Looking for a job in the UK? A practical guide to every place worth trying
6 minute read · 2026-10-04
There is no single best place to find a job. There are six kinds of place, each good at something different, and the people who find work fastest use three or four of them at once. Here is what each one is for.
1. Job boards
Large general boards carry the most adverts; specialist boards carry fewer but better matched ones, for one trade or one region. Use them for: seeing who is hiring and what they pay. Watch for: adverts with no pay ("competitive"), the same job posted by five agencies, and anything that asks you to pay. On this board every advert shows the pay, applying is free, and your CV goes only to the employer you choose.
2. Recruitment agencies
Good for temporary and contract work, driving, warehouse, care and industrial jobs, and for getting started fast. Use them for: work this week. Ask: are you paid through an umbrella company, and what does the key information document show? An agency may never charge you to find you work.
3. Company careers pages
Big employers (supermarkets, the parcel networks, hospitals, councils) post on their own sites first, and some jobs never appear anywhere else. Use them for: the five or six employers you would most like to work for. Bookmark their careers page and check it weekly.
4. Open days and walk in days
Often the quickest route from nothing to an offer, especially in driving, warehousing, care and hospitality. You see the place, meet the people and ask what an advert never answers. See the open days near you, free to go and free to list.
5. The public services
The NHS, the Civil Service, councils, schools and every service in uniform recruit through their own free sites, with published pay scales. We have put them all on one page: the free official places to look.
6. People you already know
Still the way a large share of jobs are filled. Tell people you are looking, ask on the gate at the place you want to work, and keep your LinkedIn or local Facebook groups current if you use them.
How to spend your time
- Set job alerts on two or three places, so the jobs come to you. Set one here, one email a week at most.
- Apply early. Many employers shortlist from the first applications.
- One CV, tailored in two lines. Change the top two lines for each job, not the whole thing. Free CV builder.
- Keep a list of what you applied for, when, and who replied.
Three things that are never normal
- Paying anybody to apply, to be hired, or for "training" before a job.
- Being asked for your bank details or passport before an offer.
- A job that pays far above the rest for the same work, with no address.
Any of those, walk away. If you see one here, tell us.