2008: Year of the job hunt

Over 900 people looking for a university, research or science role said theyíll make 2008 the year of the proactive job hunt, according to research launched today by jobs.ac.uk.

82% (928) of the 1,133 people surveyed by the online jobs board said they want a new job in a university, research or science role this year. 10% (117) said they would only consider jobs that arrive in their inbox rather than looking proactively for a new role.

Andrew Gordon, director of jobs.ac.uk says: ìWith many job websites offering email alerts for new jobs it seems even easier to let the jobs come to you. Itís interesting, then, that people say theyíre not planning to rely on jobs landing in their inbox, but will actively search for a new challenge this year.

ìBright people are in high demand in the Higher Education (HE), research and science sectors. Itís quick to search for jobs online, especially with the rising number of specialist jobs websites. Employers keen to attract highly qualified candidates should review the recruitment sections of their own websites to show what working life is like there, as well as the job opportunities available. Jobseekers are looking not only for a challenging role, but are interested in a companyís culture and whether they have a CSR or environmental policy, for example, because they want to work for an organisation with a strong future.î

There are currently over 2,800 jobs listed on jobs.ac.uk in areas including business, management, media and communications, social and biological science and engineering.

Andrew Gordon added: ìThere is a big variety of career opportunities within universities and HE institutions, which include management, marketing and business development roles as well as the traditional academic roles. Thereís also an increasing number of interesting research and science roles available in both the commercial and academic sector.î