Job hunting can be stressful, particularly for young people in today’s challenging employment climate. You may not know where to look for the right roles for you, and you may have to apply and possibly interview for a number of positions before you land the right job for you. But armed with a little know-how, a great CV, some support, and some confidence in yourself, you can take much of the headache out of job hunting and find a great job more quickly and easily.
If you’re job hunting in the West Midlands, these resources will help you boost your confidence, shape up your CV, and find local vacancies that are a good match for you.
If you’re job hunting in the West Midlands, these resources will help you boost your confidence, shape up your CV and find local vacancies that are a good match for you.
Find Your Nearest Job Centre
Use the filters on our interactive map to locate a job centre near you!
Take me to the MapJobcentre Plus has dedicated Work Coaches (Youth Employability Coaches) focused on helping young people find work. You will need to be registered at the Jobcentre to access this facility.
Using your local Jobcentre
Job Centre Plus can actually help with all sorts of things. You can get free support with preparing CVs and applications. You can even get practice in doing mock interviews to boost your interview confidence!
Using job hunting websites
There are a wide variety of job sites out there, and filtering by your location (or the location you’d like to work in) is the best way to see jobs within a comfortable travelling distance for you. You can also use GOV.UK’s official Find A Job site which has a huge range of the latest opportunities.
The National Careers Service is there to support anyone over the age of 13. They provide up-to-date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the labour market, across England.
Support includes job matching to current vacancies, redundancy support, skills analysis and career planning, apprenticeship opportunities, helping with applications, and more.
Youth Employment UK Opportunity Finder
Whether you’re looking for full or part-time work, our West Midlands Opportunity Finder Map is a great place to look! All employers that list vacancies with us have committed to the Good Youth Employment Standards. Use the filters to find jobs near you.
Government’s Youth Offer: Find out more information on help finding work if you’re on Universal Credit.
Local Help
Birmingham
Birmingham Careers Service is a free and friendly support service providing career information, advice and guidance to young people aged 16 to 19 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). If a young person has a learning difficulty and/or disability then we can help them until they are 25. We are part of Birmingham City Council and we work alongside other local services.
Youth Promise Plus – for young people aged 16 – 29 in Birmingham and Solihull who are looking for employment, education or training can access our one-to-one personalised support.
Birmingham-based RMF Training Academy deliver industry led training programmes to help you have the skills required to access job and career opportunities with RMF’s partners and beyond. They provide a range of accredited construction, rail, health & safety and bespoke training courses to both individuals and groups.
North Birmingham – Witton Lodge
North and East Birmingham – Compass Support
The below resources can support you in finding a job, including help with completing application forms, interview practice, and access to local vacancies.
WMCA Connecting communities
If you are 16+, currently unemployed or employed and in receipt of a low income with support in finding work or progressing in employment you can get support from the following places:
Shard End (Birmingham), Shaw Trust: connectingcommunities@shaw-trust.org.uk
Washwood Heath (Birmingham), Remploy: washwood@mail.remploy.co.uk
Coventry
Dudley
NHS Foundation Trust Dudley Group: for Dudley-based healthcare employment.
Sandwell
Solihull
Walsall
Warwickshire
Wolverhampton
Struggling with your mental health and looking for work?
Mental health charity, Mind provides an intensive, personalised employment service targeted at people in contact with secondary mental health services who want to enter employment more quickly and to help sustain their employment for longer. Click the link to find support in your local area.
