Job Hunting in FE After Redundancy

First off, you have my sympathy as it’s an awful time.

Knowing the sector, I thought I’d jot down what I would do if I was in your shoes.

Here are some actionable steps to get your focus looking forwards and jump start your job search.

1. Your Linkedin Profile

An obvious and great place to start. If you haven’t already now is a good time to think about updating your Linkedin profile.

Think of your profile as it’s own website.

When prospective hirers land there, what do you want them to see and what to you want them to do?

It’s imperative that you complete your profile - a clear/professional headshot, a headline, summary and that your job history is filled out. 

Rather than alluding to your redundancy in the headline, it's better to be descriptive of what you can offer and the results you can deliver. Include your contact details if you can fit them in. 

Your summary should be an extension of your headline - a bio written in the first person alluding to the depth of your experience and your achievements. Conclude in a call to action (contact me on ….). Remember that only the first two lines of your summary are shown before the box is expanded so make that introduction enticing enough for a reader to expand your summary.

2. Leveraging Social Media

Now that your profile is set up, you can begin to drive traffic to it in a systematic way. There are 3 cornerstone activities I’d recommend:

Engaging

This means commenting and liking content from your network. Commenting is far superior, if you can generate discussion then you will increase your profile views.

More views = more likely to contacted about jobs.

At times like this, you’ll generally find that people take to social media to vent, comment and sympathise. Any talent acquisition or recruitment professional worth their salt will be running searches for all content containing “redundancy” or “3aaa” so a good tip would be for you to do the same and be part of the conversation - just make sure your profile is ready to go for when relevant eyeballs land on it.

Posting content

Posting engaging content to drive interaction with your network is a great way of generating profile traffic.

Throw in the odd post about your job search (i.e. about you and what you can offer) but make sure to post other content around it; content that generates engagement.

When you post on Linkedin, the Linkedin algorithm will show it to part of your network. Then, if it generates activity the post will be boosted. If your post gains comments, be sure to reply as soon as you can as it will flag your content as engaging and boost the view count!

Connecting

Get connecting and widen that network. This is best done on the phone app for speed. The bigger your relevant network the more likely your profile will attract the right attention.

3. Your Network

Are you connected to a wider network in FE? If so, don’t be afraid to drop them a short message to let them know that you’re looking. Better still, attach your CV to make it as easy as possible for them to refer you on. 

Remember all of those new connections you’ve been making on Linkedin, don’t be afraid to reach out with a message to ask about opportunities in their company.

Other businesses in the sector will see this as a great opportunity to grab talented people so make sure you are front and centre when they're sourcing candidates.

4. Your CV

Hopefully your CV is relatively up to date or you can simply pull in the extra info you’ve already added on Linkedin into your CV. Just have it at the ready for when you’re asked for it, the early proactive bird catches the worm

5. Job Boards

I would make a list of the relevant job boards; the generic ones:

Indeed

CV Library

Total Jobs

Jobsite

And (if you still want to stay in the sector), the specialist ones:

FE Careers

FE Jobs

FE Week

AOC Jobs

FAB

Here you need to do 3 things:

1. Register for job alerts
2. Upload your CV (tip: use a dedicated job hunting email address and strip out personal details if you would like to protect your personal data)
3. Search and apply for jobs

This is a good time to dust off those cover letter - it’s so easy to apply these days that applying with a cover letter/email really does make you stand out

6. Recruiters and Talent Acquisition

Connect with and contact recruiters. I'm not in the habit of recommending competitors but at times like this who cares. In the FE sector, other than yours truly (Bolt), there are a few competitors that I’ve heard good things about:

Tina Lacey

Claire McKelvie

New World Recruitment

Dovetail & Slate

If you spot a business you admire but they aren’t advertising you should seek out either their talent acquisition or HR team. You can do this through search in Linkedin:

1. Search for the business

2. View all employees

3. Pop HR or talent into the search box, connect then message…

Be careful not to overuse this as you will only have limited search functionality on Linkedin without a premium profile. Save it for your top targets!

7. Look forwards and act

Be consistent. Treat your job hunting like a job.

• Stay hot on notifications about advertised jobs through your alerts
• Have a process & templates to enable you to apply accurately and comprehensively (to ensure success)
• Stay in touch with recruiters and talent acquisition teams
• Stay active on social media - engage, post content, connect
• Stay positive, if you need to talk pick up the phone!

Finally, I hope the above helps in some way, the sector has really pulled together in the past so hopefully the same happens again!

If anything is unclear in this article or you want some more advice then message or email me on alex@boltjobs.com - happy to expand with more guidance if readers think it would be helpful!

Bolt Website

0208 090 4595

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