Careers Centre
Job Hunting in IT
Typical Employers
Graduate directories
IT professionals either work for specialist
companies whose primary business is IT, or for
companies outside of the IT sector who have in
house IT departments.
Every year large companies recruit IT
graduates onto their graduate training
programmes. Once recruited, individuals are
usually put through an extended, structured
training programme before being placed in a
senior level role. Whilst training, individuals are
often required to work in a variety of locations
and on a range of projects to develop their
knowledge of the company’s business activities.
The biggest employers, outside of the IT
industry itself, are Financial Services; Public
Administration, Education and Health; and
Manufacturing.
More information about the sort of companies
that often employ IT professionals can be found
at http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/infotechsb
This handout lists the main ways in which
students and graduates may find employment
as an IT professional.
Our vacancy database
As part of the Careers and Employment Centre,
the Workplace works closely with employers to
find vacancies for University of Wolverhampton
students and graduates. Opportunities are
available locally, nationally and internationally.
Register with our online jobs and events
database at www.wlv.ac.uk/careers to view and
apply for vacancies. The Workplace team can
be found on the ground floor of the MB building
and they are open between 9 – 5 Monday Fridays.
The STech Business
Engagement and Placement
Unit
Competition for places on graduate training
schemes is fierce with employers receiving
hundreds of applications and there are often
several stages in the recruitment process,
including assessments centres, interviews and
psychometric tests. The recruitment process
takes place throughout students’ final year with
some initial application deadlines as early as
November, so it is important to apply early.
Graduate training schemes are advertised in
graduate directories such as:
 Prospects (available free of charge in hard
copy from the Careers Centre or online at
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/jobvacs)
 GET (also available free in hard copy from
the Careers Centre or online at
http://targetjobs.co.uk/
 The Careers Centre provides other useful
careers magazines such as Target Jobs
and Real World which feature large
employers with graduate schemes. The
magazines cover many sectors and there
are publications focusing solely on IT. You
can also visit their websites at
http://targetjobs.co.uk/graduate-jobs/ and
http://realworldmagazine.com/
The STech Business Engagement and
Placement Unit in MI arranges placements and
employment opportunities for students and
graduates. See
http://www.wlv.ac.uk/Default.aspx?page=25748
©Careers and Employment Services, University of Wolverhampton 2012
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Placements for graduates
The following schemes place graduates within
small to medium sized companies. These
include:
 Kitts www.kittsgraduate.co.uk (a 10-12
week paid placement scheme for recent
graduates in the West Midlands)
 KTP www.ktponline.org.uk/graduates (a
paid placement scheme for graduates.
Placements can be 1-3 years).
 Graduate Advantage
www.graduateadvantage.co.uk
 Step is a 8-12 week summer scheme for
recent graduates. Participants are placed in
an organisation where they are given a
project to complete which will make a big
impact on the organisation. See
http://www.step.org.uk/
 Graduate Talent Pool
http://graduatetalentpool.direct.gov.uk is a
government scheme where recent
graduates are matched to internships
related to their chosen career.
Placements in the above schemes are usually
advertised on our jobs and events database so
it is worth viewing www.wlv.ac.uk/careers as
well as on the sites listed above.
Also try Enternships - www.enternships.com/
(this site offers placements in start up
companies to student and graduates nationally
and internationally).
Placements for students
Placements for students can last for a year (as
with sandwich year placements), or for simply a
couple of weeks. Placements are advertised in
a range of places such as:
 Prospects advertises placements which
tend to be in larger, well known companies.
Visit www.prospects.ac.uk/links/workexp
(select ‘find placements’).



Target jobs advertises similar placements.
See http://targetjobs.co.uk/work-experience/
Step is a vacation scheme for penultimate
year students. Participating students are
placed in an organisation where they are
given a project to complete which will make
a big impact on the organisation. See
http://www.step.org.uk/
Graduate Advantage arranges placements
for students in the West Midlands. See
www.graduateadvantage.co.uk

Enternships is an organisation offering
placements in start-up companies to
students and graduates nationally and
internationally. Many placements are in IT.
www.enternships.com/

Local and national placements, both in
smaller and large companies are listed on
our website (www.wlv.ac.uk/careers - select
the jobs and events database).

The placement office in MI building also
arrange one year industrial placements for
students in STECH.
For more information see the employability
skills handout Gaining Experience of Work
This can be downloaded from our site at
www.wlv.ac.uk/careers and is also available in
hard copy at the Careers Centre.
Specialist job hunt sites
The following job hunt sites specialise in
advertising vacancies in IT.
www.Itjobspost.com
www.computingcareers.co.uk/
www.cwjobs.co.uk
www.bcsrecruit.com
www.womenintechnology.co.uk
http://www.technojobs.co.uk/
http://www.itjobsforgraduates.com/ jobs aimed
at graduates in all areas of IT
http://www.datascope.co.uk/ (jobs in games and
the internet)
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/ (jobs in games
and the internet)
http://www.gamesjobboard.com/ (jobs in games
and animation)
http://www.ukita.co.uk/ A site which promotes
networking amongst IT professionals. Jobs are
posted onto the ‘vacancies section’
www.bubble-jobs.co.uk for web, digital, ecommerce and media jobs
Newspapers
Vacancies are often advertised in national and
local newspapers. The national newspapers
advertise vacancies for specific sectors on set
days (see below) and vacancies are often for
senior level posts.
The Guardian
Monday - New Media
Thursday - IT & Science
Saturday - Graduate and 2nd jobbers; General
(repeated from previous days)
©Careers and Employment Services, University of Wolverhampton 2012
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The Independent
Thursday - Graduate and General
Sunday - Business
The Times
Thursday - General including junior executive
The Daily Telegraph Thursday - All vacancies
(repeated in the Sunday Telegraph)
Wolverhampton’s Express and Star advertises
local jobs of all levels and in all sectors every
Thursday. It is very useful for graduates who
want to find work in Wolverhampton and for
students who are looking for part time work
whilst studying.
Local papers (including free papers) and
national papers are available to be viewed in
the Careers Centre.
Trade press
There are a few paper based and electronic
magazines which cater specifically for the IT
industry. As well as helping professionals
familiarise themselves with the current issues
facing the IT sector, the trade press also publish
vacancies. Magazines include:
www.computing.co.uk
www.computerweekly.com
Professional bodies
Professional bodies look after the interests of
the people within certain occupations and are
often involved in activities such as: lobbying the
government for resources or recognition,
accrediting courses, ensuring that professional
standards are met, advertising vacancies,
running networking events, co-ordinating
mentoring programmes, providing careers
information and advertising jobs. Professional
bodies linked to IT include:
The Chartered Institute for IT
http://www.bcs.org/
The British Interactive Media Association
http://www.bima.co.uk/
The Institute for the Management of Computer
Systems
http://www.imis.org.uk/
The Institute of IT Training
http://www.iitt.org.uk/
The Institute of Analysts and Programmers
http://www.iap.org.uk/
Recruitment agencies
Recruitment agencies have established links
with employers and advertise vacancies on their
behalf. Recruitment agencies specialising in IT
include:
www.hays.co.uk/enhance-your-career/it-jobs/
www.jobserve.com
www.online-graduate.co.uk
www.reed.co.uk
Agencies in other areas can be found via
http://www.rec.uk.com or
http://www.agencycentral.co.uk/
Agencies are keen to place people with
experience and proven skills and, when you
contact an agency, you will usually be asked for
a CV, be interviewed and sometimes assessed.
If you have little experience of the work that you
are seeking, recruitment agencies will be less
likely to find you work. Remember that an
agency’s first priority is to supply experienced
candidates to employers, rather than helping
job seekers to improve their employability.
