Where to look for vacancies in the UK
You've decided that you need to gain some work experience but where do you find vacancies? We've put together a list of places you can start your search so you're not spending hours on Google!
In some career areas, work experience can be difficult to find so talk to our advisers and they can help you identify the best places to look.
Read our blog: 8 Tips for Speculative Work Experience Applications
Internship vacancies targeted at Nottingham students
The internships advertised on MyCareer are from recruiters targeting Nottingham students and graduates. We advertise around 1500 work experience and internship vacancies every year.
The internships cover 30+ career areas so login now to explore what's on offer.
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Subscribe to Jobs by email to receive the latest vacancies every fortnight based on your career preferences direct to your inbox.
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A selection of the latest vacancies
Exclusive schemes for Nottingham students
To find out about all the work experience programmes at the university, visit:
What's on offer at Nottingham?
Work experience vacancies in the UK
What is a jobs board and how do I use them?
What is a jobs board?
Jobs boards are to recruitment what Ebay, Amazon and Etsy are to e-commerce. If you were an employer, would you rely on candidates visiting your careers webpage if you could reach thousands (if not millions) via a third party site?
Most jobs boards allow employers to post vacancies for free, but sponsored adverts appear higher in search results. This means that candidates who are prepared to venture beyond the first couple of pages are likely to be rewarded with some hidden gems.
How do I use them?
Some jobs boards are extremely broad in scope, while others focus narrowly on individual sectors or types of role (for example, graduate schemes and internships).
Before diving in, identify up to three jobs boards that fit your job search requirements by visiting their websites and reading user reviews online. Any more than this and your job search will quickly start to feel like a chore.
As with all online searching, you get out what you put in. It takes time to find the right combination of search terms. If your initial searches return lots of vacancies:
- cut the list down by applying multiple filters (such as location, contract type, salary range)
- keep a list of keywords that appear repeatedly in interesting job adverts and use them in various combinations to run more targeted searches
Take some of the stress out of job hunting by allowing vacancies to come to you. Creating a free account with one of the big national jobs boards (for example Indeed, Glassdoor and TARGETjobs) and downloading the app will enable you to view, save and apply for jobs wherever you are. You can also choose to receive daily or weekly alerts which suggest vacancies based on your search activity and application history.
Nationwide vacancies
Programmes supporting under-represented students to gain work experience
Find your own placement
Not all vacancies are advertised, therefore you may need to approach companies to find out if they are able to offer any opportunities.
You can do this by: