RSI LONDON Group | Russian Specialist Recruitment Consultancy

Recruitment & Job Hunting in London

Hi everybody,

hope the year has started well for you! Today I want to talk about job hunting in London. To be honest, I want to talk about my own experience of living and working in London. Just like a small talk, you know. A monologue if you would. Tips for the newcomers provided below.

Well, to begin with, on my exploration of a recruitment job I started at the end of 2018. I came back after a long break from London, spending my summer holidays in mystical and calming Edinburgh. My goal was to find a job within a month in the field that would make sense to me. As I studied selection process within my masters in organisational psychology, it felt like a great idea. Also, I believed I needed to improve my sales skills. In November it all began.

It was fast-paced, rushed, an incredibly busy environment and entirely hands-on with the processes. Imagine, you’ve been thrown out of a helicopter into a stormy ocean. You need to breathe, minimise panicking, act quickly and look for a help. Imagined? Okay, that’s how I felt the first month. But, at the same time, I generated so much energy and excitement through meeting people from different countries and listening to their stories. At the beginning, it’s all about digesting the processes and understanding what makes someone stand out, recognising strengths and what those people are looking for. Okay, enough about my experience )

Here are some tips for potential candidates thinking about approaching a recruitment agent:

• Be friendly. Come to the meeting if you have agreed to come or send a note to reschedule if something came up.
• Tell us your stories. If you write in your CV that you are a great team player — have a couple of examples under your belt in case you will be asked to give those examples.
• Avoid sharing your personal life story in details, we don’t need that. However, tell us about your career in a greater detail.
• Know what you want. At least from the job. An answer “any job” may not take you anywhere.
• If you’re not sure about the salary, browse online beforehand to see what’s offered on the market for your level of seniority.
• In the UK the employers value UK experience a lot more than foreign. If you have recently moved to the UK, try to get some experience.
• If you apply for a particular role — adapt your CV accordingly. Don’t just drop your CV to any advertised role, put a bit of thought into it.
• Two pages is good enough for a CV.

If you arrived in London and are seeking a job, do the proper research. Register with agencies, get temp or voluntary work, pay a career consultant to guide you, come to a recruiter when you are ready, ask people about their journeys, gather some ideas. Information and understanding of the local job market will help you not to fall onto the trap of diminishing your own abilities. People will tell their stories if you ask. We all have started here from something. Step by step create a network and get some experience, anyone can find their own path of building a meaningful career in a city full of opportunities. Allow some time and be kind to yourself.

By Svetlana Elfimova – our own Organisational Psychology specialist and Account Manager at Red Square International