Recruitment websites
Recruitment websites (such as
www.monster.co.uk , www.fish4jobs.co.uk and
www.jobsite.co.uk) advertise jobs in all sectors
and allow job seekers to upload CVs which
employers can view. Whilst this may seem like
a quick an easy way to find a job, remember
that employers often do not have time to sift
through hundreds of posted CVs and it is
unlikely that you will find a job through using
this as your sole job hunting method.
Local and regional job hunt
websites
Every region in the UK has a few job hunt
websites which advertise local vacancies and
which are usually run by local authorities and
newspapers. West Midlands sites include:
Gradcentral (a new website advertising jobs in
the West Midlands for graduates)
http://www.grad-central.co.uk/
Express & Star West Midlands http://www.expressandstar.co.uk
Birmingham Evening Mail http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk
Wolverhampton City Council http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/jobs
Birmingham City Council http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/jobs
©Careers and Employment Services, University of Wolverhampton 2012
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Walsall MBC http://www.walsall.gov.uk/jobshop
Dudley MBC - http://www.dudley.gov.uk/jobs
Solihull MBC - http://www.solihull.gov.uk/jobs
Staffordshire County Council http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/jobs
Telford and Wrekin Council http://www.telford.gov.uk/jobs
The next step is to ensure that you know as
much as possible about the organisation that
you are approaching (such as their business
functions, their products and their clients) and to
write a CV and covering letter which is targeted
towards the employer. Further information on
how to do this can be found in our careers
essentials guide Your CV.
To find websites for other local authorities visit
the government website at www.gov.uk >
housing and local services > find your local
council. Our website also lists links to regional
websites at www.wlv.ac.uk/careers > vacancies
and opportunities
You then need to find out who to send your CV
to. In a small company or enterprise this may be
the general manager/ owner, but in a big
organisation it may be the person in charge of
the business function that you’re interested in.
Careers fairs
Every year careers fairs take place which
enable students to meet potential employers, to
discuss opportunities and to give out CVs.
Some careers fairs are specifically focused on
the IT industry, whereas others are more
general in nature.
Fairs are advertised on our online vacancy and
events system at www.wlv.ac.uk/careers and
also on the Prospects website at
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/fairs
Gradjobs www.gradjobs.co.uk
Speculative applications
It is important to remember that some
companies (especially small to medium sized
firms) don’t advertise their vacancies. In fact, it
has been estimated that around 70% of jobs are
never advertised. Whilst competition for
advertised jobs (especially for graduate training
schemes in large companies) can be fierce,
graduates who make an effort to track down
hidden jobs face less competition and their
efforts are often rewarded.
The first stage in making a speculative
application is to identify companies that you’d
like to work for by using business directories
such as Yell http://www.yell.com or Kompass
http://www.kompass.com/. University Careers
Advisers have information about local
companies that have taken on IT graduates in
the past, so it is also useful to speak to them.
Send your contact your CV and covering letter,
and make sure that you ring them after a couple
of days to ensure that they got your letter.
Further sources of help
The Business Engagement and Placements
Unit in MI arranges placements and
employment opportunities for students and
graduates.
http://www.e-skills.com Sector Skills Council for
IT and telecoms
www.bcs.org.uk The Chartered Institute for IT
www.theitportal.com IT news and information
www.imis.org.uk Institute for the Management
of Information Systems
www.iap.org.uk Institute of Analysts and
Programmers
www.ncc.co.uk National Computing Centre
http://www.it4communities.org.uk Organisation
advertising voluntary opportunities in IT
www.ukita.co.uk Site which promotes
networking amongst IT professionals with a
West Midlands focus.
http://www.e-innovationcentre.co.uk/ The eInnovation Centre at The University of
Wolverhampton provides support for students
who want to start their own business.
http://expo.eurogamer.net/ A games show
happening in London in September which will
provide an opportunity to network with IT games
professionals.
www.fdmacademy.com An organisation
providing free advanced IT training to graduates
and placements in the IT industry.
©Careers and Employment Services, University of Wolverhampton 2012
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