Top five ways to stay up to date with the
job market

It’s fair to say
that the job market has been a difficult place of late. Since the banking
crashes and near collapses of 2008, the subsequent recession and ongoing
economic problems, many employers are finding themselves forced to make cost
costs and minimise recruitment of new staff.

This means that the range and volume of new jobs, particularly in certain
struggling sectors, have diminished and competition is fierce. At the same
time however, opportunities still exist for those who are ready to
capitalise on them.

New sectors are actually
ramping up their recruitment, for example in the digital technology
world, green and environmental areas and the global food production
industry.

For those with specialist
skill sets, the future looks rosy and the truth for most of us is
that we’ll need to regularly re-assess our skills and look at how we
can be flexible to find opportunities in the sectors of the future.

There are also good opportunities for
entrepreneurs and those who wish to work for themselves, either as
contractors, freelancers, self-employed business people, consultants,
franchise owners and more. As with ‘regular’ full-time employment roles,
these jobs are widely advertised on mass recruitment sites and also on more
specialist websites.

To stay up to date with the jobs market, you need to be organised and
responsive.

Sign up for all of the websites
that are relevant for your field of work. These may include generalist
sites and sector-specific recruitment sites.

Keep an eye on the changing array
of jobs, even if you aren’t immediately looking to make a move. It’s
good to see how the trends are progressing and where opportunities lie – and
you may even spot your perfect job while you’re perusing!

Read widely about economic trends and regional performance and
particularly local labour indicators and predictions. This will help you to
get a feel of whether your current region is one with sustainable employment
or whether relocation could be beneficial to you.

Start to network with local business groups with a focus on your
particular industry. Details of these can usually be found by searching
online for local industry meet-ups. Otherwise try contacting your local
Chamber of Commerce for more information about what is happening in your
area.

Keep an eye closely on
the news too, so that you’re better informed and can make predictions on
the local job market more accurately. Many people nowadays use the online
versions of newspaper and news channels to get the latest
breaking UK news, but
newspapers and periodicals are also valuable for their editorial, insight
and analytical content that goes beyond the headlines.

Remember too to
look at things such as businesses for sale in the back pages, the
jobs pages themselves and whether there are any large recruitment
drives in certain sectors – or conversely, news of redundancies in
local large companies or particular sectors.

You’ll find that you can quickly
build up a clear and accurate picture of the jobs market and give
yourself the confidence you need to plan ahead.