Looking for work in Colchester does not necessarily have to mean spending hours searching LinkedIn, Indeed, Reed and other job websites. These websites are useful, particularly for finding large numbers of advertised vacancies, but they represent only one part of the local employment market.
Colchester is a large town with a wide variety of businesses and organisations. There are retailers, professional firms, manufacturers, tradespeople, technology companies, financial businesses, property companies, restaurants, charities, schools and many other employers. There are also several business parks and centres around the town.
For somebody looking for work, this provides another option. Instead of waiting for a suitable vacancy to appear online, it is possible to identify companies that look interesting and approach them directly.
Start With Companies
The first step is to find companies that employ people with the skills or experience you have.
This sounds obvious, but it changes the way the job search works.
Rather than searching for “administrator jobs in Colchester”, for example, a person with administrative experience could make a list of local accountants, solicitors, estate agents, financial advisers, property companies, engineering firms, charities and other organisations that might employ administrative staff.
Someone with sales experience could identify local businesses that have sales teams. A person with marketing experience could look for companies with marketing departments or businesses that might benefit from additional marketing support.
A qualified tradesperson can identify relevant local contractors. Someone looking for warehouse or logistics work can investigate businesses operating in and around Colchester’s industrial areas.
The important point is to start with the company rather than the vacancy.
There Are Plenty of Businesses to Find
Colchester has a much larger business community than might be apparent from the town centre alone.
There are businesses throughout the town and surrounding areas, including offices, industrial estates, business parks and smaller commercial premises.
The town centre contains many shops, restaurants, professional firms and other businesses. Outside the centre there are larger concentrations of companies in areas such as Highwoods, Severalls and around the major roads leading into Colchester.
Business directories can be used to build a list. Searching by category is often more useful than simply searching for vacancies. Instead of asking which companies are recruiting, the question becomes which companies might be worth approaching.
A person could therefore search for “accountants in Colchester”, “engineering companies in Colchester”, “estate agents in Colchester”, “marketing agencies in Colchester” or whatever category is relevant to their experience.
This can produce a list of potential employers before a single job advertisement has been read.
Look at Business Parks
Business parks are particularly useful when looking for companies that may not be visible from the town centre. Looking for places like The Business Park at Highwoods is one example. There are also business centres and commercial developments elsewhere in the Colchester area.
A business park can contain companies operating in completely different sectors from one another. This means that a single afternoon spent researching businesses in one area can produce a surprisingly long list of possible employers.
The same applies to smaller business centres. These can contain professional firms, consultants, technology companies and other businesses that may employ only a small number of people.
A small company may not advertise every position through a national job website.
Send the CV Anyway
Once a company has been identified, find out who deals with recruitment.
The company’s own website is the obvious place to start. Look for an “About Us”, “Our Team”, “Careers” or “Contact” section.
If there is no recruitment information, a telephone call can be made to ask who would be the appropriate person to contact.
The call does not need to be complicated.
A job seeker can explain that they are looking for work in a particular area and would like to send their CV to the appropriate person in case the company has a suitable requirement now or in the future.
The CV can then be accompanied by a short covering letter.
This is a speculative application. There may be no vacancy at the time, but the company has now been introduced to someone who is interested in working there.
Do Not Send the Same Letter to Everyone
The covering letter should be short and reasonably specific.
There is little point in sending the same letter to 30 companies. The employer should be able to see why the applicant has contacted that particular organisation.
For example, someone approaching an engineering company could mention relevant technical, administrative or project experience. Someone approaching an estate agent could highlight customer service, sales or property experience.
A person applying to a local technology company might mention particular software skills or experience with technology projects.
The applicant does not need to pretend to know everything about the company. A simple explanation of why the business is of interest is enough.
The purpose of the letter is to make the CV relevant.
Smaller Companies Are Worth Considering
One advantage of this approach is that it does not concentrate entirely on large employers.
Large organisations often have formal recruitment systems. They may require candidates to complete an online application, answer competency questions and wait for the recruitment process to progress.
