Insider’s Guide to Getting a Job in Manchester

Manchester is one of the UK’s emerging cities. The Greater Manchester area has been growing steadily since 2007 and is one of the fastest recovering areas of the UK from the credit crunch downturn. It is the second largest functional financial region outside of London and shows a growth rate of almost double that of most urban areas in the UK. The expansion has been fueled by large-scale investment in service industries, particularly the financial sector. Some of the major companies with offices and large employee bases in the Manchester region include Vodafone, the BBC, Thomas Cook, The Guardian, Kellogs, ITV and the heinous internet ogre Google.

Between them, they provide a large number of job opportunities; however, the attraction of Manchester for job seekers is that there are many other industries as well. The main industry is the financial sector; banking and insurance, but other opportunities are available in retail and telesales in particular. Manchester is a center of excellence for the service sector, including logistics. The latter is natural as Manchester is at the hub of the UK transport network with motorway and rail links stretching to all 4 points of the compass. There are some highly specialized niche industries that have focused on the area, for example biotech and environmental tech; perhaps due to the presence of the Manchester Institute of Technology (MiT) which produces many qualified scientific and technical experts.

On a human rather than economic scale, the city and its surroundings are cosmopolitan and there is a thriving cultural scene. The latter has attracted creatives to the city: check any search engine and you’ll find pages of ad agencies and other creative businesses based here. These include digital and print advertising, packaging design, marketing, media… the list goes on and on! So it’s not a great area to search for technical jobs, but it’s also great for those on the other side of the coin looking for creative jobs. While searching for available jobs, I found an unusually high number (well, it seemed high to me) of jobs for linguists as well: the travel industry required Polish speakers; A car rental company needed someone who spoke excellent Norwegian and there were openings for French speakers in retail!

Salaries in Greater Manchester are very varied. For telesales and basic retail jobs, they are as low as 12,000, but you don’t have to look far for high-paying managerial and technical jobs that offer 40 – 50K more. In other words, there is pretty much something for everyone, depending on your skills and experience.

How to find a job in Manchester

Online is a good place to start. It will save you a lot of time and several bus fares! There are thousands of jobs advertised on the usual websites like gumtree, Monster and fish4. But a really good site for job seekers is Reeds, a national recruitment agency, because you can see how many others have applied for the jobs you’re interested in. For creative jobs, check out ‘The Drum’ and remember to check out the Guardian jobs pages too.

But even before you start, you need to renew your CV. It’s best left to professionals who, after exploring the type of job you’re looking for, can give you an edge over others. They will advise you on the best type of CV (yes, there are several effective ways to present a CV) and use their skills and experience to present you with a very positive image. You, after all, are a hobbyist in the field, unless of course you’re in human resources!