h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How do you, that is. <erm. that is, how do you find a job? any tips for a 'novice

Have you tried underneath the sofa cushions?

You write a CV, and then send it off to people advertising jobs. That is it really. Do you have any qualifications?

I've a first class degree in something biological... Perhaps I should check behind teh cusions Sending off CV to jobs... if only I could find some interesting jobs to apply for

my favourite job site (atm)

http://www.jobs.ac.uk (all university/HE/FE jobs in the uk)
and (although it's only in it's infancy)

newscientist site is good (but everyone uses it so there is a lot of competition).

It often depends on what sort of work you want to do, what sort of environment you want to work in and what your strengths/skills are.

Could you define what that something biological is? And finding interesting jobs I have no experience in

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/ is good for general ideas too

The 'something biological' goes by the catchy title of 'Cell and molecular biology, biomedical science, and biological sciences'. I think it ended up being a joint honers type thing... and I've sort of a MSc, in immunology and immunogenetics... And haven't much clue as to what I want to do, which is one of hte major problems I guess, I'm not even totally* certain that it need be scientific/biological in nature... 'Interesting', something that involves interacting and meeting people, and the job itself isn't exactly* the same thing on and on and on in perpetuity... I've never really had a job before I think quite an achievement seeing as how I'm nearly* 27 Guess I ashould 'tart up' my CV a bit, I check jobs.ac.uk every day; have had a look at the new scientist site (which isn't very easy to find what you are looking for...) And I've looked in local papers, and on Gardian jobs... Oh, and I check the employment section of the two universitys in town ona regular basis as well...

Well, if you've spend the last 7 or 8 years doing that degree, wouldn't it be nice to find a job where you need it? And what kind of jobs did you do while studying?

Just a thought - have you tried playing with the touch screen thingys in your local jobcentre? They don't just find work for plumbers you know.

I've always thought the proactive route was better (worked for me) I got a list of all the companies I'd like to work for, and I sent a cover letter and CV, explain what I was, what I could do, and how I can help that company. You get lots of rejection letters, but one or two ask you to come on board. and don't forget if they were thinking of getting a new guy in and your CV ends up on there desk, you've saved them a job and there is no interview.

-- DoctorMO --

It's worth checking the jobs page for your local council too, and any other large employers in the area...but I think you're going to have trouble finding the right job if you don't know what you're looking for...how about using the university careers service nearest you (they all have reciprocal arrangments) and seeing if they can give you some help in pinning down what sort of thing you're looking for?

go on to your local careers service job site..they often have those questionaires about what job is suitable to you...it may give you some ideas.Do you want a job in biology or do you want a change? what ever degree you have you can use it to get a totally unrelated job. I know philosphers who have become solicitors(you do a 1 year conversion course) and psychologists who became vicars, maths people who end up working for charities etc.Perhaps you ought to make a list of all the things you would want from a job and then find something that fits the majority...most careers site will have things that tell you what certain jobs entail.I must admit I just put in for things I think fit what I can do...and I have eventually found a job.good luck

Yeah; I've been looking at a few of the local employers that would be great to work for because of their proximity to me Found some interesting/useful stuff on the DWP site last night, guess I should probably consider invading the local job centre type place, as you say I never found careers advice stuff that useful; A lot seemed to opperate on the premise that you had a fairly* clear idea of what you wanted to do...

I know what you mean - my careers advisor seemed to find no problem in me wanting to become a museum curator and the fact that I was studying maths physics and chemistry...in fact he had a big book which listed every career "scientist" took up half a page while hairdresser took up three.

We had to go to a 'compulsory careers advice session whilst at high school; Recomended i became a Farmer... Turned out that the advisor recomended to everyone that htey became a Farmer Think they had a 'thing about Farmers The one time I went along at University, the advice wasn't quite so acletic, though I'm not entirely sure how helpful it was

I asked the careers service for advice on finding a job locally (as apposed to getting a "graduate" job which would mean travelling anywhere in the country on a managers whim) and got muttered at about free jobs papers...instead of just saying about the local papers' subscription services for jobs day (Thursday) checking out local employers websites etc etc. Noone mentioned signing up with a temping agency to make contacts (my first assignment lasted over 9 months), noone mentioned that the university ran a temping agency (mainly filling in on phone lines or typing but quite well paid)...in fact they didn't have *any* ideas whatsoever (and now everyone is in a panic because we come 50th in the country for graduate level employement after graduation).

I was going to suggest Guardian jobs, but then I saw you're onto that one

I definitely like the proactive idea Any sensible company will be much more impressed by somebody who is obviously actively looking, rather than just responding to jobs in the paper.

Plus, as you're researching different companies, you'll probably refine what you're looking for, as you find out about what each one does.

HTH
Queegle

You might also want to look at government scientist jobs, possibly. Pay is not great but job security, pension and general quality of life is not so bad.

Also is there no recruitment agency type thing for scientists? For lawyer/accountants these are a great first step because they are well informed on what's out there on the market.

Of course, if you don't know what you want to do, they won't be able to tell you...

Sprout

The farmer thing sounds like my high school. The career advisor would also ignore whatever people said, and just tell them to do what there currently was a lack of. So guys were advised to become engineers, and girls nurses.

The computer at the Career Centre said my top job would be a Florist....

Queegle