Smaller companies may operate differently.
The owner or manager may deal with recruitment personally. A company may realise that it needs another person but may not have reached the point of writing a job description and placing an advertisement.
This does not mean that every small company is secretly recruiting. Most will not be.
It simply means that there can be opportunities which do not fit neatly into the standard online recruitment process.
Look Beyond the Obvious Jobs
Another benefit of researching companies rather than vacancies is that it can reveal jobs that a person might not have thought to search for.
A company may employ people in administration, accounts, purchasing, customer service, IT, sales, marketing, operations and other areas even though its main business is something completely different.
An applicant should therefore think about the skills they have rather than only the job title they have previously held.
Someone who has worked as an office manager, for example, may have skills that could be useful to a wide range of businesses.
Similarly, someone with experience in retail may have useful sales, customer service, stock management and supervisory skills which could be relevant outside traditional retail.
The company-first approach makes it easier to think in these terms.
Use LinkedIn as Research
There is also no need to stop using LinkedIn.
It can be very useful for finding companies and identifying people who work for them. It can also provide information about what businesses are doing and who their senior staff are.
The difference is that LinkedIn becomes a research tool rather than the entire job search.
Instead of spending an hour scrolling through advertised vacancies, a person could spend that hour identifying ten Colchester companies that employ people with their skills.
They can then investigate those companies properly.
Traditional job websites can be used in a similar way. If a Colchester company repeatedly advertises particular positions, that provides useful information about its staffing requirements.
It may then be worth contacting the company directly even when there is no current advertisement.
Keep a List
A simple spreadsheet is useful for keeping track of the process.
It can contain the company name, website, industry, contact person, email address, date contacted, type of work being sought and any response received.
This prevents the job seeker from repeatedly contacting the same company and makes it easier to follow up.
It also creates a personal database of potential employers.
There is no need to contact dozens of companies every day. Five well-researched applications can be more useful than 50 generic ones.
The list can also be revisited. A company that has no vacancy today may need somebody in three or six months.
Use the Local Area
Living in or around Colchester can be an advantage because there is a large employment area within relatively easy travelling distance.
The search does not have to stop at the town centre. It can include Highwoods, Severalls, Stanway, Tollgate, the University area and other nearby commercial locations.
For someone living in Wivenhoe, for example, Colchester is already a relatively straightforward place to look for work. For someone living elsewhere in the Colchester area, the same principle applies.
The objective is not necessarily to find a job five minutes from home. It is to identify employers that are reasonably accessible and whose work is suitable.
Do Not Give Up After One Email
A common problem with speculative applications is expecting an immediate response.
Many companies will not reply. Some will reply to say that there are no opportunities. Others may keep the CV on file.
This is normal.
A polite follow-up after a reasonable period can be worthwhile. If there is still no opportunity, the applicant can leave it there and return to the company later.
The important thing is to remain professional.
A speculative application is an introduction, not a demand for employment.
A Wider Job Search
There is nothing wrong with applying for advertised jobs. If an appropriate vacancy appears on LinkedIn, Indeed, Reed or another job website, it should be considered.
The mistake is to assume that every useful opportunity will appear there.
Colchester has a substantial and varied business community. There are large employers, small companies, independent businesses, professional firms, trades, retailers and organisations operating in many different sectors.
A person looking for work can therefore take a more direct approach.
Find the companies. Research what they do. Identify the appropriate person. Write a short covering letter. Send the CV. Keep a record. Follow up politely.
Some applications will go nowhere.
That is to be expected.
But occasionally the response will be that the company is considering taking somebody on, that a member of staff is leaving, that a new project is starting or that there is a requirement which has not yet been advertised.
At that point, the applicant is no longer competing with hundreds of people who have found the same advertisement online.
They have simply contacted the company first.
For people looking for work in Colchester, this is a fairly old-fashioned approach. It is also a straightforward one. The internet can be used to find companies rather than simply to find vacancies.
LinkedIn and job websites can remain part of the process, but they do not have to be the whole process.
