London is an expensive place to live, and so before moving to the city, it’s a good idea to already have a job lined up so that you can start earning an income straight away. However, that’s not always possible, and so it’s totally normal if you’re reading this now and realising that finding a job in London is taking longer than you expected it to.
London is a city full of opportunities, so even if you’re already living in London and job-hunting, don’t worry too much as these top tips should help get you back on track and earning money again.
How Long Does It Take To Find A Job In London?
On average, the search for a job will take around 6 weeks. The length of time it takes to find a job will depend largely on the industry that you are experienced in.
For example, in the hospitality industry you might find a job within two weeks, and be asked to start the following week. However in a head office job, you might be asked to undertake several interview stages before being offered a job which could take longer than a month.
How To Find A Job In London Quickly
If you need to quickly find a job in London, your best port of call is to sign up to recruitment agencies. They are always trying to fill their job listings and are motivated by commission to place the right person with the right company.
Sign up to lots of recruitment agencies (just Google recruitment agencies in your industry), and you can guarantee they will be the ones hounding you with new job opportunities.
Is It Easy To Find Work In London?
Competition for jobs in London is often tough. There are often lots of applicants for each job, and so it’s good to keep your options option. Apply to as many jobs as possible to widen your chances of being successful.
That said, staff turnover is also high in London. Many young professionals will live in London for a few years and then move out. This means that at any one time there is likely to be thousands of jobs up for grabs in the city.
Top Tips For Finding A Job In London
Finding a job in London can take a lot of effort, but it’s worth it to live in one of the most exciting cities in the world. These are some Thrifty Londoner top tips to help you to find the right job for you.
Perfect your CV & Cover Letter
Your CV and Cover Letter are the only pieces of information that a potential employer will have about you. It needs to stand out.
Your CV and Cover Letter should be specifically tailored to the company with whom you are applying for a job. If their job description lists specific skills or qualities they are looking for? Make sure that you emphasise these traits within your CV.
If you are worried about the quality of your CV, or would like a professional to review your CV for you, head to a site like Fiverr. Here, you can get CVs and Cover Letters reviewed and proofread by a professional relatively cheaply within a short time frame.
Register With Recruitment Agencies
Recruitment agencies are your friend when it comes to helping you find your perfect job. Many smaller companies will use recruitment agencies if they don’t have their own HR department or the resources to trawl through hundreds of CVs.
Recruitment agencies often specialise in specific industries, and so by using a recruitment agency (or multiple agencies!), a company is likely to have a wider scope of relevant applicants to select from.
Some great London based recruitment agencies are:
Reed
Reed are based in Covent Garden, and are one of the UK’s most well-known recruitment agencies. The agency receives over 80,000 applications a day for jobs all over the UK.
Head to their website to search for jobs they are currently recruiting for in London.
Michael Page
Michael Page are another big player in London recruitment. Although they are based in Surrey, they have an experienced London office. You can again go to their website to search for jobs they are currently recruiting for in London.
Michael Page recruit for all job types including permanent, temporary and contract work.
Hays
Hays are another global recruitment giant, headquartered in London. This agency places someone in a job every single minute. Hays cover over 20 specialisms, so they are likely to find you a role that suits your skill set and experience.
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Specialist London Recruitment Agencies
As well as the recruitment giants, there are also smaller specialist agencies which you would be wise to consider. These smaller agencies will specialise in an industry, for example- tech, marketing or engineering.
If you can’t find an industry-specific agency below, you could try Google searching for ‘your industry + recruitment agency’ and you are bound to find an agency that specialises in your field of work.
Fashion & Retail Personnel
As you might be able to guess from the name, Fashion & Retail Personnel are a London-based agency specialising in fashion based roles.
Venturi
Venturi specialise in tech roles- if you’re a skilled IT professional, head to their website and contact them to see what roles they currently have available.
Reuben Sinclair
If you’re looking for a PR or marketing role, Reuben Sinclair are the experts. This specialist agency recruits for companies such as M & C Saatchi, Amazon and Expedia.
Matchtech
With over 30 years of experience of placing candidates in the engineering industry, Matchtech is a must if you’re looking for a job in this field. Their key specialisms include aerospace, automotive, energy, infrastructure, and maritime engineering.
Vertical Advantage
Vertical Advantage is an agency which focuses on FMCG roles in London, including sales, supply chain and marketing roles.
Young Foodies
If you’d love to work in a foodie start up, Young Foodies is an agency worth getting in touch with. This agency specialises in roles at challenger brands in FMCG food & drink.
Use UK Job Sites
If you’re moving to the UK from another country, you might not be aware of the many popular job websites that you can use to find a job in London.
- Indeed
Indeed is possibly one of the most popular job sites in the UK, and always has hundreds of job openings in London listed on the site.
- Reed
Reed is a recruitment agency, but their online job listings are incredibly popular. At any one time there will be 20,000+ London-based vacancies listed on their site. Reed are based in Covent Garden in London, and so understand the job market in London well.
- Totaljobs
Again, at any one time, Totaljobs will have thousands of London based job vacancies available on their website.
The site also has a wealth of free information on building your CV and Cover Letter and preparing for interviews. You can also set up email alerts to be notified of new job listings in your preferred industry.
- Glassdoor
Glassdoor is an interesting tool to use when searching for a job in London. This is because the platform enables users to leave reviews and salary information about their previous employers. If you’re interested at working at a particular company, you can look them up on Glassdoor to see if the reviews and salary are favourable.
As well as this review tool, Glassdoor also has the added bonus of having a job listing page. It’s another great site to use when looking for a job in London.
Utilise LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a powerful tool which can allow you to search for jobs in your industry in London. Often you’ll be able to apply to jobs directly through LinkedIn once you have perfected your LinkedIn profile.
You can also connect with recruitment agents, who may get in touch with you personally about new roles, and will also share new job roles to their feed.
LinkedIn is now a must-have tool for finding a job in London, so make sure that your profile is up to date with key information and a clear, professional photograph.
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Finding Freelance Jobs In London
There are tons of freelancers who live and work in London, and opportunities are aplenty. With lots of small businesses operating in London, freelancers are a must for outsourcing work that they do not have the resources to complete in-house.
Freelance work is advertised on LinkedIn, and the job sites mentioned above. However, there are also more specialist sites that you could use to find freelance jobs in London.
- The Dots
The Dots has a freelance job board for opportunities in the creative and digital space, described as a network of Makers, Doers, Fixers and Dreamers.
- People Per Hour
You’ll likely be competing with others on People Per Hour, but if your work has dried up, try out this platform to make connections and build new client relationships.
- freelancer.com
You can find almost any job imaginable on Freelancer.com. Complete a profile on the site and you will start getting matched with jobs which require your skillset.
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Earn Money In London Without A Job
To bridge the gap while you are finding a job in London and searching for the right job for you, it could be a great idea to earn some extra money on the side. This is also known as side hustling.
As long as you have an internet connection and a laptop or phone, you can make money from home on your own terms.
This additional income can be invaluable while you are waiting for a full time income to appear in your bank account again. Who knows, maybe your side hustle could even turn into a full time job in itself?
Top Tips- How To Find A Job in London
- Tailor your CV and Cover Letter
- Sign up to recruitment agencies
- Utilise LinkedIn
- Apply to a large number of jobs to maximise your chances
- Earn money from home to support yourself whilst job hunting
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