No experience required

Some people just go out and get a job; many more of us need a bit of help. Here are some online suggestions and an offline oasis…

Beginners please

If you are new in London, maybe with not many qualifications, or you are returning to work after taking time out, it can be difficult to find a job. This is where Fuse Jobs may be able to help. They specialise in "entry level" jobs.

Fuse Jobs is not a charity; it’s a limited company and it presumably makes money out of the website. So just bear that in mind. Apparently two people with experience in recruitment and training set up the site because they thought that more could be done to help people into work, and to help employment advisers. They don’t say so in so many words, but I guess the message is that most agencies and websites prefer you already to be in work – it’s simpler for them.

I tried to find a secretarial job in the public sector (don’t worry – I won’t be applying). I got a list of 94 vacancies, not all of which were really "entry level", so a bit more sifting would be nice. But enough of them were at the right level to encourage me if I were job-hunting. I asked for more details of one, and was linked through to a specialist employment agency (it was a medical job).

There is advice on things like writing a CV and preparing for interviews, and a "skills match" service is promised soon. Fuse Jobs I probably not the answer to every job-searcher’s quest, but well worth a look.

(From the Gateway to websites, select "Education & jobs". Fuse Jobs is under "Jobs & careers".)

Browsers welcome

After mentioning a jobs website, I thought I would desert cyberspace and remind you about the Education & Careers collection at Marylebone Information Service. This is – shock! horror! – books and other printed material collected over many years but (I hasten to add) constantly updated.

As well as directories of schools, colleges and universities, there are prospectuses for individual institutions, guides to international study, and books giving tips on all aspects of getting a job. Then there are the Red Boxes.

The Red Boxes contain advice on many different categories of career. In front of me now is Box E: Fashion & Beauty. It’s full of books and pamphlets, some so specialised and thin that they would get lost if they were shelved individually.
A dear little book on modelling tells me that I might get to be famous, but that it can be a rewarding career even if I don’t reach the super-league. That’s reassuring, isn’t it? I must say immediately that it packs a huge amount of practical information into 36 pages, with "I never thought of that" stuff like the advantages of speaking a second language if you want to do modelling abroad.

A lot of this can be found online, and the Gateway to websites’ "Education and careers" category has a range of sources, but a trip to Marylebone will provide a good complement.

(Marylebone’s Education & Careers collection has its own page with many more details.)


Picture credit: mantasmagorical/morguefile.com