UK Job Search Platforms: A Rundown

Fresh off the press: my UK job-hunting notes 🎉

Let's start with the basics: the job-search tools everyone heading to the UK for work needs to know about and have ready 🛠️

Get to know the platforms and their pros and cons, build a job-search strategy that works, and get your skills in front of recruiters. Job hunting is a bumpy road, and I hope every bit of effort we put in pays off as much as it can. But don't forget: you need a CV first! Once it's ready, apply boldly (go all out) and carve out your own path!

The five UK job platforms covered today:

1. LinkedIn

2. Glassdoor

3. Reed

4. Indeed

5. Totaljobs

1. LinkedIn, the basics:

LinkedIn is a must for every job seeker! It's the main platform and the one used most, and it represents your professional brand. Universities run dedicated workshops on it while you're studying, and at business networking events people basically use LinkedIn to swap contact details and follow up on working together. That makes building a personalized profile and highlighting your professional skills all the more important. From my own experience, this is also the platform where an Amazon recruiter reached out to me, which led to a job offer. I strongly recommend making LinkedIn your core job-search tool and using other platforms alongside it ☺︎

Features: apply actively & get found passively

Importance: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 A must for job hunting abroad!!!

(For an overseas career (job search), LinkedIn matters as much as IG does for a personal brand)

2. Glassdoor, the basics:

Glassdoor is a platform for researching companies: reviews of the company and its roles, salaries, and how employees feel about working there. Besides seeing real salaries for the role you're applying to, you can read reviews from current and former employees to judge whether the pay meets your expectations and whether the work environment and company culture suit you. The platform also has lots of community groups where people in all kinds of professions ask questions and share information, so you can join the ones for your field. Personally, I use it mainly to look up company background, salaries and reviews; its job-search interface doesn't show off your abilities very directly. I'd recommend using it mostly for research and only secondarily for applying ☺︎

Features: mainly company background research, job search secondary

Importance: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Need-to-know for job hunting abroad

3. Reed, the basics:

Reed has a feature that's especially useful if you've just arrived in the UK or are just starting your job search: a free CV review. It's great for student job seekers who don't yet know how to write a CV. It's also a very good platform for waiting to be found. My advice, of course, is that anywhere recruiters can see you is a good place; getting yourself in front of as many recruiters as possible during the job hunt benefits both sides. Besides being contacted by recruiters on LinkedIn, I also often get emails through REED, so I highly recommend uploading your CV there for exposure! It also offers all kinds of free courses and job-search information ☺︎

Features: apply actively & get found passively

Importance: 🌟🌟🌟 Need-to-know for job hunting abroad

4. Indeed, the basics:

Indeed combines Glassdoor-style company research with job search. The biggest difference, I think, is that Indeed's job-search interface is more intuitive than Glassdoor's: you can upload your own CV instead of just filling in some job interests. I recently noticed another big plus: there are lots of jobs that are mainly Mandarin speaking, plus ones in other languages, e.g. Japanese. For job seekers who've just arrived in the UK or aren't yet comfortable with the language, that could be a great opportunity. On top of that, CVs get decent visibility here. Recruiters usually message you to ask whether you're interested in a job, and only if you tick "interested" do things move to the next step. I think that's a good filter that saves both sides' time ☺︎

Features: apply actively & get found passively

Importance: 🌟🌟🌟 Need-to-know for job hunting abroad

5. Totaljobs, the basics:

Totaljobs is the last platform for today. Its most distinctive feature estimates your current salary range based on your occupation, experience, company size and so on. I find this really unusual and useful: if you're new to the workforce, or new to the UK and don't know the salary benchmarks, it's a good way to work out what salary range you can negotiate for right now. It also offers some job-search courses, though most are paid and only a few are free, along with other job-search information and recruitment agencies for reference. From what I can tell, this platform lets you filter by job type in more detail, with ready-made options to pick from, instead of typing things in yourself as on other platforms, e.g. city, salary or working arrangements like remote ☺︎

Features: mainly active applications and CV uploads

Importance: 🌟🌟🌟 Need-to-know for job hunting abroad

That's 5 basic job platforms in this post. I'll keep sharing more platforms that work better for specific industries, plus my own hard-won tips. I hope this adds a little energy to the wings of every Dreamer who finds their way here 🪺🕊️

Written by 羅菈 🖊️🩵