some words of wisdom

We are all have been there, done that so even if finding a job in London seems like a challenge to you now, you shall not despair. There are always some easy jobs to get compared to others so the pickier you are ( and we don’t say you should not be), the more effort it will require but the result will reward you for sure!

—

You may also want to check our Free Career Advice section.